THE DOORS Unreleased 1967/68/69 Studio Session Reels in the vaults

Mentioned at a Dylan thread, what other artists might have whatnot still in their vaults unreleased, for those who are interested, here are those reels I talked about. These appeared at an auction 5 years ago and soon got pulled to be rightfully in the hands of Elektra/Warner.

While most Doors fans around the world have probably wait for the soon-to-be-released London Fog tape, it is something clearly even more precious and grandiose, to say the least. Hours of superb crystal clear recordings, not to mention its historical importance, without a doubt, a must have. It provides more than just a glimpse into their recording process of this remarkable quartet that have never been made available for the public yet. Spanning 3 albums, from Strange Days to Soft Parade, clocking at 6 hrs of material.




Based on the photos, these track/sessions can be identified:

Tuesday April 4, 1967
People Are Strange

Tuesday April 25, 1967
Moonlight Drive
When The Music's Over

Wednesday April 26, 1967
Strange Days

Wednesday February 28, 1968
Winter Time Love
Not To Touch The Earth

Thursday November 14, 1968
Who Scared You
The finally released short version on the 1997 Box Set is the same as what Bruce Botnick circled
on the reel's notes during recording, 3:49 as ending time.

Friday November 15, 1968
Queen Of The Highway

? November, 1968 ?
Tell All The People

Thursday January 16, 1969
Queen Of The Highway
Push Push

Wednesday December 3, 1969
Motor Cooled Down (Carol)
I Will Never Be Untrue
Roadhouse Blues
Queen Of The Highway
Maggie M'Gill
Spy In The House Of Love

Until Bruce Botnick releases his highly anticipated studio logs (incl. all Elektra acts under his palms), a more detailed list of these Doors sessions will be posted later here, in order to find new clues and have a discussion on this still quiet uncovered side of the Doors, working in the studio.

 

Sounds sick, I would of course love to hear it.

You say these got back in the hands of Electra? Wonder how something like that ends up in auction in the first place?

 

First I'm hearing of the London Fog tapes.... any track list for that anywhere? And is there a set release date?

 

Though The Doors are my all-time favourite band I have certain misgivings about "bootleg series" type releases. For one thing The Doors in the studio were nothing at all like Dylan. He had a focused mind and worked relentlessly writing many more songs (often recording them) than he needed for an album. Before the material could be released he'd already moved on to the next thing etc. This is what makes his BS so interesting in the main.

By contrast following their debut album, The Doors were initially using up left-over songs written pre-Elektra contract and after Strange Days and parts of Waiting For The Sun, the material was running out and ideas beginning to be stretched a little thin. There has never been an abundance of great studio out-takes, let alone unheard songs. Just look at L.A.Woman and the whole She Smells Nice marketing BS. I hope I live to be proven wrong but I doubt there will be many chestnuts in those session reels. Maybe a few nice blues covers here and there and a lot of Jim getting drunk and larking about, the total opposite of Dylan's focus.

The six studio albums are all quite incredible but much of that comes down to the genius of Paul A Rothchild and his perfectionism. The Doors didn't have the necessary discipline to create more music than was needed to fill a couple of sides. That might have been down to Jim's disinterest not allowing the whole band to spark all the time.

Some of the out-takes / trial workouts might have some interest but it will depend on the price as to whether I'm in for purchase or not.

 

Thread here:

The Doors at the London Fog 1966 »

 

Welcome to the ranks of those of us who have been waiting for the past 7 years. So get in line!

 

Sessions for the first 3 albums would be interesting. The group can be tedious in the studio at times, but it's ok with me. I have to admit the "Rock Is Dead" session is borderline goofy at times.

They were always good live, too bad they didn't record more in the early days. They had the money and crew.

 

Even if there are no major revelations, I'd still want to hear these at least once.

 

It would sell.

 

One would think. That said, the band's management was unable to convince Warner Music that a LA Woman box set could sell, so who knows.

 

Opposed to the later albums, unfortunately there is not much left of the debut. For instance, the album version of 'The End' was produced from two takes (first half/second half) but the camp seems to be unable to locate them, hence they would have released them - similarly to these reels, which at some point got lifted from where they were kept it in the seventies.

 

I am not convinced that both takes of The End are missing from the band's archives. They seemed to have held back some music from the Perception bonus content, such as the LA Woman outtakes, which they had in abundance. Two takes of The End would seem to be viewed as special items worth preserving for a special release, sort of what they did with the LA Woman reels.

 

My interest depends totally on the amount of Jim Morrison on the tapes. If these are mostly backing tracks or rough run-throughs with guide vocals, no thanks. However if there's a lot of uncensored Morrison studio chatter and random Jim-Being-Jim'ness (like the Hendrix/Winter/Morrison studio session), then bring it on! I would make an exception for any 1st lp sessions/fragments but that's not here.

 

ooh don't even worry about it, i'm 100% sure these will show up on some future re-re-re-re-re-issue of a doors album at some point.....it never ends and never will end until people stop buying them.

 

just put it all out unedited at a good price - see Box Of Bob World Tour 66 for details. Then follow it up with all the gigs. Alternatively set up a flac download site for fans to pick and choose.

 

It is uneven why they did not put it out before but I guess if they did manage to find it, it happened in the recent past, just like in the case of the Perception extras.

On the other hand, don't you think the pulling of LAW Box was rather because of an incapable, unmotivated management than merely because of the material's worthiness. If the recent Monkies box sets sell, I can not imagine how this would not - taking into account the myth around the band that still surrounds us.

 

Too much of a good thing. Keep some of the mystery in place. I don't want to know how they got to the master. I don't want to hear lesser takes, unless they are truly unique and insteresting, which most of them aren't. But this is where we are now after years of archival releases. All that's left to release is false starts and piss takes. Mind you, this is someone who bought a CD featuring Elvis doing 10 takes of "Datin'", so what do I know?

 

You're all forgetting something: John Densmore has seen himself as protector of The Doors legacy and especially now Ray has gone I doubt Robby will fight John over releasing out-takes, which I would have thought John would veto in a not dissimilar manner to Paul McCartney, who also guards The Beatles recorded legacy very well. If it's sub-standard material and does not enhance the bands legacy John will not approve its release after 50 years. Why should he switch tactics at this late stage? Robby doesn't appear to be any more motivated to get Doors product out there anyway as he has a solo career going well for what he needs these days. Wasn't it Ray who was pushing for this sort of thing wherever possible?

If they both hand control to someone else, similar to Dylan, then maybe but I can't honestly see that happening *

PS - *Dorothy Manzarek and Coursons / Morrison estates would also have to be consulted of course.

 

Is that a real thing? I thought that was just Jimbo and Jimi, and Jimbo was paralytically drunk.

 

Agreed.

 

John is open-minded and must have seen how the industry have changed in the last two decades. A few bonus outtakes are never gonna make it nowadays to sell again the same old re-releases. But a thorough, unedited perspective is the way, which can also inspire the newcomers to get a glimpse on the original albums. Just take a look around to find other working, financially beneficial examples and not just in the top league and see what is taking place currently, and not just with Dylan.

It is true they used left-over material for the upcoming two albums (and even after that) following their debut, but it just prove how thick these stuff were. Moreover, the process in this sense, in the case of the Doors is still something not to be overlooked. The reels of 'Strange Days' alone must be pretty much off the hook, incl the evolvement of the title track. Inspired by the numerous listens of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper (which Botnick got hold of before its public release), they went into a whole lot of experiments, chatter, resulting different versions with alternate lyrics etc. 'Not To Touch The Earth,' not to mention the different takes of When The Music's Over. Also, if you think, these absolutely not complete reels include the unreleased studio version of I Will Never Be Untrue (see first post), I'm sure not just a handful of surprises must be hanging in there. And that's just the second album. It would be also thrilling to hear how they/Jim wanted 'The Celebration of the Lizard' come together, on which they worked their asses off. And we've got more reels to go...

 

Based on what I've heard on the Perception box and LA Woman reissue, I think I would pass on a studio outtakes set.

 

I agree about the Strange Days sessions potentially offering up the most fruitful cache of tapes for long-time fans to listen to.

 

I'd agree for LA Woman - personally I think it's worse than grossly overrated, Jim sounds like tihS, gruff and drunk and the music's uninspired cocktail blues music !
But those first two albums and Morrison Hotel - those guys are smokin' hot. So smokin' hot their pants caught on fire, hence the line, "Pants on fire and it's intense".