Track Listing

1. Break On Through (To The Other Side)
2. Soul Kitchen
3. The Crystal Ship
4. Twentieth Century Fox
5. Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)
6. Light My Fire
7. Back Door Man
8. I Looked At You
9. End Of The Night
10. Take It As It Comes
11. The End
12. Moonlight Drive
13. Moonlight Drive
14. Indian Summer

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2477 in Music
• Released on: 2007-03-26
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

CD Description
The first Doors album was an important development in the evolution of rock, representing the dark underbelly of the '60s counterculture, the Jekyll to the Beatles/Beach Boys' Hyde. The Doors were the antithesis of windblown Californian pop. Dark, brooding and alienated, every element of the quartet's metier was unveiled on their debut album. In Jim Morrison they posessed one of rock's authoritative voices, while the group's dense instrumental prowess reflected his lyrical mystery. Highly literate, they wedded Oedipian tragedy with counter-culture nihlism and, in "Light My Fire", expressed exotic images previously unheard in pop. Howlin' Wolf, Brecht and Weill are acknowledged as musical reference points, a conflict between the physical and cerebral that give THE DOORSits undiluted tension. Or you can just enjoy it as a brilliant album that sucks you in as it breathes out the '60's. The Doors were the antithesis of windblown Californian pop. Dark, brooding and alienated, every element of the quartet's metier was unveiled on their debut album. In Jim Morrison they posessed one of rock's authoritative voices, while the group's dense instrumental prowess reflected his lyrical mystery. Highly literate, they wedded Oedipian tragedy with counter-culture nihlism and, in "Light My Fire", expressed exotic images previously unheard in pop. Howlin' Wolf, Brecht and Weill are acknowledged as musical reference points, a conflict between the physical and cerebral that give THE DOORS its undiluted tension. Or you can just enjoy it as a brilliant album that sucks you in as it breathes out the '60's.

Customer Reviews

The killer awoke before dawn...
The Doors back catalogue has been due a makeover for years, and wow, haven't they spent some effort on it. The sound quality on these discs has never been bettered in my opinion. If you're thinking of upgrading your entire Doors collection, consider the Perception Box Set, if not read on...

This is where in all began. Light My Fire. Crystal Ship. The End. Back Door Man. Soul Kitchen. No other psychedelic blues band could boast a virtuoso organist, a wizard guitarist and an accomplished poet. The Doors did. This album finds them at the top of their form.

The bonus cuts here are nice - two cuts of Moonlight Drive and one cut of Indian Summer. Moonlight Drive appears in slightly different form to that on Strange Days, with plenty of reverb on Ray's Vox organ. Nice. I think this cut appeared on the Box Set (Without a Safety Net) a few years ago. If you think Indian Summer sounds like the cut on Morrison Hotel... that's because the cut on Morrison Hotel was recorded in 1966 too!

Why Not?
This latest series of Doors remasters represent the second upgrading of the band's legacy....by common consent, the very first Doors CDs were streets ahead of the needle-drop, unremastered, tinny products that customers were ripped off by in the early CD age....my 1990 CD of 'L.A. Woman' still sounds great and I've no plans to change it.
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.

Try to set the night on fire
The Doors were one of those really great rock bands -- they flared up briefly, shone brightly, and then died away with the untimely death of their frontman, Jim Morrison. And listening to their debut album, it's easy to see why people still listen -- hard-hitting, swirling bluesy-rock songs, with sensual vocals in the middle.

It opens with gritty riffs and a rippling organ, forming a catchy, dark melody that seems to be full of urgency. And the song Morrison sings is full of emotion, ranging from affection to a haunted paranoia. "I found an island in your arms/Country in your eyes/Arms that chain us/Eyes that lie/Break on through to the other side!" he sings smoothly.

The songs that follow are in the same musical mold, but they try out different combos -- jazzy rock with mellotron, plaintive raw rockers, a delicately soaring mythic ballad, rough bluesy rock with a twangy edge, and the howling, impassioned "Back Door Man."

It also contains two of their most famous songs: the legendary "Light My Fire," a shimmeringly catchy little single. And it finishes up with the legendary "The End," a sort of eerie symbolic journey-song with an Oedipal twist. "Ride the snake, ride the snake/To the lake, the ancient lake, baby/The snake is long, seven miles/Ride the snake...hes old, and his skin is cold..."

This isn't the Doors' most polished work, but it's definitely their most passionate -- you can hear in Morrison's voice, and in the blasting-out instrumentation. These guys were just starting their musical journey, and they were full of enthusiasm and musical inspiration.

And that musical inspiration shines in these melodies, whether it's raw grimy stuff influenced by the blues, or some more polished, danceable songs. Robby Krieger twisted some amazing riffs into shape, and John Densmore providedthe drums. And Ray Manzarek deserves special attention for those brilliant rippling keyboards, including the famous organ intro.

But what makes it beyond great? That would be Morrison. His cryptic songs are full of mythic allusions, sexual hints, giant snakes, dusty highways, and nameless women. And his smooth voice can change from a croon to a howl to a chant at a moment's notice.

"The Doors" show off the Doors at the start of their public career, overflowing with musical skills and energy. Definitely a must-listen for classic rock fans.