Customer Reviews

Stoned Immaculate: Music of the Doors

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is the Doors tribute album I have so eagerly awaited. I am a huge Doors fan and maybe I expected the second coming of the Doors to happen on this disc. Unfortunately that doesn't happen. Not to say that this isn't a good album, but I just couldn't bear to hear Train hack up "Light My Fire." First of all, whoever the lead singer of Train is needs to sit down and smoke a few cigarettes and indulge in some Wild Turkey to rough up his prissy voice a little before even attempting to cover a Morrison classic. Second, Ray Manzarek was nowhere to be found on this song, and it was a sheer disappointment to not hear a new fabulous organ solo. Ok, enough venting about that...

STP, Days of the New, and Creed all turn out fabulous renditions of the songs they cover, and Aerosmith hasn't sounded so raw since 1975! I expected more from Smash Mouth on "Peace Frog," and the pairing of John Lee Hooker's adlibs with Jim Morrison's pre-recorded vocals on "Roadhouse Blues" seem a little out of place. This disc really shines on the "new" Doors material. None of it is really new, though. The new material features new, haunting intrumentals of Doors classics not covered by other bands on the compilation played by the surviving members of the band. Jim himself, William Burroughs, and a few others recite miscellaneous lines of poetry over the familiar melodies that make you wonder where the Doors could be now had Jim not died.

Please don't expect a complete Doors revival from Stoned Immaculate:The Music of the Doors. Give it a few listens to let it all sink in, and enjoy...

The Doors remain one of the most influential bands of all time and so it seems fitting that big names like Creed, Stone Temple Pilots and Aerosmith would pay them tribute, and they do it with flare and gusto. The album is a great exhibit of the theater, poetry and sound The Doors brought to rock music. Yet, this album could have been much more. First let's look at the performances. Stone Temple Pilots open the album with a stylish, energetic "Break On Through" that serves as great modernization of the song but also a loving homage to the original. One of the band's stellar tracks (especially when you look at their recent material). Creed follows with another masterful cut, their "Riders On The Storm" pulses and builds, it is a perfect hybrid of the Creed sound and Doors spirit. Robby Krieger here adds a great slide guitar solo. Train kills the mood with a horrible "Light My Fire" that totally loses the timeless essence of the original and makes the lame assumption it is nothing more than a hippie tune. Smash Mouth delivers a fun "Peace Frog" that keeps the spirit of the original with a little modern fusion of what one can see as hip-hop and semi-Punk feels. Days Of The New also delivers with an exhilarating, edgy "L.A. Woman" (eventhough I would have preferred Iggy Pop here considering he was the original rumored name for this song). Aerosmith burns and grinds with an awesome "Love Me Two Times" that stands as the best cover of this song ever performed. The Cult proves to be a metal band of great magnitude with "Wild Child," a burning cover that retains the tribal feel of the original. Ian Astbury delivers one of the best vocals on the record. Some have given a bad look towards the combination of John Lee Hooker's vocals with Jim Morrison's for "Roadhouse Blues," this is not a bad track though. It's a great blues jam with the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea on bass. William S. Burroughs delivers his last recording here, the grandfather of Punk reads a loving homage to Morrison in the form of his poetry. Oleander (whatever happened to them?) gives a not so-great "Hello I Love You" (U2 would have been perfect here). Ian Astbury of The Cult performes an unwanted "Touch Me" while Perry Farrell of Jane's Addiction and Exene Cervenka of X read some more Morrison poetry (why not sing a duet?) while Bo Diddley presents a rather boring "Love Her Madly." Days Of The New finish with a rather fresh, alsmost hypnotic "The End." It seems that the first half of the album works while the second feels lazier. Oh, the Burroughs track is great and "The End" rocks, but do we honestly want "Touch Me?" Why not "People Are Strange," "The Crystal Ship" or "When The Music's Over?" Even a Blondie "Moonlight Drive" would be welcome. "Five To One" was recorded by Marilyn Manson but was kept to be used a B-side for his "Holy Wood" album (great track too). "Under Waterfall" and "The Cosmic Movie," remixes of Doors samples are interesting, but not as interesting as it would have been to see maybe U2 or Pearl Jam deliver a track. If one looks at the current Ramones tribute album, one sees what this one was missing: More bands performing. Hell, where's Jim Carroll? Iggy Pop is sorely missed as well as all of X and Jane's Addiction, or the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Garbage could've done a track. The plain truth is, a fanatic Doors fan like myself expects more from people who supposedly want to keep Jim Morrison's legacy alive (is Bo Diddley really the best way to introduce "Love Her Madly" to a new audience?). I say a re-make is needed, Danny Sugerman and Ray Manazarek, the most feverent keepers of the flame, should've thought of more to add. Reportedly, a new Doors album is in the works, let's hope some of the mentioned abscentees can make it.

Let me start by saying I'm 18 years old so I can't claim to possess the amazing Doors experience that some of the older fans received by actually seeing them in person. All I have is the albums (and the bootlegs wink, wink), and along with Zeppelin and Aerosmith I consider them the Holy Trinity of Rock N Roll. Encomium is the tribute cd by which all others should be measured, so how does this hold up? Pretty darn well I must say! Several good points were raised regarding some of the weaker points on the album, which is why I didnt give it a five. I'm not too familiar with Train, but wow, they just butchered "Light My Fire". I happened to like the Smashmouth version of "Peace Frog." It seemed to be just the right merging of pop music and that Morrison vibe we all love. Yeah, some of the sampled stuff is a bit unnecessary, but look at the high points: STP's cover of "Break on Through" is a sonic assault that currently has me questioning which lead singer I like singing it better, the highest compliment to a cover I can give. Creed's arrangement of "Rider's on the Storm" transforms a mellow song into a rising crescendo much in the vein of "Stairway to Heaven." Outstanding stuff! Other highlights include Aerosmith's raw "Love Me Two Times," the hard-hitting "Wild Child" performed by Ian Astbury of the Cult, and Bo Diddly turning in a funked out intepretation of "Love Her Madly." As it states within the liner notes, this is an influences album, and any fan of The Doors should buy this just to see how omnipresent Jim and the gang truly are in today's music scene.

A smokin' tribute album, but even more IMHO...I bought it just to see what the "new breed" was doing with these classic songs. ...I was floored to hear Scott Weiland fronting the original members with a new version of Break on Through, my first experience with the Doors some 30 years ago. A very trippy, psychedelic interpretation! Then Scott Stapp and Creed just tore up "Riders on the Storm" and created a new and wonderful hybrid-every bit as fresh as the original! Patrick Monahan did "Light My Fire" (albeit a shorter 3 minute version) with a bouncier beat to it. Just so tasty! Smashmouth interpreted Peace Frog with acceptable results, a good choice for the singer, I feel. Steven Tyler sang "Love me 2 Times" as though he was born to it... I guess he was, really. A little studio magic on the Doors/"Under Waterfall" with some spoken word samples and remixing-again, very bouncy and accessible with a Haight Ashbury feel to it. Tastey! Ian Astbury does "Wild Child" w/ Ray on keys. Again, a very powerful voice and a great interpretation. ...William Burroughs (who I was unfamiliar with heretofore) did a wonderful reading of Is Everybody In? with some studio mixing. Bo Diddley and the late John Lee Hooker also get a time up at bat...I've got to reserve my biggest praise for Travis Meeks and the now defunct (original line-up anyway) of Days of the New...Wow, what a voice and a feel this kid has! Just 19 and a powerhouse singer. He sang La Woman with the band and finished the album with The End (backed by the surviving members of the Doors. It's eerie and a little unsettling. He sings the song with similar angst as Jim, but with a modern proceeded to buy a copy of everything he's done, all 3 DotN CDs and the video). I'm a convert to Travis and his music and this compilation will be getting some serious rotation on my truck deck! The Lizard King lives!

The four stars are for the obvious sincerity and respect with which Creed, STP, Ian Astbury and Travis Meeks imbue their respective tracks, regardless of interpretation.

Why Stoned Inaccurate? Because the vital element that is missing in this collection is exactly what made The Doors worthy of tribute three and a half decades after their debut: originality annexed to insight.

The idea that approximating the sound and trademark motifs of an artist is sufficient in appraising his/her worth is a flawed concept, and much in evidence here. The Doors at their inception did not seek to rework "Alabama Song" in the same chorale-driven setting as the original Bertolt Brecht opera, nor was their version of Willie Dixon's "Back Door Man" a clone of the original. The reverence accorded The Doors' work has wreaked havoc on two fronts: one, the creative, and two, the commercial. There is nothing wrong with tampering with soundbites of Morrison's poetry, since much of his delivery in concert was fragmented verse to begin with, but it deserves a sustained, dedicated effort, such as An American Prayer; not the choppy tease represented on Underwaterfall and The Cosmic Movie, enjoyable as they may be, momentarily. And Scott Stapp may have unintentionally done Jim Morrison a supreme disservice by so deliberately understating his "Riders On The Storm" delivery...he could have stamped an indelible aura of greatness to this piece, if he had revisited the Doors' original premise for the band, perhaps by interpolating some of the great unrecorded snatches of verse and rhythmic couplets Morrison wrote (Check "Wilderness" and "The American Night")into the body of the song; surely, Stapp's obvious connection to Morrison has more to it than the dark-haired baritone cliche. Travis Meeks from Days of the New really does have a gift for searing through the miasma of nostalgia and (almost) making these songs new again. His take on the songs, for me, comes closest to justifying the project.

As for Messrs. Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore: why, oh why do you huddle in the dried thicket of the talents of others...admit it, gentlemen, you love playing together and you still do it better than any pretenders to the throne...compose some new music, wed it to the more malleable selections of Jim's poetry, assemble a feast of credible friends (Jim Carroll, Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, Bono on his days off from the U.N.) and record the great final album we know you still have in you, while there is yet time. No pressure, of course....

I don't have a lot to say about this album, just a couple of observations. Overall, this is a pretty decent tribute album, especially as it is one that has a certain flow to it rather than just sounding like a random collection of covers. Most of the tracks stay pretty faithful to the originals, with a little bit of a "modern" tweak. However, Train's version of "Light My Fire" is the absolute worst track on here. Given the opportunity to cover possibly The Doors' most well-known song, they turn in a performance that is egregious at best, even going so far as altering the song's melody on the hook. Add to that the singer's voice, which has as much grit as a baby's bottom and as much authenticity as a Bill Russell autograph. I love that song, but I have to skip this version. Days of the New really shine with both of their tracks, at times sounding so much like the band they're covering that you can't help but be impressed. The rest are all pretty solid, although Oleander's "Hello, I Love You" is pretty uninspired. This is exactly where "People Are Strange" would be perfect. You know who I'd love to hear do that song? Tom Waits. Anyway, if you like The Doors, get it. If you don't, don't. No big whoop.

Low expectations seem to the norm for tribute albums. The greatness of bands like The Doors virtually guarantees that those who would pay tribute are unworthy of doing so. And even when a few tracks do live up to the power of the original, the listener is forced to resort to the "skip" button for those that do not. Stoned Immaculate fits the mold: as a whole, it is not a great cd, but the few gems it contains are good enough to earn it four stars.

I first bought this cd after seeing a spot on VH1 about the making of it. Creed's track (Riders on the Storm) interested me, since I am fan of the band. However, after listening to the entire track a few times, I think Scott Stapp ultimately fails to evoke the emotion of the original. It is certainly not a bad rendition, but neither does it inspire me to listen to it repeatedly. STP and Oleander also contribute tracks that are interesting, but not amazing (Break on Through and Hello I Love You, respectively).

There is only one track that I feel is truly bad -- even while trying to ignore the greatness of the original, Train's cover of "Light My Fire" is terrible.

On the other hand, there were a number of solid tracks that bear repeated listening. Aerosmith takes their tribute to the Doors as an opportunity to record their strongest offering in over a decade (Love Me Two Times). Burroughs' reading (Is Everybody In?) is a pleasant surprise -- I was glad to hear the tribute album recognize the poetry of Morrison as well as the music of the Doors. Finally, Travis Meeks (of Days of the New) comes closest to actually recapturing the spirit of the Jim Morrison. At about 2:30 in his cover of "L.A. Woman" you can almost feel "mr. mojo rising," and his recording of "The End" is far and away the best listen on the entire cd. With its thirteen minutes of hallucinogenic lyrics and eerie sounds, "The End" is the quintessential Doors song: Meeks accepts its challenges and crafts a tribute song with a somewhat different sound but with the same haunting quality as the original.

I recommend this cd not as a whole, but as a source of a few very good single songs. If all tribute songs could accomplish what the gems on this album do, the reputation of tribute albums as a genre would be far higher.

Listening to the first two tracks I thought STP and Creed had sampled Morrison from other sources. I liked them better than the "new" Doors tracks. The two Natalie-Cole like duets with John Lee Hooker and William Burroughs were low points in my view. John Lee deserved his own vocals, and Burroughs' sampled voice sounds even worse than Morrison's. All the other bands do a great job staying faithful to the Doors yet bringing their own sounds out. And Aerosmith has been officially forgiven for its nerdy last few years.

usually tribute albums are NOT GOOD at all, but this one came out to be pretty descent. The best part is hearing Jim Morrison's voice in "underwaters Falls" , "the cosmic movie" and doing a remake with jhon lee hooker "roadhouse blues".

This is a very well done tribute album, there are quotes on the band(of what they think of the doors and the doors influence on them) with photo's in the linear notes of the bands paying the tribute.

compareed to many tribute albums i have heard, this one is very good. My favorite is Creed's version of "riders on the storm"

of course no one can beat the ORIGINAL version done by the Doors in 71'

Being only 20, I missed the grandeur of The Doors heyday. However, I have been a huge fan. I am also a huge fan of the not-so-known band Days of the New. And I am proud to say that the two best tracks on this album are "LA Woman" and "The End," both performed by Travis Meeks.

But on the CD as a whole:

We start with a near perfect rendition of Break on Through that completely does this track justice. The vocals are perfect, the arrangement is amazing, and the track itself just moves right along. Incredibly well done. The only thing I wonder... is that opening part Jim or Scott?

The second track is Creed's "Riders on the Storm." When I first heard this, I was unimpressed. But I never skipped it when I listened to the CD, and this one grew on me until it became one of my favorite tracks on the album. I love the way it starts low, build to a serious climax, then just drops right back down. Awesome.

And now we have Train's cover of Light My Fire. To be honest, I actually like this cover (hides in anticipation of being hunted down... :D). Granted, it's probably the worst in context of the whole album, but for what it is, it's not all that bad.

It has been quite a long time since I listened to Smash Mouth. And I have to ask. Who is the guitarist playing with them? I didn't think their guitarist could play like that. But this cover of Peace Frog was really good.

And LA Woman. Like I said above, this track is freakin' brilliant! Best track on the album with The End. Travis Meeks does an amazing job.

Aerosmith does an amazing Love Me Two Times. Different from what I thought a tribute to this song would sound like, but better than what I thought, too. Plus, I love Aerosmith.

Under Waterfall and Cosmic Movie were actually very, very good, in my opinion. I loved how they were mixed and mastered. Now I need to get American Prayer on CD, I think.

Wild Child was also incredible. The Cult did an amazing job here.

I thought Roadhouse Rap was cool, and John Lee Hooker did a fine job with his part on Roadhouse Blues. Very, very cool.

"Well... I wanna tell you 'bout somethin' I know. Money beats soul, every time. Come on."

I love it!

Is Everybody In and Children of Night I though were also incredibly well-done. Very good tracks and great mixes. And it was cool hearing Morrison repeat "children of night" after Ian. Almost creepy, to be honest.

Touch Me was awesome. I was not impressed with Love Her Madly, though. It was kind of... a mess. I'm also mot that impressed with Hello, I Love You. Kind of strange, to be honest.

"The End," the other best track on this album, simply proves one thing... Travis Meeks is the best recreation of The Lizard King in existance,.. No body can sing The Doors better than Meeks.