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The quality may have something to do with the fact that the Doors original albums were so well engineered in the first place....they always did sound ahead of the game, with gleaming, up-front production, beautifully recorded guitars and keyboards and resonant percussion.
There was a previous upgrade in 1999, which improved the bass frequencies; and now we have this latest, and most controversial, Doors edition.
The booklet warns you that you won't be hearing the original 1967 album; that's because the master tapes have been remixed to give new emphasis to certain instruments; plus some new Morrison vocal tracks are used, most notably on 'The End'.
Naturally, some people have objected to this...why not leave it as it was? And whilst I sympathise with that viewpoint, having heard this CD, I have to say I'm not about to make the same objection. Firstly, the sound is magnifiscent: the debut was always the cheapest-sounding Doors album, being done on 2-track equipment. Now, whilst it still sounds cheap compared to say, Morrison Hotel or The Soft Parade, the sound is glossier and fuller...and the remixes do have a 'new light through old windows' effect on the listener, which is not at all off-putting.
The bonus tracks are also very welcome (it was where the last set of remasters fell down, as the Doors' albums tended to be a bit on the short side)and, at budget price, there is no reason not to pick this one up.
The music of the Doors was a peculiar blend of rock, blues, classical, jazz, and powerful lyrics. Nobody around played guitar like Krieger, while Manzarek's classical influences showed up in his organ riffs, Densmore brought some Latin influences, and Morrison's lyrics contained moments of searing emotional poetry. From the opening notes of "Break on Through (To the Other Side)" it is clear this group is different. For somebody who was consuming mass quantities of drugs and alcohol, Morrison's lyrics were the sort that students should be discussing in literature class: "I found an island in your arms/A country in your eyes," a love that becomes transmuted into "arms that chain" and "Eyes that lie." Then the song explodes into sound as the band announces its presence with authority. This is such a key song in the history of the Doors that there is reason it leads off most anthologies and collections of their best songs.
"Light My Fire," and I can remember finally getting to listen to the long version having only heard the single version with the impressive, intricate organ solo that still stands alone as the epitome of what can be done with that instrument in a rock song. Then Jose Feliciano proved how good it was in his totally stripped down acoustic version. "Take It As It Comes" is also pretty good, even if not quite in that same class. Still, it is the moodiness of "The Crystal Ship" and the "eleven-minute Oedipal drama" of "The End" that defined the Doors as one of the strangest and most ambitious rock groups around. It is impossible to think of another Sixties rock group that was as disturbing as the Doors, an idea codified in popular culture by Francis Ford Coppola's use of "The End" at the climax of "Apocalypse Now." Not only literature classes but future psychologists and psychiatrists could have a field day analyzing Morrison's lyrics as well.
music selection on the disk is the best (reminded me of old days when i was listening this same album on tape)
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