Classic Albums: The Doors (2008)

The Doors eponymous first album is universally regarded as their finest achievement and as one of the greatest debut albums in the history of rock music making it a worthy addition to the acclaimed Classic Albums series. The three surviving members of The Doors: Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger and John Densmore are all featured in new interviews along with original engineer Bruce Botnick, musicians Henry Rollins and Perry Farrell and executives Billy James (Columbia Records) and Jac Holzman (Elektra Records) plus many more. What emerges is the extraordinary story of the creation of a masterpiece.

TRACK LISTING: Features excerpts from: Break On Through (To The Other Side) - The Crystal Ship - Back Door Man - Soul Kitchen - Alabama Song (Whisky Bar) - Light My Fire - End Of The Night - The End - and more...

BONUS FEATURES * Additional & extended interview material not included in the broadcast version. * New instrumental demonstrations of songs from the album with Robby Krieger playing slide and flamenco guitar, Ray Manzarek performing the solo from "Light My Fire" and John Densmore showing his drum techniques. * The story behind "Moonlight Drive", which was cut from the album and later appeared in a different arrangement on the second album "Strange Days".

Disappointed. I'll tell you why.

I'm a big Doors fan. I'm also a fan of the "Classic Album" series.

My problem with this particular installment is that it is focuses way to much on how great The Doors were in general and their place in rock history, and not enough on the making of the actual album.

I expected in-depth insight on mixing, recording, equipment, performance, and instrumentation like the other installments I've seen (The Pink Floyd/DSotM and Hendrix/ELL DVDs are excellent examples of how these SHOULD be done). Instead, this one came off more like a VH1 Behind the Music puff-piece. Making-of aspects like the ones I mentioned above are present, but take a back seat to all the lauding.

Listen, if someone buys one of these Classic Album DVDs, chances are they are already a big fan of the band. So pontificating throughout the DVD about how great the The Doors are is preaching to the choir.

Bonus:
Cool to see Robbie Krieger on flamenco guitar. Ray M demonstrates organ parts & tells stories but comes off a little lame with an authentic but weak organ tone (Some more amplification would have been effective). October 8, 2008

Light my DVD player!

Another great DVD from classic albums. The only downside in the series is that EVERY song from an album is NOT talked about, that's too bad but I guess I can't complain. The surviving members of The Doors are interviewed often throughout, especially keyboard/bass player Ray Manzarek who fondly looks back on the Doors glory days of the late 1960's, and at nearly 70 years old, is a little worn like old leather but still a pretty cool hippy from the 60's. Densmore shows some interesting aspects of his drumming in the 'special features' and how Jazz drummers influenced him and how to make his playing more confortable and with tones, etc. Not surprisingly, "Light My Fire" gets more of the attention as compared to the other songs on origins, arranging, etc and a brief clip from the Ed Sullivan show was fun to see. I never was too keen on the poetry aspect of Jim Morrison's lyrics -some of which I will never understand nor try to- and they do go into that on this DVD a little bit too much for me by showing a friend of the band recite 'Break on Through(to the other side)' as if it was the greatest thing ever written in the history of human civilization and then offer his comments about almost every line in the song(as he does in the 'special features' of the DVD). It was quite amusing to watch... once. It strays too much into beatnick territory for me. Luckily they talk about the music too - there is no denying that Ray Manzarek was a HUGE part of the Doors sound, not to discredit Krieger and Densmore. Manzarek does a lot of playing and demonstrations on this disc and his stories of Morrison on stage are entertaining to listen to, as well Krieger and Densmore. I am a casual fan of the band, who grew up in the 80s so it's nice to see how one of the best bands of the 60's got started and to hear stories of Jim Morrison and antedotes that maybe even diehard Doors fan never knew. Definitely worth owning and the price is very affordable if you look in a certain huge retail store throughout the USA. Half the price of what you will find on the internet. May 7, 2008

Great find!

Already have a lot of this, but it's a nicely arrranged collection. Just wish there were more of these. Fair price, as was shipping and handling. A+. May 5, 2008

The DOORS best album and a MUST have!

I have had a love affair with The Doors first album for years and what a treat it was to to see it as a Classic albums DVD. For the first time you get a inside look at the creation of in my mind, one of the best first albums ever. The viewer gets in inside look at this album thanks to the insights of Ray, Robby, and John along with Bruce Botnick. If you love the Doors first album or are even a new fan sit back and relax as your in for a real treat!

Bruce was clearly having a blast discussing this album as you simply couldn't wipe that proud smile off his face. The Doors were blessed to have his talent. Associates of the band and fellow muscians also weigh in on what made this album so unique and provide the listener with what it was like to hear this album for the first time in 1967. I loved Robby's slide flamenco playing and John shows us just how valued and underated a drummer he was and lets not forget Ray. His insights into this album and stories were wonderful and put a big smile on the viewers face. He takes you back in time to a period where albums were every bit as much as a performance on record as they were on stage.

Running time is 88 minutes and the bonus features go into more fuller details on what instruements were used and how they were played. When watching this I came away with a BIG amount of respect for the remaining Doors members. Jim will forever be the symbol of the Doors with his poetic words, timeless voice, and stage presence and rightfully so but like John said he never played a chord. Ray, John, and Robby made what Jim wrote WORK and without them Jim would have gotten nowhere and before I get flamed YES they needed Jim too! This album to me gives the surviving Doors their due and I was thrilled to see that respect paid in full.

If you love The Doors like I do GET THIS DVD TODAY! If you are new to the band its relatively cheap and a good introduction to the band if you are deciding on whether or not to buy the album. The Doors really were the alternative to the hippie flower power of the time and this album cements their status as TRUE LEGENDS whose music will live forever long after I am gone. April 30, 2008

What a great disc!

Can't say enough positive things about this DVD. Doors' fans new and old will find content to appreciate. There's tons of subtle gems on here.

Along with the anecdotes Ray Manzarek has recited many times, he offers new details throughout, with his dynamic keyboard demonstrations. He's more than happy to tell us who and what was an influence on certain parts of the songs, while being the "left hand" bass player of The Doors.

Bruce Botnick, producer and engineer, provides a lot of insight throughout, isolating tracks, adding commentary which has not been seen before, there is one demo that I've never heard before, etc.

Robby Krieger breaks a lot of his guitar parts down so you can see how he played them. He even shows how he plays that one fill on The End @ the beginning of the song; that crazy sounding run of notes.

John Densmore gets one of the most memorable moments of the disc, saying at one point, "... it just seemed like magic and you don't control that, it just flows through you."

There's lots of Hollywood Bowl concert film interspersed w/the commentary (a minor criticism as most Doors' fans have seen all that), but there really is a lot of stuff here that made me want to make note of the particulars that I enjoyed.

It's a cool disc and inexpensive too. There's a ton of bonus features, that leave you wanting more. Classic Albums: LA Woman, Classic Albums: Waiting For The Sun - can we see them? Please? April 27, 2008

More reviews at Amazon.com ...