Customer Reviews

Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

Don't be fooled by this book. These are all second- and third-hand accounts of events. This guy did zero-null-nada extra research to write a book about Jim Morrison. He took all of it from all the other books (Manzarek, Densmore, Sugarman/Hopkins, etc.) written about Morrison. On top of that the book could be organized better. Story after story are strung together with no connection to each other. Davis takes some literary license making it read like a polished novel: he seems to know every facial expression that was exchanged between people and exactly how many drinks Jim had wherever he went.

1. Didn't go into the full conversation that Ray and Jim had discussing the full meaning behind naming the band "The Doors".
2. Made a passing comment that Ray and his wife and Jim may have had a menage a trois.
3. Stated that The Doors were first on a list of bands at Columbia Records that were being dropped by the company. According to Ray or John's book the Doors were in the middle of the list.
4. He said that after Jim hosed down the studio after recording "The End" that Jim had jumped the studio fence and Paul Rothchild grabbed him as Jim tried to run away. Patricia Butler ("Angels Dance and Angels Die") states that Jim scaled the fence and returned to Pam waiting in her car by climbing back over the fence and getting his boot caught in the fence. The boot was then found the next day and later traced to Jim. (Mrs. Butler actually did some research in her book if you read her bibliography).
5. Davis states that the boyfriend of the girl that Jim was making out with backstage in New Haven had asked the Police to look for her which is how the Police stumbled upon Jim and maced him. According to Ray Manzarek, that's not why the Police were backstage before the show.
6. States that the Doors' Buick commercials ran in the South and Midwest. In Manzarek's or Densmore's book it states that Buick pulled the plug after making the deal and never ran the ad.
7. States that Robby took Spanish Caravan from Isaac Albeniz Partido No. 1. He took it from Albeniz Spanish Suite 1. (There is no such work in classical music called a "Partido"!)
8. He called "The End" Robby's "Andalusian goat song". Yeah, I always picture a goat in the Spanish Andalusian Mountains when I listen to that song.
9. He says in The Lost Paris Tape (Paris) that Jim "launched into an astounding version of Orange County Suite". Sadly, the most amateur, unprofessional poet or musician wouldn't be caught associating themselves with a recording (if you want to call it that) like this. There is no semblance of poetry or music on this embarrassing piece of short sleepy, childlike tape. The most interesting moment on this tape is when Morrison comments on the beautiful Cuban cigar he has and tells his buddy that he doesn't have to bite the tip off.
10. He says that Jim and Pam saw the movie "Pursued" on the night of July 2. Later in the book he writes that Pam said the movie they saw was "Death Valley". He makes no reference to the contradiction.

I made these observations after a few days of reading this book. Too bad Mr. Davis didn't pay attention to these subtleties after devoting part of his life writing it. The more I read in this book the less credence I gave to it. I wonder if Stephen Davis even knows what song featured the words "I'm the lizard king. I can do anything!"? I highly doubt it. I think I remember his book "Hammer of the Gods" also came under heavy scrutiny when it was released. This is a good starter kit to get familiar with Morrison. When you're finished with this get the other books and start connecting the dots.

I am neither a Doors scholar nor have I read extensively in the literature devoted to the band's rise to prominence in the late nineteen-sixties and its subsequent demise. I did see the Doors perform once or twice. And I have screened Oliver Stone's film which, in my opinion, raised more questions about the iconic Jim Morrison than it answered. So, for the record, I came to Stephen Davis's sprawling biography of Morrison without a lot of prior knowledge and without expectations for a fresh take on its subject of inquiry. That said, I found Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend to be a cogent, well-written narrative history that kept me involved from first page to last. I was impressed not only with Davis's effective characterization of Morrison and The Doors, but with his panoramic evocation of the turbulent sixties which for me was the emotional highlight of this book. I am unable to comment on the accuracy of Davis's reporting but I can state unequivocally that by the time I finished reading I felt I had come to know Jim Morrison viscerally and to understand how his background, and the times he lived through, had shaped both his personality and his destiny. Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend reads like a novel and is hugely informative. For those who came of age during the late sixties, it will provide a nostalgically jarring recreation of a time categorically unlike any other before or after.

Only a NON-Doors fan, with no previous knowledge of the band, could give this book 5 stars.

I am a long time Doors fan. I've read numerous books on the Doors over the years. I give this book one star because there is nothing new or original here. I've read it all before in other books. It's apparent the author did no new research of his own, and simply borrowed from other books on the Doors. Davis doesn't hesitate to repeat the same old incorrect history or fabricated stories on the Doors either.

Don't waste your money on this one. Unless you've been living under a rock and never read any other Doors book in your life.

This is perhaps the best written of all the Jim Morrison bio's. Davis' prose is truly a pleasure to read. But unfortunately, the fun stops there. Almost every quote that he uses is lifted from other source material. On top of that, despite the odd new nugget on Morrison, everything here has been covered already. I had hoped Davis would bring new perspectives on Jim from people who hadn't already been in all the other bios; or at least hadn't been focused on much in other bios. "Life, Death, Legend" just throws the other books into a blender and puts a new cover on the amalgamation.

If you wonder whether this book might be the "last word" on Morrison, I am here to tell you that it has no footnotes and no index. There is a bibliography of "selected sources" without page citations, and a list of acknowledgments which includes Albert Goldman (author of LIVES OF JOHN LENNON) and Victor Bockris (author of unauthorized bios of Lou Reed and Patti Smith).

Certain sections are good; for instance, a few pages about dysfunctional military families and how the children sometimes have difficulty adjusting to the "outside world." This is general information, though, and it could be wholly irrelevant. It's just offered by Davis as a likely factor in Morrison's abnormal development. There's talk of sexual abuse, Beat literature and a trip to the cinema to see REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE.

Overall, the reporting does not seem trustworthy, no matter how much of it is "true." 1) Davis frequently asserts a special knowledge of Morrison's mind and body without substantiating his statements. 2) Given a choice between reporting or holding back on a scandalous piece of gossip that can't be proved true, he'll report it (with qualifiers in parentheses, or as the "belief" of some person who knew Jim). Well, his choices do make the book more interesting, but they also show a lack of respect for his subject and his audience.

If you dip into Something Weird Video's DVD of MONDO MOD & THE HIPPIE REVOLT, the audio commentaries by Johnny Legend (a Sunset Strip refugee of the late 60s) can enlighten you further about Morrison and his essentially unknowable nature. Everyone from that place and time seems to have a first-hand tale about meeting Morrison somewhere and failing to communicate with him, as he was blotto on drugs, booze and self-absorption.

This book carries on the tradition, falling into the rut of a thousand other rock-bios, in which a "rock star" is half public image, half his clandestine & recreational pursuit of "kicks," with no inner life apart from what might bear on his outward excesses. MORRISON: LIFE, DEATH, LEGEND is a chronological record of known or conjectural sexual activity and substance abuse, with extended musical interludes. That's life?

This has got to be one of the most inacurate books out there.First off the man can't label pictures correctly.Did he not take the time or care enough to label them correct?.There is nothing new here maybe except for a few odds and ends.He is just basically going into things weve already read inother books,trying to put them into his own words and such.This is indeed embarrasing--for the author

He died in Paris in 1971 under suspicious circumstances, leaving behind a very confused legacy of ex-lovers, rich music and bizarre contradictions. Like Marilyn Monroe, Princess Di and other celebrities who died young and beautiful, Jim Morrison is still a subject of fascination.

Unfortunately, Stephen Davis doesn't do him justice in "Jim Morrison: Life Death Legend" -- he seems more interested in the dirt than the man. Morrison came into his own when he was hired onto the Doors, one of the darler, less psychedelic bands of the 1960s. His intense songwriting and kinetic onstage persona helped rocket the Doors to superstardom.

Morrison lived fast before dying young -- he doted on his longtime girlfriend Pamela, with whom he stayed until his death, but also became involved with critic Patricia Kennealy, goth-rocker Nico, and many other women. He used plenty of drugs, and dabbled in the darker side of his own nature, before dying mysteriously at a young age.

Stephen Davis is best known for his biographies of legendary rock bands like the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. If he had attempted a total biography of the Doors, this might have worked. But when he focuses on just one person, the biography ends up overstretched and undernourished. There's too little new information of worth here.

Unfortunately, little is new about Davis's reporting; most of Morrison's wild excesses and intriguing contradictions have been reported elsewhere. As a result, he tries to pad the book with intimations that Morrison was not the Lizard King, but the Lizard Queen. However, none of his rather smirky gay rumours have much substance.

He does, however, manage a balanced view of the people in Morrison's life, such as his various girlfriends. Pamela Courson is given an unusually clear-eyed portrayal, neither as a wronged junkie nymph, nor as a stupidly malignant temptress. Likewise, handfasted wife Patricia Kennealy's bitter autobiography and dubious claims are examined in detail.

However, Morrison himself remains an enigma. Davis clearly doesn't know what to make of Morrison's life or death, and so clings to the deeply dubious gay rumours to flesh out his unenlightening "Legend."

I've read practically every bio on Jim, from the original, albeit suspect pulp, "No One Here Gets Out Alive," to Davis' new addition to the funeral pyre, "Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend." In the latter, Davis' factual errors make Jerry Hopkins' "Lizard King" seem exhaustively researched by comparison. Not only that, the author wastes the first 302 pages on rehashed information contained in nearly every book published up until June 2004.

Most criminal, though, would be how the author does an Albert Goldman (nice eponym, no?), who, incidentally (and thankfully), died before he could finish his Hefty Bag bio on Jim, doing to Jim what he ostensibly did to Lennon in 1988. That said, Davis claims that Jim fit more of the role of a "Lavender King" than that of the notorious--and beloved--"Lizard King."

Listen to Jim at his raunchiest (thanks to "An American Prayer" and the Bright Midnight releases) and you'll know for a fact that Mr. Mojo Risin' dug tacos, not weiners. However, this spin on the Morrison legend only skims the surface of the problems associated with this pitifully written book.

Only when we get to "James Douglas Morrison" (Book Three) does the author tantalize us with palatable minutiae, like "Hard Rock Cafe" as the working title of "Morrison Hotel" (actually the name for the "A" side) and the song "HWY9" as the original title of the legendary "Roadhouse Blues." Flash-forward to "The Last Interview": we get, what I contend, may be the inciting incident that prompted Davis to write this book in the first place: the confession of one of Max Fink's golf buddies that revealed that Jim would be exterminated in jail unless Mr. Mojo Risin' beat a path out of town. The anecdote reads like a cloak-and-dagger yarn--and pure Hollywood--but, hell, why should fantasy stand in the way of a potential buck, thinketh Davis. Plus, Rolling Stone Magazine--the zombie of all magazines, Jann Wenner the ultimate hougan--paid him well for an excerpt, even though Rolling Stone, that rag, has a history of Morrison bashing.

Yet, Davis really goads this reader when he attempts to merge unrelated Led Zep and Brian Jones minutiae with the Morrison universe. Now, don't get me wrong; I dig Zep and The Stones. I just suspect that Davis lacked much by way of sources and felt the need to fatten his calf a bit. And hey, he had extensive sources on The Stones and Zep, having written bios on them, too. Irrespective of the pompous Robert Plant's musings about an over-the-hill Morrison at a 1969 concert in which The Doors and Zep shared the bill and the fact that Jim made sure fans at the Aquarius shows received his "Ode to Brian Jones" poem upon entering the venue, what worth does it serve to the Morrison universe?

Stuff the book under the leg to level out your dining room table, but only do that if you received the book as a present. Spend the $27.50 on some Bright Midnight CDs. Jim lives, just not in Davis' "I-can't-get-Zep-or-Brian-out-of-my-mind" recycled exploiter. Peace.

This was the first book I've read on Morrison. It was very interesting and well written but the lack of footnotes bothered me. I'm always curious to see where a particular anecdote in a biography comes from and with this book there's no way of knowing. It seems to me that Davis just rehashed a lot of what had been previously published before him. A good read, but I still don't know any more about Morrison that I didn't know before.

He died in Paris in 1971 under suspicious circumstances, leaving behind a very confused legacy of ex-lovers, rich music and bizarre contradictions. Like Marilyn Monroe, Princess Di and other celebrities who died young and beautiful, Jim Morrison is still a subject of fascination.

Unfortunately, Stephen Davis doesn't do him justice in "Jim Morrison: Life Death Legend" -- he seems more interested in the dirt than the man. Morrison came into his own when he was hired onto the Doors, one of the darler, less psychedelic bands of the 1960s. His intense songwriting and kinetic onstage persona helped rocket the Doors to superstardom.

Morrison lived fast before dying young -- he doted on his longtime girlfriend Pamela, with whom he stayed until his death, but also became involved with critic Patricia Kennealy, goth-rocker Nico, and many other women. He used plenty of drugs, and dabbled in the darker side of his own nature, before dying mysteriously at a young age.

Stephen Davis is best known for his biographies of legendary rock bands like the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. If he had attempted a total biography of the Doors, this might have worked. But when he focuses on just one person, the biography ends up overstretched and undernourished. There's too little new information of worth here.

Unfortunately, little is new about Davis's reporting; most of Morrison's wild excesses and intriguing contradictions have been reported elsewhere. As a result, he tries to pad the book with intimations that Morrison was not the Lizard King, but the Lizard Queen. However, none of his rather smirky gay rumours have much substance.

He does, however, manage a balanced view of the people in Morrison's life, such as his various girlfriends. Pamela Courson is given an unusually clear-eyed portrayal, neither as a wronged junkie nymph, nor as a stupidly malignant temptress. Likewise, handfasted wife Patricia Kennealy's bitter autobiography and dubious claims are examined in detail.

However, Morrison himself remains an enigma. Davis clearly doesn't know what to make of Morrison's life or death, and so clings to the deeply dubious gay rumours to flesh out his unenlightening "Legend."