Angels Dance and Angels Die: The Tragic Romance of Pamela and Jim Morrison (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Sixties rock kingpin Jim Morrison personified the period's allegiance to sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll. Butler reexamines his life, emphasizing his "cosmic mate" and common-law wife, Pamela Courson. More or less ignored by previous Morrison biographers, Pam and Jim's relationship was relatively private and long term for a rock couple then and maybe for any couple anymore. A few years after Morrison's 1971 death, Courson died of an apparent heroin overdose. In the finest rock tradition, the circumstances of her death were questionable and were not much investigated: "At that time, in that place, if it looked to us like someone had died of a drug overdose, frankly we thought they deserved it and didn't waste our time on it," said one police officer who asked to remain anonymous. Perhaps this well-referenced, moving book will spark yet another renewal of interest in Morrison. After all, as a 1980s Rolling Stone headline put it, "He's hot, he's sexy, he's dead." More of his strange story only makes him more so. Mike Tribby --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

How one views this gossamer-thin account of the doomed Doors frontman and his equally troubled common-law wife rests largely on one's (forgive the expression) ``perception of the Doors.'' This book will be tonic to those eager for more dish on the man they regard as the Rimbaud-esque cynosure of the angst-filled '60s generation. Those baffled by Morrison's fame--particularly the respect he received as a poet--will find this book supports, quite unintentionally, their contentions as well. It's not that Butler didn't do her homework; among the people she interviewed and sources she consulted are the Elektra Records A&R tyro Jac Holzman and the surviving members of the Doors, school and police records, and even medical journals. The problem rests chiefly with Butler's subject. This story has in large part been told many times before, from many angles, and often to better effect. Readers, whether Doors fans or not, will have a tough time piecing events together chronologically, as this narrative only sketchily covers the background events that shaped and defined Jim and Pam's world. Additionally, Butler seems to cast a sentimental and too often uncritical eye on the ``tragic lovers' '' relationship, neglecting to acknowledge that the two were essentially beautiful booze- and drug-addled twentysomethings with money to burn, and that their fatal flaw was not so much being at odds with the material world as it was never having been forced to confront it without help from agents, roadies, groupies, or sycophants. The Doors' keyboardist and co- founder (with Jim), Ray Manzarek, claims that Pamela and Jim will ``go down in history as great lovers,'' and that their tale recalls Romeo and Juliet, Heloise and Abelard. Perhaps one could argue that a more fitting, albeit less flattering, comparison might be Sid (Vicious) and Nancy (Spungeon). -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Schirmer Trade Books; 2nd edition (August 10, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0825672708
• ISBN-13: 978-0825672705
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (111 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #799,440 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Patricia Butler did her homework!!!, December 10, 2002

By	angelaredhorse "redhorse29" (AZ) - See all my reviews

This book was so interesting, I finished it in a few days. Couldn't put it down. This is not a "fairytale". This is a book Ms. Butler obviously did a lot of research on. There's an extensive SOURCES section at the end of the book. For each chapter, everyone she interviewed, every source, is listed. Ray and Dorothy Manzarek, Robby Krieger, Julia Densmore-Negron, Bill (former Doors manager) Siddons, and many otheres in the Doors camp, too many to list here, are interviewed. People who knew Jim and Pam as far back as elementary school are interviewed. It makes for a very interesting read. Since so many people who knew Jim and Pam are constantly quoted, this book never feels like a delusional fairytale. It's not the biased POV of a single individual with an axe to grind, it's the words of MANY people who knew Jim and Pam for years.

The book didn't tell me anything about Pam's favorite bands, but I did get a sense of what drew her and Morrison together. They both came off as sort of "outcasts" in highschool, rebels who didn't fit in and refused to conform. There's consistency here. So many people described Pam as "sweet", but also someone gutsy enough to stand up to Jim if she had to. The book also gets into Jim's pattern with other women. A pattern of using other women as sounding boards to vent his frustrations with Pam, stringing these women along with poetry, letters, books, lots of attention, then returning to Pam. One of these women, named Anne, is interviewed. Her story reminded me a lot of Patricia Kennealy's, only without all the self-importance and bitterness. Anne wisely learned not to take Jim too seriously.

There are some very interesting interviews in here. I started reading "Strange Days" by Patricia Kennealy before this book. So imagine my surprise when Babe Hill is interviewed in "Angels Dance" and talks about a woman who came to FL during Jim's trial, claiming she was pregnant and married to Jim. Babe doesn't mention any names, but this interested me very much! Anyway, Babe goes on to ask Jim if it's true he's married, Jim tells him possibly, he doesn't know, he was drunk, and there were no feelings for this woman. This isn't something Butler "made up", this is what Babe Hill told her when he was interviewed.

Leon Barnard, the Doors European publicist, recalls the last conversation he had with Jim. "He said that Pamela had gotten under his skin, that she was his cosmic mate. He considered her to be his cosmic counterpart. He felt that he couldn't live without her, that she was the one he always returned to and she was the compliment to his existence". This isn't a made-up fairytale. It's Leon Barnard, someone who knew Jim personally, being interviewed by Patricia Butler. People who have no agenda and nothing to gain. People who witnessed Pam grieving during the aftermath of Morrison's death are interviewed.

If you put it all together, along with John Densmore's book "Riders on the Storm", and Ray Manzarek's book "Light My Fire", you get a pretty good picture. While Pamela is hardly the ruthless black widow certain ex-flings of Morrison would have us believe, it seems to be common knowledge in the Doors camp Jim got into Pam's stash. I've read Marianne Faithfull's book, and she talks about her boyfriend (Count Jean, also a flame of Pam's) being summoned to Jim and Pam's apartment. This seems to corroborate what John Densmore learned in his book. Marianne says Jean was a dealer who provided the smack Jim took. I won't buy Butler's "death by asthma" theory! Everything else Butler digs up is much more believable. Such as the revelations in the un-published manuscripts of Max Fink, Jim's lawyer. As for Pam being a "junkie", Butler dug up the actual autopsy report on Pam. Seems Pam was a serious dabbler, not a serious junkie, when she died. I think the coroner is less biased than certain bitter, ex-flings of Morrison who resented Pamela. Butler's overall research is quite impressive. I recommend this book to any Doors fan, right along with books by Manzarek and Densmore!

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Bio, A Great Read, August 28, 2001

By	Mark Kosobiecki (Connecticut) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Angels Dance & Angels Die : The Tragic Romance of Pamela & Jim Morrison' (Paperback)

I have to admit it, I've been intrigued with Jim Morrison for close to 20 years now and, I've read a lot of book which all seem to re-hash the same story. This book was genuinely different though. Perhaps because it was written by a woman and perhaps just because the author did her homework and turned over stones no one had looked under before. Whatever the case, this book gives a unique perspective of Jim, Pamela and, the Doors. It brings to life a much more human side of Jim that seems very hard to convey and yet Patricia Butler has done just that. You can almost feel the anguish and grief Jim must have felt as beinig labelled a "rock star". In the same respect, you can almost feel the anguish and grief Pam must have felt by some of Jim's behavior. This is truly a good book even, if you're not a huge Doors fan, I highly recomend it.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pamela Finally Gets Attention by [e-mail], December 5, 2001

By	Doors Fan (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Angels Dance & Angels Die: The Tragic Romance of Pamela & Jim Morrison (Hardcover)

Patricia Butler does a brilliant job in uncovering new facts about the relationship between Jim Morrison and Pamela Courson. Previous books about Jim underestimated his relationship with Pam. Butler's book looks at the couple's tender side and battles. It is obvious that Jim loved Pamela to the chagrin of Patricia Kennealy. I was not aware that Pam encouraged Jim at the end of his life to reconcile with his parents. Also, I was not privy to Jim's relationship with Tom Reese. Tom and Jim had a brief homosexual fling during Jim's stay at St. Petersburg Junior College. Furthermore, Butler mentions that Jim was molested as a small boy. When Jim told his mother, she called him a liar. Perhaps this explains some of Jim's bizarre episodes that occurred later in his life.
There are a few facts that trouble me. Butler attributes Jim's death to asthma. In Break on Through by James Riordan and Jerry Prochnicky, they have reliable evidence that Jim got into Pam's heroin, and overdosed. Also, many sources from other Morrison books say that Pam became a severe drug addict after Jim's death. Butler does not mention this. Instead, she paints a better picture of Pam during her last years. I did not like how the book jumped through periods. For example, Butler dwells on Pam's relationship with Randy Ralston after Jim's death. What else was she doing? Other books point to her dark side; i.e. drugs, sexual affairs. Furthermore, Jim never planned on leaving The Doors. John Densmore reveals in his book Riders on the Storm that Jim was writing more material in Paris for a new album. Butler also relies heavily on No One Here Gets Out Alive for material.
In conclusion, I recommend this book to Doors fans. Although some facts can be disputed, the book is far better than Oliver Stone's movie. I learned that Jim and Pam did love each other, despite their fights and drug addicted personalities.