Legacy: Absolute Best [Original recording remastered]

The Doors | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 12, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 2003
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Elektra / Wea
• ASIN: B0000AINOJ
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (91 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #82,414 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Break on Through (To the Other Side)

2. Back Door Man

3. Light My Fire

4. Twentieth Century Fox

5. The Crystal Ship

6. Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar)

7. Soul Kitchen

8. The End

9. Love Me Two Times

10. People Are Strange

See all 19 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Touch Me

2. Wild Child

3. Tell All the People

4. Wishful Sinful

5. Roadhouse Blues

6. Waiting for the Sun

7. You Make Me Real

8. Peace Frog

9. Love Her Madly

10. L.A. Woman

See all 15 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Latest "Best Of" Is Not For Everyone, April 12, 2004

By 

Steve Vrana (Aurora, NE) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Legacy: Absolute Best (Audio CD)

There's a lot of kvetching going on among my fellow reviewers. Most of the 1- to 3-star reviews complain about yet another repackaging of Doors material, but that shouldn't detract from the contents. The thirty-four tracks [which are all full-length album versions] are presented chronologically from their six studio albums, plus "Gloria" from 1983's ALIVE SHE CRIED and the previously unissued 17-minute studio version of "Celebration of the Lizard." In short, this is a terrific compilation--and finally, a "best of" which features the ENTIRE band on the cover! [Running time: disc one, 79:24; disc two, 76:25] HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Definitive? Well, Pretty Inclusive..., June 7, 2004

By 

B. Niedt (Cherry Hill, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Legacy: Absolute Best (Audio CD)

I don't know about "definitive", but this is the most comprehensive "unboxed" Doors collection to date. (The original "Doors Box Set", in my opinion, contains much filler and substandard performances, and is for diehards and completists only.) This 2-disc collection contains all their chart hits (seven top 40 singles, including two #1's) and most of their better album tracks, including the two epics, "The End" and "When the Music's Over". Generally, the track choices are on the money, although I would have liked to see the title track of "The Soft Parade" included. Also, I have mixed feelings about "Celebration of the Lizard", a lengthy unreleased work which contains the original version of "Not to Touch the Earth", and has more archival than musical value. If you have no Doors in your CD library yet, however, this is the best collection out there.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost Ideal, June 1, 2005

By 

C. S. Junker "soul_survivor" (Burien, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Legacy: Absolute Best (Audio CD)

I have no idea how many Doors "greatest hits" collections have been issued over the years, but this is as good as it's likely to get without simply buying all six albums.

The previous "Best of the Doors" was 2-cd set but was a transfer from a two-LP set and didn't take advantage of the longer CD running time, each disc running under 45 mins. This set not only includes all the Doors' most popular songs but puts them in chronological order, and adds the live track "Gloria" and the previously unissued studio version of "The Celebration of the Lizard."

"Lizard" is a curio item that seems to have been tacked on to force people like me (who already own all the Doors albums) to buy this one too. While "Lizard" is a great poem, the line about "a different steeple" being a notable exception, most of the music doesn't work that well, except for "Not to Touch the Earth." The live versions of "Lizard" are equally frustrating, running hot and cold but never having quite the impact the Doors were shooting for. This is clearly still a work in progress; perhaps if the Doors had continued to perform it they would have found a solid groove for it. (Ray Manzarek has said that he was never competely satisfied with live performances of "The End", either; but at least they nailed the studio version.)

IMPORTANT: Both "The End" and "Break on Through" include minor alterations from their original versions. There is some different vocalization by Jim on both songs, some of which you hear on the version of "The End" that was used in the film "Apocalypse Now." There's nothing inherently wrong with offering these alternative mixes but it does detract from the collection's claim to be definitive.

*This compilation has been deleted and replaced by yet another two-disc set, with some different songs.*