L.A. Woman [40th Anniversary Mixes]

The Doors | Format: MP3 Download

Product Details

• Original Release Date: March 19, 2007
• Release Date: March 19, 2007
• Label: Rhino/Elektra
• Copyright: 2007 Rhino Entertainment Company, a Warner Music Group Company
• Total Length: 59:18
• Genres:
• ASIN: B00122PV3Q
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (232 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,270 Paid in MP3 Albums (See Top 100 Paid in MP3 Albums)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Doors Masterpiece, April 2, 2007

By 

Alexander S. Meyer (Laredo Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: L.A. Woman (Audio CD)

For all reading this review I am referring to the March 2007 re-release of this milestone album. It was remastered and remixed as part of the 4oth anniversary Doors celebration. In the liner notes it is stated that the remaing Doors used the original master tapes, and remixed them to reveal subtleties not revealed in any previous release of this cd (They've done the same for all six studio albums) . The result is astounding. Morrisons voice cuts you like a knife, Manzareks keyboards are front and center, and you can hear the details of Kriegers' very focused playing. Certain songs have extra time on them. For example, the fade on "Love Her Madly" extends a bit more, and you hear a previously unreleased part of the original intro to "LA Woman". The sheer clarity of the recording reveals that "Riders on the storm" is even errier than when we first heard it back in 1971. This release of LA Woman is THE definitive version for anyone who loves the Doors. It's a rock/blues drenched masterpiece that transcends time, and its remix is simply amazing. I wish Jim were here to listen to it ....he'd be smiling for sure.

63 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The near-definitive version of an essential album, January 24, 2012

By 

Jeddy 3 - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: L.A. Woman (40th Anniversary) (MP3 Download)

It's getting annoying, isn't it -- the endless parade of rereleases, remasters, and repackagings designed to bleed music fans with the promise of something new from a long-gone band?

Reluctantly, I checked this album out on a streaming service. I wasn't about to part with another dollar to re-re-re-buy this middle-aged album without a good reason. I had the thing on vinyl, for cripes' sake. Then two CD versions, including the "Perception" box set... and now this.

If you don't own a version of this album, and if you like the Doors at all, you must jump on this. And even if you do own a previous version, this edition is well worth it.

Why? Well, if you don't own this album, you're missing a major shift in the Doors' direction, from sinuous adolescent psychedelia to boozy desert blues. It's not an easy shift for the listener to make; it took me easily 20 years of Doors fandom to really come around to this album after cutting my teeth on the poppy "Waiting for the Sun" and the hallucinatory "The Soft Parade" and all. I get it now. I'm glad I waited it out.

And if you do own the album, I recommend you grit your teeth and spring for this edition (perhaps vowing, like me, that this will be the VERY LAST time you pay for this music).

Why? First, it sounds great. Bright enough to hear all the instruments clearly, but not so bright that it sounds "modern." Let's face it, the warm sound of the music of this era is a major part of its attraction. No weird, forced stereo separation; no strange emphasis on any instrument or vocal; it's just pleasant to listen to.

And now -- you need alternate versions? Don't go no further. The second half of this reissue is chock full of truly wonderful alternate takes that I personally had never heard. These are complete takes that stand on their own -- any one of them would have been worthy to be the final take (barring the rather lackluster "Love Her Madly (Take 1))." Some of the chatter before the songs is quite amusing as well, especially the cutting up before "Riders on the Storm." Given the serious tone of most of the album, it's great to hear a bit of Jim's funny side.

As for the two "new" entries, "Rock Me" and "She Smells So Nice"... Well, "Rock Me" is a cover of the old blues standard, "Rock Me Baby," which they often performed live. And the "new song" that's been so hyped, "She Smells So Nice," isn't really a song, more of a loose, drunken jam on a blues theme. On both cuts, the band is ramshackle and Jim's voice is muffled and poorly recorded, and there are audible microphone crackles. I suspect these were warm-up jams that just happen to have been recorded. If you're a huge fan, you may want to get "She Smells So Nice" anyway, just for fun, but a "lost song" it ain't.

The only thing keeping this from being the definitive, ultimate "L.A. Woman" issue is the lack of the bonus tracks from the 2007 issue: "Orange County Suite" and "(You Need Meat) Don't Go No Further." Neither was included on the original "L.A. Woman" issue, but both are real songs (unlike "She Smells So Nice") and both are worthwhile. I'd go so far as to say they're essential for the Doors fan, especially "(You Need Meat)," a Willie Dixon cover. It's one of their best latter-day rockers and it really fits in with the rest of the album. Your best solution, if buying this album for the first time, is to buy this edition and go buy those two tracks individually. Then you'll have everything worth having... until they "discover" another "new" track, that is.

65 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Doors finest album, April 1, 2005

By 

Daniel Maltzman (Arlington, MA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: L.A. Woman (Audio CD)

The Doors final album with Jim Morrison (they would go on to record two more albums as a trio), remains their masterpiece and belongs in every rock collection. From start to finish, the album is brilliant. It was the Doors at their absolute best. The Doors previous albums ranged from very good to classic, but their sixth album "L.A. Woman" was their crown jewel.

It's common for most bands to start out playing the blues and then evolve into a musical style/idenity all their own. In this sense, the Doors sort of evolved backwards. They started out playing crazy, psychedelic music, and then ended their career playing the blues.

"L.A. Woman" is a very bluesy album. It's not pure blues (B.B. King, Leadbelly), but it's rock tinged with blues. The band never sounded better. To be sure, the Doors albums were always terrific, but they sounded most at home with the blues. Playing blues rock brought out the best in all the Doors members. Ray Manzarek (organ) and Robby Krieger's (guitar) solos worked perfectly against a blues backdrop. Drummer John Densmore's jazzy style was also well suited for the blues.

As for Jim Morrison...I think the Jim Morrison of 1967 was best suited to sing psychedelic acid rock. His ultra-cool swagger and showmanship was the ultimate voice for such music. But the Jim Morrison of 1971 was a much different person. In four years, Morrison aged a lifetime. In 1967, he sounded and looked 23. In 1971, he looked and sounded like an old man. It's hard to believe that the same voice that sang "Light My Fire" sang "Riders on the Storm" only four years later. On "L.A. Woman," Morrison sounds worn and tired, but it matched the bluesy-jazzy downbeat music perfectly. Morrison's finest poetry was also in this swan song. Noting too obscure or bizarre to be found. It was his most honest, straightforward work.

"L.A. Woman" is simply The Doors finest collection of songs. There is no filler to be found. Each song is a jewel on The Doors crown creation. From the opening "The Changeling," to the closing "Riders on the Storm," every song is great. Whether is be the hard rocking "Love Her Madly," the downbeat "Cars His By My Window," the bohemian "The Wasp" or the sublime "Riders on the Storm," every song is a masterpiece.

The general theme of the album seems to be the underbelly of L.A. in the early 70s. The album seems to function as a snapshot/soundtrack of that time and place. It's all about living day-to-day, strung-out, alone, not knowing when it will all end. In that sense, I take "LA Woman" to be sort of like a diary in the lives of Jim and (his wife) Pam. When you listen to this album, you can feel the longing, the desperation, the torment, the addictions, of that time and place. These songs sound lived in. When you listen to Morrison's screams in the title track, or soft-spoken baritone in "Cars Hiss By My Window" you get the sense that he knew it was going to end soon. "Riders on the Strom" seems to acknowledge and accept this fate.

The Doors "L.A. Woman" is one of the greatest albums of all-time and it is an album that every rock fan should own.