The Doors discography

JiM MORRISON is "G O D"
he is very inspirational person
next time if i go to Paris im sure im gonna visit his grave. cant miss it this time.

After Jim Morrison's death on July 3, 1971, fans figured the career as a band had closed forever. It was surprising when the band announced they would continue as a trio, with additional musicians added for the road.

In October of 1971 the band released 'Other Voices' just three months after their iconic vocalist's death. The title was of course a play on the fact that other voices apart from Jim Morrison's would be heard.

Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger would be trading off lead vocals. The album displayed that Jim Morrison was much more then just a vocalist, while the music was good on the album, it did not have the edge and was missing that mystic that made those albums so timeless.

The lyrics reflect a band that experienced the good and the worse of the sixties broke thru on the other side, with stories to tell, and rock n roll causality along the way.

The album opens with "Eye of the Sun" sung by Ray Manzarek. The lyrics reflect some of the hippie philosophy that Jim Morrison disavowed but also reflects the passage of time and the loss of a friend.

Variety is the Spice of Life- A humorous track that would have ever seen the light of day if Jim Morrison had lived. Not a bad tune, but Krieger's vocal and lyrics about a man's reason for cheating on his wife, its hard to believe this is the same band that had released the excellent 'L.A. Woman' just a few months prior.

Ships with Sails- Is the closet you get to the old Doors magic. A extended epic track, in the lines of 'Light my Fire' and I am convinced if Jim Morrison had lived to put a vocal on it, this would have been one of their biggest hits. Good lyrics, and great vocal from Ray Manzarek.

Tightrope Ride-Is the one song where Ray Manzarek expresses his anger and sadness at loss of Jim Morrison.

You are on a tightrope ride/Nobody by your side/Well you are all alone/Got to find a new home

The song clearly aimed at his departed vocalist, anger at his self destruction and even asking him

Did you think we were all together?/Did you think we were all the same?/Did you think I can Help you remember your name?

Down On the Farm- was submitted by Robby Krieger for consideration for 'L.A. Woman' but Jim Morrison hated it and it went on recorded til now. Not a bad tune but does not sound like a Doors tune.

I'm Horny, I'm Stoned- The band recorded this humorous tune, that makes gentle fun of their own generation, again another song that I doubt would have made it past the demo stages with the original line up.

Wandering Musician- A mellow tune, that again has Ray Manzarek reflecting on the last few years of his/the band's life and their vocalist passing.

Hang onto Your Life- Again inspired by the death of Jim Morrison, and the song represents a place of acceptance, sadness and reminder to themselves to hang onto their own lives.

I have never heard any of these post-Morrison recordings, I'm sure one day I really should just to better understand the overall picture.

manny wrote:

Ships with Sails- Is the closet you get to the old Doors magic. A extended epic track, in the lines of 'Light my Fire' and I am convinced if Jim Morrison had lived to put a vocal on it, this would have been one of their biggest hits. Good lyrics, and great vocal from Ray Manzarek.

I completely agree with all this. "Ships With Sails" is one of my top 3 Doors tunes, I only wish Jim was on vox. I'd even like it if Glenn Danzig or Jeff Martin (The Tea Party) remade this.

They should of called it quits. In hindsight, at least to me, a name change may have faired better overall ?

James B. wrote:

They should of called it quits. In hindsight, at least to me, a name change may have faired better overall ?

The band at that point was not going to be accepted without Jim Morrison, not just so soon after his death but at any point in time, Jim Morrison had already become an iconic figure, in the minds of fans and the public, he was The Doors (something Jim Morrison disputed, he always insisted the Doors was a band, not him and backing musicians)

"Full Circle" released in 1972, was the second and last post- Jim Morrison album. The title optimistic reflecting they have come full circle perhaps to a new beginning but in reality it was the beginning of the end.

Listening to this album its hard to believe that this was the same band that created such iconic songs as " The End" " Riders on the Storm" etc. The songs lyrically and musically take a lot a different turn, and no longer are the dark Doors that Jim Morrison but more light hearted affair that only thing that musically this band has with its recent past is the name of the band.

The majority of the songs are still evenly split between Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger.

The album opens with " Get Up and Dance" which is a song that would never have been attempted by the original line up. A piano boogie woogie rock n roll tune that is not a terrible song, but you will have scan your album cover to make sure this is really The Doors you are listening to.

4 Billion Souls- This time sung by Krieger, again not a bad tune, but very little in common with their past. Musically the band was attempting to move away from the type of music they wrote when Jim Morrison was alive and well, and in that front they were very successful in accomplishing that goal.

Verdilac- Is the closet we get to the older Doors sound. Not completely because the band adds tenor sax through out the song, which is a nice touch. The lyrics by Ray Manzarek are mostly satirical look at spiritualist

Hardwood Floor- Another bar room boogie type of song, sung by Manzarek. Again not the type of the song that would have been done with the original line up, the chorus says it all:

All we have got to live on is a hardwood floor/We got love/Don't need no more.

Despite the inherent silliness of the song, I still enjoy it.

Good Rockin'- Is a cover tune, that Elvis Presley recorded among others and the Honeydrippers had a hit with in the 80's. Not a bad cover but they added nothing new to it.

The Mosquito- This song actually managed to get a small amounts of radio play and was even included on one (and only one) comp disc. The song starts as an acoustic number and then goes into a bit of jam, featuring some great soloing from Krieger, showing off both his skills as a guitarist and his warped sense of humor.

The Piano Bird- surprisingly written by drummer John Densmore, really the only song you could imagine being recorded by the Jim Morrison fronted line up. A good song but would have properly benefited from input from Morrison.

It Slipped my Mind-A song which once again exposed Robby Krieger's sense of humor, a cool song but hard to believe it would be included on any album but the band named The Doors.

The Peking King and the New York Queen- This song written and sung by Ray Manzarek is a plea for Western and Eastern culture coming together, with the characters of Peking King and the New York Queen representing the different philosophies of East vs West. Manzarek exposes his hippieness on this track and its over preachy, and just not a great way to end the album.

The band did tour this album, but the album was a commercial bomb, the first time the band experienced this. The tour was well attended by nightly cat calls of yelling Jim Morrison's name, the lack of interest in their post Morrison career, and the emotional fall out of their frontman's death finally took its toll on the band.

Two albums and 19 months after Jim Morrison's death, The Doors closed up shop and disbanded.

Seven years after Jim Morrison death, the remaining Doors composed music to the poetry Jim Morrison recorded on Dec 8, 1970, his 27th and final birthday. Also a few other pieces of poetry recorded in March of 1969. The band also included dialogue from his unfinished film "HWY " and a live cut from their Morrison Hotel 1970 tour of "RoadHouse Blues"

A few months prior to his death Jim Morrison had signed a deal to release a spoken word album of him reading verse, with no involvement of the band. He spoke to composer Lalo Schifrin about possibility of recording music for the project, but aside from the contract, these talks never went beyond the talking stages.

Several years after his death, John Densmore remembered about the tapes that Jim Morrison had recorded, and after the tapes were tracked down a decision was made to record new music underneath the recordings.

The album is constructed to be a chronological order of his life, the first half being subtitled AWAKE, which chronicles his pre life, the second section TO COME OF AGE- his awareness of music and his discovery of music, THE POET"S DREAM- his stardom, WORLD ON FIRE-The eventual self destruction and his impact poem AN AMERICAN PRAYER-which serves has his own eulogy.

The music fits perfectly to the verse, amazing how well they could read each other, even when one member of the band is long dead.

The band members mentioned how eerie it was to record the album and hearing their friend's speaking voice, like he was in the studio with them.

While the album did not burn up the charts, testament to the band's popularity, the album managed to go gold and eventually platinum, thou it was taken out of print for several years, when it was reissued, it again sold well.

This album is really for hard core Doors fans and anyone curious to hear Jim Morrison the poet as opposed to Jim Morrison the rock legend.

His verse like the man, could be moving, clownish, mysterious, and touched with a hinge of sadness and self destruction.

His bandmates did an excellent job in paying tribute to their friend as a poet and did a lot to flesh out the man, as much more then just another dead myth but as a tribute as an artist and human being.

I've always loved An American Prayer, I first heard it in the early 80s when I was just starting to delve into The Doors. I got "The Soft Parade" and "An American Prayer" at the same time and often listened to them back to back. An interesting window into the mind of a true artist.

Interesting album but I have always questioned the motives behind it. Were they cashing in on Morrison's legacy or were they being sincere in presenting another aspect of thier friend and fellow bandmember ?

I almost wrote a piece for my high school literature class (an elective course) on the poetry found on this album. My rough drafts were longer than the assignment called for and it never came to fruition.

I have this on vinyl and have almost purchased the cd remaster.

A soundtrack to Oliver Stone's biopic The Doors. Thou Val Kilmer sang lead on a track here and there in the movie itself the soundtrack itself did not use any of those recordings and stuck with the original Jim Morrison vocals.

The movie itself is good, even if its a bit short on facts, but no one goes to see a movie to expecting a history lesson, so I have no issues with the film itself, expect that maybe they should have showed the more human side of Jim Morrison instead of the myth.

What made this soundtrack a must have for die hard fans was the inclusion of Morrison's verse from " An American Prayer" which would be reissued on CD a few years down the road.

Other then Velvet Underground's Heroin and Carl Orff's Carmina Burana ( which incidentally Ray Manzarek recorded a solo album in the early 80's on this piece) it was a Doors music, due to the success of the movie and the growing fanbase of the band, not surprisingly the soundtrack went platinum.

Interest in this thread is close to zip but decided to continue it because once I start something I need to see it thru. Reading back thru this one, I feel it is not as detailed or as informative as the original thread which disappeared into the ether.

Released in 1997, The Doors Box Set was released during the boom of the popularity of box sets being released, like most Doors products released since Jim Morrison's death in 1971 this boxset provided to be highly successful.

The four disc set is mixed bag of demos, unreleased songs, live cuts and the usual tunes that show up in every Doors comp. in their original studio cuts.

Disc One titled " Without A Safety Net" opens from a bootleg recording of the infamous Miami show where Jim was smashed and preceded to insult the audience. The show itself was a disaster and it would have probably been forgotten about if it was not for Morrison being arrested for indecent exposure and convicted. Forty years later the governor of Florida pardons the late lizard king.

"Queen of the Highway" demo is a bit different then what eventually appeared on " Morrison Hotel", with the arrangement being a bit more jazz oriented, not jazz like Coltrane but more like a cocktail, easy listening arrangement.

Hyacinth House" demo is also a different arrangement with it being lead by John Densmore's drums and Krieger's acoustic playing instead of the electric version, with no Ray Manzarek on this version at all. Jim Morrison's vocal take is not as remorse, sounding a bit more playful.

" My Eyes Have Seen You" is a demo prior to Robby Krieger, when one of Manzarek's brother was briefly in the band. Recorded in 1965, this version of the band had never played out live and the recording is a bit hurried with Morrison shouting the lyrics. This song would be revived for their second album and would be much improved by then.

" Who Scared You" - Was the only b side recorded by The Doors. Recorded during the " The Soft Parade' sessions, the song would reappear briefly in the comp " Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine"

" Black Train Song" was not a track that the band ever recorded a studio version of. The tune starts off with the " Mystery Train" which then morphs into their own song, which would be performed several times during their 1970 tour, and unit included here could only be found on bootlegs.

" End of the Night" another demo recorded in 1965, before Krieger, also shows that Jim Morrison had not fully developed as a vocalist or a songwriter but this is getting closer to what he had envisioned for the song, later in a much improved version would appear on their debut album two years down the road.

Whiskey, Mystics & Men" - Is a song they attempted to record and finish several times during " The Soft Parade' sessions and went back and took another stab it when recording " Morrison Hotel' The band abandoned the song when they concluded it was time to move on to other songs.

'I Will Never Be Untrue" was an original blues tune from the band, recorded live without an audience, when producer Paul Rothschild convinced the band to attempt to play a set without an audience for the live album they were recording. This was an improvised tune made up on the spot. Shortly after this, the band felt a live album without an audience is misleading and much to the producer's sorrow, walked out of the rehearsal. A snippet of this recording could be heard in the " An American Prayer" album.

"Moonlight Drive" was the first song Jim Morrison wrote, and here are two versions of the song. One from 1965 demo without Krieger and the other demo is from 1966, where Krieger helped Morrison put those melodies he heard in his head and transferred it into music.

" Rock Is Dead" is literally a drunken jam, where the band incorporated rock, surf music, and whatever it is they could think of and just played it, while Jim Morrison made up lyrics about the death or rock music. The original recording which I have a bootleg copy is over 20 minutes long but they cut it down and the tune is cool, fun tune. A few obscenities where edited out where Morrison informs his woman, what he intends to do with her.

"Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor"- Is an instrumental, adopted from a piece of classical music, which was a favorite Jim Morrison and later included as music of the part of " An American Prayer" album.

Disc 2- Live In New York- Is one disc version of their four set, two night stay at the Felt Forum recorded in 1970. One of their best live shows the band have released, with everyone in the band giving an excellent performance. A few years down the road the entire four nights were released in a box set, the image which is at the bottom of this posting.



Disc 4- The Future Aint What It Used to Be-

Opens with " Hello Cities" which is a weird thing Morrison would sometimes do say hello Cleveland and then name a dozen other cities.

Break On Through- Is a killer version from the Isle of Wight festival in 1970, great performance from the band's last show overseas.

" Rock Me" and " Money" are both taken from a killer performance in Vancouver in 1970. This entire concert has since been released.

"Someday Soon" a live cut recorded in 1970. This song was never recorded in the studio. Only played live, its bluesy direction hinted at the direction they would take in 1971.

" Go Insane" another cut from 1965 demo, which not only sounds nothing like the song that would make the song suite in " The Celebration of the Lizard" but it sounds nothing like the Doors!!! Also included from that demo is " Hello I Love You"

" Mental Loss" is just an improvised word and music nonsense, not great but a glimpse of what they would do live just for the hell of it.

" The Crystal Ship" and " I Can't See Your Face In My Mind" are both live cuts from the Matrix shows in 1967, great live cuts but the band stays very close to the original arrangements on these two tracks.

" The Soft Parade" from their live appearance in 1969 on PBS, the band perform a killer version of this song, stripped down to just the four Doors going for it.

" Tightrope Ride" is the only post-Morrison song included in the boxset. This was Ray Manzarek's angry lament about the loss of Jim Morrison. A song that is both angry and sad at the same time.

" Orange County Suite" was a song that Jim Morrison submitted for the Morrison Hotel album but the rest of the band did not care for it. In 1997 the band took the original demo which only included Jim Morrison's singing and piano playing and completed it and released it on this boxset.

Disc 4- Band Favorites- Is the disc where the surviving Doors pick their favorite tunes from their studio discography. Cool idea but unnecessary would have been better off with another disc of live cuts or a DVD, instead of a rehash of material that has already been included in many many comps.

manny wrote:

Interest in this thread is close to zip but decided to continue it because once I start something I need to see it thru.

Sorry about that Manny. I discovered something very interesting after I followed along in the original thread and bought up most of the Doors studio albums. And that was the discovery that...

I don't like the Doors that much. Allow me to explain.

I've always been pretty much a casual fan, having bought a greatest hits tape way back in high school. After many years and upgrading to the 2cd hits collection, I was pretty well satisfied with that. It was a cool spin when I'd sit in the bean-bag and take hits off of Scooby-Doo' water-cooled head .

When their albums were re-released for their 40th anniversary, I figured I'd grab them up and really discover the Doors. Like so many have told me before, perhaps I'd find some "deeper cuts" that would really light my fire (pun absolutley intended).

No such luck. Aside from LA Woman, which is still brilliant, the rest of their brief discography left me feeling...uninspired. Maybe it's too deep for me to understand or maybe I just don't get the poetry. I don't hate them or plan on ditching them anytime soon. Who knows if someday they'll click. But my interest in all things Doors was fleeting at best.

I don't think their music is too deep for you, The Doors may not be your thing, not a big deal. But I urge you to hold on to these discs because one day while you are sitting back listening, the music may hit and allow you to break on through to the other side

The site dumping all those other discography threads was a bummer. Kinda hard to go back and compete with something alot of us here have already read the first time around.
I notice that the majority of board members who show any interest in this section are the ones who are either contributing new content or commenting. Alot of folks don't seem to care one way or another what anybody thinks anymore.

At least you (Manny) dig deep into each song and say what ya think. Again, some don't dig reading that much unless they are a fanboy. The demographic of this particular site isn't gonna get too many Doors fans. Much less make any new ones if they already are not one.

I appreciate the time ya took to elaborate, great job !

I've been paying attention to this thread, and for the most part, the other active discog threads. I'm not the best at articulating my opinions in more than a few words, usually.

I've been reading along as well, just not commenting much.

The band formed their own specialty vanity label Bright Midnight in late 1999 to be released thru Rhino Label in order to release live albums only thru their website. The band felt their was not enough commercial appeal to release these albums thru brick and mortar stores but enough were diehard fans would be buy them, which was what these albums were meant to appeal to die hard Doors fans.

These recordings were for the most part recorded in 1970, and the shows were recorded for the purpose of creating a live album, which eventually was released 'Absolutely Live" in 1970 which was compiled from various different shows and venues. in 1983, another live album was created from these same various recordings as 'Alive She Cried". Originally Jim Morrison wanted the band to record a few shows and just chose one performance, have that be the live album. The producer Paul Rothchild wanted to chose the best of the various tapes, Morrison and the rest of the band had no interest in listening to hours of recordings left the decision about Rothchild which performances etc for the album.

In 2000 the first of these internet/mail order albums was released " Live In Detroit" recorded on May 8, 1970 in the famous Cobo Hall. The show was sold out, SRO only show and the band was on fire.

Morrison seems to be in particularly good mood, making a few jokes, and his famous sounding strong and confident. Typical of a Doors show the set list was no formalized til they hit the stage, but the favorites are here.

" Break On Through" featured the infamous improv 'Dead Cats/Dead Rats..." showing Morrison did not take himself all that seriously.

In the beginning of the set the band begins to play " Roadhouse Blues" and he stops the band to do his Hello to Cities "

Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek are excellent as usual, stretching and molding the arrangements from the original recordings.

The audience is ready to take a journey and have a real good time which their frontman is feeding off.

This would be the longest show of the band's career, Morrison was having a blast and the reversal of Axl Rose, the band payed a fine for playing over its union sanctioned limit because Morrison and the band were having such a great time.

This concert 's review even made its way to the Doors illustrated history book and this was a great start to the series, which was lot more successful then the band had anticipated.

The second release of the Bright Midnight Release, which was the first performance of a two night stand at the Aquarius Theater. The performance took place on July 21, 1969. The purpose of recording this performance was in hopes of using it for a live album, of course the album " Absolutely Live" which would emerge would not just be a live recording of just one concert as Jim Morrison had hoped but a comp of different concerts.

The concert opens with Morrison speaking to the audience, and the audience is quiet. This would be one of Jim Morrison's first performances fully bearded without his trademark leather pants. As a matter a fact a writer who reviewed this concert for his local paper, did not recognize the famous vocalist when the audience and himself spotted Jim Morrison on stage right before they started their concert.

The band sounds relaxed, knowing that audience is already in their corner and confident. The set list band played that night included favorites such as 'Break On Through" " Light My Fire" and " Back Door Man"

That evening the band played a song that would not see the light of the day, til their next studio album " Morrison Hotel" would be released in 1970. " You Make Me Real" , other tunes that the band never recorded studio versions such as " Universal Mind" " Build Me a Woman" and their version of " Mystery Train" combined with their own song " Away to India"

The entire band is playing at top of their game, and the arrangements are a bit tighter, and not as free flowing as other concerts the band will release in their Bright Midnight Series. Jim Morrison does not go off on any poetic tangements and the band plays it loose but tight with the arrangements. Not afraid to stretch and improvise a bit, but not so much so that the band looses the plot along the way.

Overall great concert, that demonstrates what all the fuss was about when it came the Doors as a live band.

Never knew these existed

James B. wrote:

Never knew these existed

There are few live albums to go, that were released on their Bright Midnight label, but they released a few to wider release as the series continued because these albums sold well enough to go into additional pressings. I will point out the ones that were available outside the Doors website and Amazon as I go thru each release.

Also, thank you for reading these quick reviews.

Doors live stuff interests me cause they did kinda/sorta mix things up with arrangements from time to time.

The second performance recorded on July 21, 1969, and another double CD. Thou this would be the second performance that same evening, the Doors would not short change their fans by cutting their set or by doing lame ass performance.

Thou some of the same songs would be repeated in the second set, the band never ever played the same show twice, re-arranging the set list order, dropping tunes, adding others and stretching the arrangements from the songs then what appeared in their studio counterparts.

This second performance is even better then the first performance, with both the band and audience in tune to one another, this concert takes on almost relaxed atmosphere. The audience screams along at the right moments such as 'WE WANT THE WORLD... segment in "When the Music is Over' section, but seem for the most part content to let the band take them on a musical journey.

The band do play 'You Make me Real" a song that would not make its debut til the following years 'Morrison Hotel" . A few songs that never made it as studio cuts such as "Universal Mind" " Mystery Train/Crossroads' and an instrumental version of 'Peace Frog' are in the set. Interesting enough the reason 'Peace Frog' is an instrumental is because at the time Jim Morrison had not been presented the music to write lyrics to, but he would add them when they hit the studio for their follow up.

At one point Jim Morrison asks for requests, where they yell out the usual suspect, instead they get 'Celebration of the Lizard' which proved to be unwieldy for a studio version but works perfectly as a live performance piece.

It should be mentioned since the Doors are not Jim Morrison and his backing band, that the entire band is on fire. Incredible how well these four men could read each other as musicians. John Densmore is able to provide a steady backbeat with Ray Manxarek able to play the organ bass with his right hand and keeping the circus like keyboards going with his left.

Robby Kreiger is fantastic, from the liner notes inside, their would be times Jim Morrison would turn to watch him during his soloing, forgetting their was paying audience to be entertained, it seems the lizard king would get lost in the moment to the music the band was creating,

Amazing the most self destructive rock star ever, sounds anything but self destructive. He takes time to joke with the audience, praising his band members and you can tell he is enjoying himself.

While their career was short lived, the impact they made on their fellow artists and fans, as a live band is very much in evidence. Thou Morrison mentions this being recorded for a live performance, he had no idea this concert would see the light of the day.

Released 30 years after his passing, it seems Jim Morrison learned the first lesson of show business and rock immortality, always leave the audience wanting more.

Thanks for the write-up Manny, I need to check these out.

I've read through this and must say, I need to get some Doors since I've always been nothing more than a casual fan. I think it's time to change that.