Classic Albums: The Doors

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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).

Guest

Classic Albums: The Doors

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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.

Guest