The Doors - Live Releases

Don’t forget Vancouver, Hollywood Bowl re-boot, London Fog and IOW with more coming.

 

And The Matrix too, but nothing is etched in stone

 

That’s part of more coming.

 

Copenhagen?

 

Really, unless you're a disciple of the Late Ray Manzarek, you can't consider Dead Cats, Dead Rats to be a song but just a few lines of improv at the start of Break On Through. It might be listed as a song but then so is "Tuning".

 

I thought it was a poem of Jim's?

 

It would be great to get a few of those old BMA releases on vinyl. I have Felt Forum. Missed the RSD for Aquarius shows. Detroit would be an obvious one, but it would have to span a lot of discs!

 

Detroit isn't a particularly strong show overall; it starts well but fizzles out quite early on and then becomes tiresome very quickly. I'd vote for Pittsburgh and it's the right length for a double LP.

 

Agreed that the last third of Detroit is a disappointment. The show does indeed fizzle out. However, the main set (the 'meat' of the show) is fantastic! IMO, it is as good as the Doors got during that time period. IMO, Pittsburgh is OK, but is also kinda a ho-hum/workmanlike type performance (similar to Philadelphia). The band doesn't catch fire the same way they do in Detroit.

Anyway, Detroit would definitely be my first choice for the next 'Absolutely Live' show to appear on vinyl, with Boston late show (believe it or not) being my second choice. Prefer a complete Matrix box (on CD or Vinyl) over any of that, however.

 

I'm surprised they released the first Aquarius show on LP. It's not the most obvious choice.

 

I never understood why they dragged out the tired warhorses that took up upwards of 20 minutes in the 1970 shows when they could've performed the amazing shorter songs they had and brought some variety to their show.

Or worse yet, songs like "Money" etc. Those blues songs were tedious beyond measure . . . Jim got it right in Backstage and Dangerous recording.

 

Sometimes I wonder how long the blues is gonna last

'Cause every song sounds like the one before last

J. Morrison
July 22, 1969
Hollywood, CA

 

that's it . . .

 

I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that they didn't rehearse and probably didn't know how to perform many of those older songs. They attempted Wild Child at the Felt Forum but couldn't get more than a few seconds into it before abandoning it because Ray clearly didn't know how to play it. But I completely agree with you. All of those gems that weren't performed or rarely performed in 1970: People Are Strange, Wild Child, Hello, I Love You, Touch Me, The Unknown Soldier, Love Me Two Times in favor of songs like, egad, Rock Me.

 

Detroit is also their longest 1970 show. Just think of all of that blues stuff they performed after Jim tells the audience, "Don't let them push us out," as bonus material. The first half of that show is HOT!

 

they should have rehearsed then . . . tripping out hippies don't want to be brought down by bluesy dirges unless it's Hendrix that's playing it.

 

It would interesting to know how much if they ever rehearsed for each show during the 1970 tour. But I guess it all comes down to the fact they not really paid attention and glad after all Jim was in the game, favoring blues cuts instead.

 

HS: Do you rehearse specially for a performance?

JM: Nope
The Village Voice Interview with Jim Morrison - November 1970

 

Thanks for the quote but the interview took place a year earlier, to be exact on November 6, 1969. I wouldn't say we can't take it into account regarding their rehearsals in 1970 but by the time the Roadhouse Blues tour started, as much as it was at stake, they could have did some to prove the critics their heydays were not over.

They even rehearsed for the Aquarius shows for understandable reasons but him telling otherwise can be viewed solely as how they approached those few shows they were let to pull in 1969.

 

Yes, the first half of the show is quite good. The wheels come off during the second half with the Ray-lead, plodding blues medley and a train-wreck performance of “The End.”

 

Not long after my most recent play of Detroit, I listened to Isle Of Wight for the first time. The End at the Isle Of Wight more than makes up for Detroit!

 

Whilst I tend to agree with the sentiments expressed here - an awful lot of blues music is extremely repetitive and dull - it's somewhat ironic that Jim, along with Ray, was one of the great advocates of blues music. Jim often spoke enthusiastically about how blues music was the only recent, true modern invention in American music.

 

I love blues. The band plodding along at the expense of performing original material was my point here . . .

 

Anybody buying An American Prayer LP on Black Friday?

 

No, I'm good with my original.