I've listened to End of the Night two more times, and it didn't skip the 2nd or 3rd time, only the first time I listened to it. Not sure what happened, but I guess the disc is fine.
I just steal the clean ending from the leaked instrumental to make my own unblended "Peace Frog" mix:
The interesting thing is if you listen to the July 1969 Aquarius live recordings, they performed Peace Frog as an instrumental that segues into Blue Sunday, just like the album. Robby wrote the music to Peace Frog, but by July 1969 Jim hadn't yet recycled lyrics from his poems to fit the music. I recall Robby gave an interview once where he said he thought the lyrics were "interesting" but "forced" when set to his instrumental.
I’m no expert on The Doors and have only been a casual fan since first hearing their Greatest Hits record in 1980. For some reason this singles box intrigued me and I bought the vinyl box today despite having only heard a handful of the songs before. First off I think the packaging is superb!! It’s a sturdy box with a slice of styrofoam to keep the singles in place. The sleeves are heavyweight paper and the records were remarkably free of specks and scuffs despite the majority of the sleeves having open holes. Overall I’m very happy with the sound of the records and am looking forward to giving them all a proper listen.
Hurray. My copy appears to have been lost. Amazon UK is telling me "Parcel was handed directly to a neighbor" on 29 September. The carrier was Amarex and a search for the tracking number on the Amarex website states "Invalid number / data not currently available". The only trouble with the "handed directly to a neighbor" thing is that the postal address is a 24-hour parcel locker at a post office more than 30 metres from the nearest residential address. Not quite sure how a carrier/courier would see a post office then walk to a neighbouring house and leave a package there. That can't be right. Anyone on here in Australia who ordered their copy from Amazon UK get it yet? Might ask Amazon for a refund since this set is not as advertised. It does not have the correct stereo single version of Wishful Sinful and several users are reporting problems playing and/or ripping the discs. EDIT: Another Amazon UK order appears to have vanished. Supposedly delivered to my address last Thursday. No sign of it. Does anyone know how to report a non-delivered item on Amazon UK? All I can find is advice telling me to follow up with the carrier.
Let me know if you find out - I ordered the Dr. John 7-disc set from Amazon UK and it is way overdue. Shipped Sept. 14 and was supposed to be delivered around Sept. 28, but no sign of it (and no detailed tracking). (I am in the US.)
I can completely understand your frustration given the surrounding circumstances, and offer my sympathies, but as to the point about "Wishful Sinful" I wouldn't cast the baby out with the bath water here. If you look at the record that other singles collections have with getting every track 100% correct, it's rare that such is actually achieved even where it may be striven for. Such collections of the Stones, the Who, Hendrix, Steppenwolf, Ray Charles, Tommy James, BJ Thomas, even the exhaustive Complete Motown Singles sets, just to name a few off the top of my head, all have at least one track that isn't totally "correct" to the corresponding original single for one reason or another. It's par for the course, lamentable though it may be to we obsessives or shall we say enthusiasts for detail and accuracy.
I know that this set does unusually well. These sorts of sets are usually disasters. Even so, it still doesn't get it right and the weirdest thing is that Wishful Sinful isn't the LP mix. It seems to be a totally unique mix that has some very weird, digital-sounding panning issues. As far as being a modern approximation, it's way-off. I don't believe that Bruce Botnick couldn't have made a good modern approximation of the mix if he had to. The guy knows how to mix. I reckon it's a blooper. Blooper or not, when something is marketed as having every track on it in its correct 45 mix/reduction/edit and does not have that, it isn't as advertised. I tried but it didn't seem available on international shipping. I found a contact form and submitted a request. A new copy is being sent. Just to show how inconsistent the customer service can be, my other package that was supposedly delivered but wasn't (the maligned Bowie Berlin boxset that I wish I hadn't ordered) is not being replaced. Amazon is speaking to UPS about it.
I'm beginning to think that music companies do this deliberately just to piss us off. It happens way too often. At a minimum, they don't care.
The post-Morrison era Doors songs remind me of CCR-Mardi Gras.Or someone's uncle in the 70's. "It just done slipped my mind"!
My set arrived yesterday - absolutely loving it (the first disc that is ) I'm curious - what do the folks here think about the four mono radio tracks versus their counterparts? I'm still undecided myself...
I chatted with Amazon UK about an order shipped to the US. First attempt was a complete bust and the rep was totally dismissive, if not kinda rude. Prompted here by someone else having a good experience getting their same issue taken care of, I made another attempt and the person I got that time made an effort to actually help. I think I needed to go through a few questions where they tried to take care of my situation with automated answers and then after clicking that I still needed help, they gave me a chat option.
Good luck with this, mate. We have had endless trouble with couriers in Melbourne and heard lots of horror stories. What I did learn was that contacting the courier company is a waste of time. I had one yelling down the phone at me about what a great company they are - that was his way of dealing with a problem. The vendor is the place to start.
The “contact us” form worked. The replacement copy is supposedly arriving tomorrow. I also asked them what they were doing about the Bowie box after they initially said they would get back to me with the results of their inquiry with UPS in 24 hours. They must have made no progress so are sending a replacement. Never had any problems with Amazon UK parcels before so two going missing in a week was a surprise. As long as I get what I paid for... For what it’s worth I shall contact the label demanding a replacement disc one with the correct mix of Wishful Sinful on it. I look forward to being ignored.
Thanks. I suppose I should have as I already have the AF stereo/quad SACD with Steve’s mastering but thought it would be interesting to compare masterings (assuming that Bruce mastered this quad version).
I listened to WZLX for years starting on the day they went on the air in 1985. Awesome station back in the day but haven't listened to any FM radio in years other than to catch the Pats play by play on the way to work.
Good luck with getting this taken care of. Yeah, ignoring seems to be the most common response anymore. I bought Good to See You Again Alice Cooper on blu-ray to upgrade my DVD and although advertised as a true HD transfer, the blu-ray was obviously an upscale. I e-mailed Shout Factory about this and received no reply. I thought possibly it was an honest mistake and they'd be interested in looking into at least, if not correcting it. Guess not. They're now on a long and growing list of labels and artists in which I don't buy without thoroughly being able to checkout the release first.
Where did this audio come from? Sounds very good, and would like to hear more. Thanks for posting this.
It's from an official release called "Backstage and Dangerous: The Private Rehearsal" Backstage and Dangerous: The Private Rehearsal - Wikipedia The day after the two live Aquarius concerts in July 1969, Elektra recorded The Doors in the same theater but without an audience. Technically, it's not a "rehearsal" and it's not "backstage." It was recorded on stage at The Aquarius for the Absolutely Live album. The original intent was for Paul Rothchild to have extra material (and some additional takes to choose from) in case it was needed to patch/edit them into what became Absolutely Live. Ultimately, nothing from the Aquarius "rehearsal" recordings were used for Absolutely Live. But the famous version of "Gloria" comes from the rehearsal and was released in 1983 (with edits and overdubs).
