@ostrichfarm Maggie McGill was recorded December 3, 1969. See bottom tape box date below. The below tape box images were also shared by @wha happened on THE FREEDOM MAN forum. I believe they are from the circa 2011 tape auction of multitrack 1-inch reels The Doors purchased.
On closer examination, Waiting for the Sun #2 says “8 to 8”. So is WFS #2 just a bounce (copy) of WFS #1 with 2 new MOOG overdub tracks? If so, #2 may be the same take as #1. But take #1 may have additional vocal overdubs or effects not on #2.
The 1-inch 8 track master compilation reel for Strange Days as pictured in the Band Favorites CD tray card in the infamous Doors 1997 Box Set. Note that two songs from the reel appear to have been written over. So were there two outtakes that were at one time being considered for the Strange Days album but were ultimately rejected and the moved to a separate 2ND LP DOORS SPARES reel? If so, what were those two songs?
I think We Could Be So Good Together was one of the songs, subsequently recycled for Waiting For The Sun.
Uhh 17 year old here. I'd purchase that box set, except I already have two original copies of the Soft Parade on vinyl, plus the Perception box set, so there really isn't much of a point purchasing it. Just sayin'... One of my all-time favorite albums!
I'm REALLY looking forward to get the "Doors-only" tracks but a little sad they didn't make room for a "Doors-only" version of the whole album without brass & strings. Maybe they will send out a Soft Parade version for RSD without the brass & strings - to get the album cohesive - I have waited for this for at least 20 years - Robby has talked about this in interviews since 1997 at least and it was his songs that got the orchestral treatment so it's ABOUT time they did this!!!! Judging from the live version of Touch Me from 69 and the PBS Critique performance incl. Tell All The People and Wishful, Sinful the tracks are going to shine - Densmores drums in Touch me, Robbys chord progression in Wishful Sinful and Tell All The People less bombastic and again with some great drum work fram Densmore - I can't WAIT for november 1st! I know a lot of people like the strings and brass - well they are a little better placed in the 40th anniversary mix - but I'm sure the album will get a whole new lease on life with just the 4 doors and I actually can't wait to listen to what Robby has cooked up for the 3 songs where he dubbed new guitars on instead of the brass and strings. It's never too late to be what you might have been? And to all the purists: take another listen to the original album and try to embrace the brass and strings... again! ;-)
I don't have the track list of the forthcoming set handy, but I thought all the tracks that originally had strings/brass are going to appear 'Doors only'? Tracks like Wild Child etc. never had orchestration so there's nothing there to remove.
Yes they are - but the "Doors only" tracks appear on a second CD with outtakes Screaming Ray singing etc. So you have to make your own playlist or burn your own CD if you want the album cohesive without the strings and brass on the Krieger songs and the "old" Morrison songs that never had the brass and strings. The album doesn't come like one album like for instance "The Beatles Let it Be ... Naked"... Perhaps they are checking out the fans reaction first before they release a version of the Soft Parade "Doors only" version?
Correct, they've just included the three that Robby overdubbed on first, and then those same three Doors-only later on the disc. I think if these threads have taught us anything is that they're not working very hard on these releases. I suspect this is all we're getting until the next anniversary. Maybe.
Feb. 25, 1969: The Soft Parade album was apparently nearing completion when the Rock Is Dead studio jam occurred. March 1, 1969: The Doors were about to embark on a two month tour of the United States starting with Miami. Below is a list of the concerts that were cancelled after the March 1, Miami concert (per MildEquator.com) Morrison mentioned in an interview that the night Rock Is Dead was recorded, the band was trying to come up with another song for the album. Given that The Doors were scheduled to perform during most of March and April, they must have been under pressure to record and finish laying down tracks for the album that last week of February prior to Miami. 03/09 Jacksonville, FL, US Veterans Memorial Coliseum 03/19 Philadelphia, PA, US Convention Hall 03/21 Toronto, ON, CAN Maple Leaf Gardens 03/22 Pittsburgh, PA, US Pittsburgh Civic Arena 03/28 Detroit, MI, US Olympia Stadium 03/29 Cleveland, OH, US Cleveland Public Auditorium 03/30 Cincinnati, OH, US Cincinnati Music Hall0 4/04 Dallas, TX, US Dallas Memorial Auditorium 04/05 Houston, TX, US Sam Houston Coliseum 04/25 Boston, MA, US Boston Garden 04/26 Buffalo, NY, US Buffalo Memorial Auditorium 04/27 Syracuse, NY, US Onondaga Memorial Auditorium 06/13 St. Louis, MO, US Kiel Auditorium 07/04-05 Honolulu, HI Honolulu International Center Arena 07/05 Seattle, WA Sick's Stadium July 18, 1969: The Soft Parade LP is released It's unclear what songs, if any, were recorded after Miami of the Soft Parade album, but it stands that many if not all songs on the album pre-date Miami.
The Doors become radioactive! Christian youth "decency" rallies held across the Bible Belt. The radioactive political fallout following the March 1, 1969 Miami concert must have been concerning to Elektra president Jac Holzman. It's unclear if Holzman delayed the release of the Soft Parade album in the hopes the Miami fallout would lessen. But the Soft Parade LP wasn't released until July 18, 1969, some four and a half months after the Miami incident. On March 23, 1969 a "Rally for Decency" was held in Florida. The rally was sprang from a Roman Catholic youth group discussion. President Nixon praised the event There were apparently additional Decency Rallies in Maryland, Alabama and Texas 50 years later, it is ironic that: Nixon, who later resigned to avoid being impeached for obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress, praised the Rally for Decency The Roman Catholic Church, which has a well documented history of child abuse and cover ups, helped organize the Rally for Decency It was never proven objectively that Morrison exposed himself in Miami. 30,000 In Miami Join A Rally For Decency The New York Times March 24 1969 Page 1 Col. 5 - Con't on Page 31, Col. 3 By: Associated Press MIAMI March 23 - Some 30,000 hand clapping persons, some waving signs saying "Down With Obscenity," rallied in the Orange Bowl today to support a teenage crusade for decency in entertainment. Teenagers organized the rally after Jim Morrison, 24 years old, the lead singer of The Doors, a rock group, was charged with indecent exposure during a concert in Miami on March 1. Six warrants have been issued for Mr. Morriosn' arrest. Mike Levesque, 17, the originator of the rally, a senior at Miami Springs High School, said the idea had grown out of a Roman Catholic youth group discussion two days after the concert by The Doors. "This is not a protest rally," said Julie James, 18 a member of the teenage Rally For Decency. "We're not against something. We're for something." TALKS ON GOD AND SEX Teenage speakers gave three minute talks on God, parents, patriotism, sexuality and brotherhood. There were appearances by professional entertainers, who donated their time. "Five virtues ," selected as the keynote of the rally, were "belief in God and that He loves us; love of our planet and country; love of our family, reverence of one's sexuality, and equality of all men." "Sex is definately being exploited and it is because society has been losing its reverence for one's sexuality," Miss James said. The shirt sleeved crowd basking in the warm sun cheered for Jackie Gleason, Anita Bryant and the Lettermen, popular music singers who appeared in order to applaud the teenage rally. "I believe this kind of movement will snowball across the United States and perhaps around the world," Mr Gleason said. "I think it's great there should be more things like that," said Tony Butala of the Lettermen. Young Levesque said he was thrilled by the rapid growth of the decency movement and the support it had gained from adults. The crowd was about evenly split between teenagers and adults. END. Below: Photos from the Miami "Rally for Decency" March 23, 1969 Below: Photo from the "Young Texans for Decency" rally (note the Roman Catholic nuns). This apparently was held in Houston, Texas on April 28, 1969. Below: A fight breaks out at the "Maryland Youth for Decency Rally" April 21, 1969 Below: Sheriff Mel Bailey, pictured with his daughter, praises youths at the May 12, 1969 "Youth Rally Alabama."
IRONY! Richard Nixon Letter to a Student Concerning the Miami Teen-Age Rally for Decency. March 26, 1969 Dear Mike: I was extremely interested to learn about the admirable initiative undertaken by you and 30,000 other young people at the Miami Teen-age Rally for Decency held last Sunday. This very positive approach which focused attention on a number of critical problems confronting society strengthens my belief that the younger generation is our greatest natural resource and therefore of tremendous hope for the future. I hope that you will express my appreciation to everyone involved and my congratulations on the success of their efforts. Sincerely, RICHARD NIXON [Mr. Mike Levesque, 401 To-To-Lo-Chee Drive, Hialeah, Florida 35000] Note: The letter was dated March 25, 1969, and released March 26, 1969. Mike Levesque, 17, senior at Miami Springs High School, was the organizer of the rally.
February 25, 1969: ROCK IS DEAD (RID) studio jam My theory below on how the jam was recorded on two 1-inch tapes Open question: How much of the jam on the new box set will be newly mixed from the multitrack tapes? The jam has always been a confused mess on circulating versions. Part of Seminary School overlaps with Whiskey Mystics and Men. Instruments change pan placements during most of circulating edits, stitched together from different sources. Hopefully Botnick will explain who this confusing jam was recorded. Note the track configuration on the tape box above. My current theory: 1. There were two or three vocal-only takes of Seminary School recorded first on the 1-inch 8 track reel labeled "#1." Perhaps one of these takes may have been used on the final album. Botnick apparently fed Jim’s stereo vocal return from an echo chamber into tracks 5 (left) and 8 (right) on the one inch tape. if you listen to Seminary School on the Soft Parade album, the vocal is in stereo. 2. After dinner, the band has had too many beers and they tell Botnick they want to jam free form style. So Botnick rewinds tape and begins recording the long RID jam starting from Whiskey Mystics and Men on tracks 1, 2 and 3. Botnick’s primary concern is to preserve the earlier takes of Seminary School on tracks 5 and 8 for potential use on the Soft Parade album and does not record over them. 3. At some point while recording RID, Botnick moves Ray’s mellotron from track 1 to track 5. Botnick later splices in the first leader to mark the mellotron track change point. 4. At some point while recording RID, Botnick moves Jim’s vocal from track 3 to track 6. Botnick later splices in a 2nd leader to mark the vocal track change point. 5. Maybe Botnick was worried about adjacent track cross talk bleeding into Seminary School, so he kept a buffer of at least one blank empty track between Seminary and RID until he was sure Seminary had been passed and was no longer in parallel. Will Rock Is Dead on the 2019 Soft Parade 50th box set be a new mix from the two 1-inch source reels? 1. A 10.5” reel of 1-inch 8 track tape at 15 ips yields 48 minutes of audio. 2. Botnick captured the 64 minute + RID jam on at least TWO 1-inch reels 3. The 1997 box set included a photo of ONLY the first 1-inch reel — raising the question: do the Doors have the 2nd 1-inch reel? 4. The Soft Parade 50th press release stated RID appears in its “entire surviving form," weasel wording suggesting source tape/s may be missing and Botnick may be pulling coverage from ancient stereo mixdowns and/or bootlegs. 5. Are The Doors missing either the "#1" or "#2" 1-inch 8 track tape reel? 6. Do The Doors have any complete, unedited stereo mix downs in their archive? 6. If the Doors have either or both of the two 1-inch multitrack source tape reels, are any sections missing (cut out of the tape), forcing Botnick to find coverage from an old stereo mix down or bootleg? What are your thoughts on what “entire surviving form" likely means?
If you listen to the circulating Feb. 25, 1969 Rock Is Dead jam and March 1, 1969 Miami concert, you will notice that some of Morrison's confrontational rapport in Miami had clearly been thought out in advance. It appears that Morrison, regardless of being drunk in Miami, may have pre-planned the audience confrontation, inspired by The Living Theater performances he recently saw. ROCK IS DEAD: February 25, 1969. (note the confusing overlaps, edits and instruments placement changes) Hopefully, the official version on the new 2019 box will correct all these issues.
March 1, 1969: The Doors were about to embark on a two month tour of the United States starting with Miami. 03/09 Jacksonville, FL, US Veterans Memorial Coliseum 03/19 Philadelphia, PA, US Convention Hall 03/21 Toronto, ON, CAN Maple Leaf Gardens 03/22 Pittsburgh, PA, US Pittsburgh Civic Arena 03/28 Detroit, MI, US Olympia Stadium 03/29 Cleveland, OH, US Cleveland Public Auditorium 03/30 Cincinnati, OH, US Cincinnati Music Hall0 4/04 Dallas, TX, US Dallas Memorial Auditorium 04/05 Houston, TX, US Sam Houston Coliseum 04/25 Boston, MA, US Boston Garden 04/26 Buffalo, NY, US Buffalo Memorial Auditorium 04/27 Syracuse, NY, US Onondaga Memorial Auditorium 06/13 St. Louis, MO, US Kiel Auditorium 07/04-05 Honolulu, HI Honolulu International Center Arena 07/05 Seattle, WA Sick's Stadium That 2 month US tour would have been amazing, especially with Black Sabbath who would have been opening!
Really, with Black Sabbath? Didn't know that. If the Doors had picked up some black metal edge from that tour, they could have (d)evolved in a really fascinating way.
Sorry, I forgot this release was a 3cd set. That shows how much of a priority I've given this release. I'll take a wait and see approach.
