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Product Details
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Track Listings
| Disc: 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Break On Through | |||
| 2. Light My Fire | |||
| 3. The Crystal Ship | |||
| 4. People Are Strange | |||
| 5. Strange Days | |||
| 6. Love Me Two Times | |||
| 7. Alabama Song | |||
| 8. Five To One | |||
| 9. Waiting For The Sun | |||
| 10. Spanish Caravan | |||
See all 11 tracks on this disc
| |||
| Disc: 2 | |||
| 1. Hello, I Love You | |||
| 2. Roadhouse Blues | |||
| 3. L.A. Woman | |||
| 4. Riders On The Storm | |||
| 5. Touch Me | |||
| 6. Love Her Madly | |||
| 7. The Unknown Soldier | |||
| 8. The End | |||
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
The Best of The Doors delivers exactly what it promises. Rather than relying solely on the hits, this collection also mines the darker, and often richer, recesses of The Doors material resulting in a fairly representative statement. The hits are here: "Light My Fire" with Ray Manzarek's keyboards on a dizzy, psychedelic spree; "People Are Strange," with Morrison's tortured psyche barely being held in check; "L.A. Woman," with its bluesy sexuality. More important, favorites of fans are here, like the controversially (at the time) explicit "The End," which was one of the first of Morrison's forays into narrative poetry. In hits like "Break on Through," "Hello I Love You," "Roadhouse Blues," and others, The Doors melded psychedelia, blues, hard-edged rock, and poetry from the edge like no other band before. The Best of The Doors is a trip in every sense of the word. --Steve Gdula
Product Description
Audio CD.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
58 of 63 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I was in high school when The Doors' debut was released and it remains the one essential album to have in The Doors' catalog. [Although LA Woman and Morrison Hotel are nearly as good.] If you're looking to expand your collection beyond that, this two-disc collection is a no-brainer. It contains all eight Top 40 hits from their all too brief 4-year history and enough key album cuts ("The End," "L.A. Woman," "Roadhouse Blues") to satisfy all but the die-hard fan. [Thankfully, there are no tracks included from either of the two post-Morrison albums released in the early Seventies.]
While the identity of The Doors is linked almost exclusively to the persona of its frontman, there's no denying Ray Manzarek's keyboards and Robby Krieger's guitar playing and songwriting as crucial to The Doors' sound. And Jim Morrison's power as a vocalist was his voice, which would make the listener ignore the sometimes pretentiousness of his lyrics.
My only real criticism of this collection is that for a two-disc set, it's fairly short--only 85 minutes. But it still wasn't enough to make me spring for the box set. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
57 of 65 people found the following review helpful
By S. McCrea
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
If, like me, you've been a Doors fan since high school, but never an "uberfan", you've probably had more than one of the studio albums and probably one of the anthologies/best ofs, etc. By first wife sto-, er, "permanently borrowed" and/or sold my copy of "LA Woman" (ironic, hunh?) and one of the anthologies.
Now the discs that were "ex-wife'd", were discs made BEFORE the Industry decided there was a huge vein of gold to be mined by "remasters". So I've been able to replace long-lost discs without spending unnecessarily on albums I already have. (Even ex's have their uses, I suppose.)
If you are a newb to the Doors, this collection is not only a great deal (39 tracks for $15), it sounds great. It has all of the "great" songs which made the Doors legends; tho' I agree only the most casual of fans isn't going to have some quibble with all the choices of any anthology (by any band).
You're still encouraged to buy, at the very least, "L.A. Woman" if this collection confirms your taste for the Doors. The last studio album to be released before Morrison's death in Paris, Many of the greatest songs are on that album anyway.
The "classics" are all here; as are some gems usually neglected by AOR--"The WASP: Texas Radio and the Big Beat" (now condescendingly called "Classic Rock" by these punk kids who think that "rock" began with Nirvana, "Oh ye of little knowledge (and less taste!)"
As for the sound quality, I found it excellent (especially compared to the three or four songs I'd downloaded from iTunes @128kpbs AAC; good codec but at the bit-rate you can't expect much).
Over all, the remastering benefits this set.
In particular, the remaster of "Love Me Two Times" is exactly what a remaster should be. It brings out depths--and heights--here to fore missing in analogue-to-digital transfers of the material. I felt like I sitting at Robby Krieger's feet as he plucked out the jangling signature notes of the song's hook.
"People Are Strange", perhaps the most "perfect" song they ever recorded, sound wonderful clean and its sardonic refrain never cut more precisely.
More generally,
Manzarek's organ has gained a sharpness and a smoothness that I've never heard before on a Door's recording (and my first one was on vinyl--yes I know how I'm dating myself!). The often muddied passages on both analogue and digital media, have vanished, leaving this stop-gap for synthesizers (I'm almost happy that the Doors never had the chance to move into synths; Morrison's voice, as pointed out by another reviewer, WAS the band's primary instrument. The tendency of synths to become the centerpiece of a band's sound regardless of the vocalist's skill/charisma was never something that the Door's had to face.)
The "imitation" bass used on some cuts sounds, unfortunately, even more "imitation." The tracks where session bass players were brought it are immediately noticeable. It's too bad that Krieger was the ace on bass that he was on guitar where he must be placed in the first row of the second tier of World's Greatest Guitarists.
The drums, as they almost always do, gain from having as much of analogue's hiss (and vinyl's snap-crackle-and-pop) eliminated. Always properly-miked, I gained new respect for just how carefully the Doors crafted their sound. While not in the same league as Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin in that department, neither of those two bands had a phenom as a lead singer (no slight intended to Robert Plant, but Morrison has an almost Sinatran [?] ability to control his phrasing; and when he's on his game, he could match Ol' Blue Eyes. A strange comparison, I'll admit, but if you're familiar with the Chairman of the Board and the Admiral's Son, then pick a few tracks of Sinatra's and a few Door's gems and listen to them. You'll see that the Southern California Navy brat had chops almost as polished as the working-class kid from Hoboken.
One downside of the remasters' new clarity is the strain that can sometimes be heard in Morrison's voice, whether from over-singing (perhaps pushing to meet deadlines or simply conscious of how little time he had left) or the insane lifestyle that he led (anyone wanting a guide on how to "live young, die fast and..." and squander talent on loan from God, should check out, "No One Here Gets Out Alive" by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugarman, the title coming from the lyrics of "Five to One"; thankfully the book is still in print; search Amazon in books and look for the $10 paperback).
On "Roadhouse Blues" I can hear Morrison straining to reach for the higher notes, probably the results, of drinking, smoking and his industrial promiscuity.
A word on the whole phenomenon of remasters....which has been called one of the greatest rip-offs ever perpetrated by the record companies.
Sometimes this has been true, sometimes not. Though I should think even the most experienced PR flack would be hard put to answer the question, "Why weren't the albums remastered when first converted to digital?
The results haven't always been worth the wait or the extra cash. The Rush Remasters, over all, haven't done much to improve the sound--which was always excellent even the bad, old days of vinyl acetate (don't be fooled by the bellyaching of those pining for snap-crackle-and-pop of LP records: CDs are an improvement in everyway).
The remaster of the Who's seminal classic "Who's Next" sounds almost identical to the first CD I ever bought of it. Apparently, they nailed it down the first time they recorded it; large applications of that questionable medication "Studio Magic" weren't needed.
We can argue whether or not the Doors' NEEDED to issue this remastered set. I say yes. For the reasons I outlined for both newbs and for those of us whose collections went the way of "The Lizard King", this set fills in the crucial gaps for those bereft for those just beginning to explore Jim Morrison's "Doors of Perception."
The "pre-remastered" Zep CDs sounded better, in my view, than Pagey's multiple remastering efforts. They were punchier, "warmer" (subjective as that term is), somehow more raw. The newer versions are sharper, clearer, colder, more precise. Something is gained , something lost.
My BIGGEST complaint is that these discs ARE not SACD Hybrids. I know the format is generally considered to have failed to catch on with all but audiophiles (which, in Industry Speak means jazz and art--"classical"--music lovers), there are still plenty of us who know the Doors deserve the absolute best in digital reproduction and SACD is it!
If you, like me, once had more extensive (music) collection and had it suffer from losses from poverty/fire/theft/ex-wife, etc, and don't particularly feel like buying all six of the studio albums or a hefty (price and other-wise) boxed set (what was the point of including duplicate DVD-As? in that set? the smart thing to do would have been to issue them as single, Hybrid SACDs, that way those interested in the highest fidelity available, would have the option while the SINGLE disc would still work in everyone of the 600M CD players on Earth, this gives you everything you loved about the Doors. After all, SACDs can travel with you and will play in your car stereo CD (or their copies, if you be wise enough to burn personal copies to protect the original--a must if you ask me: it keeps your CDDA collection in pristine condition).
Now the discs that were "ex-wife'd", were discs made BEFORE the Industry decided there was a huge vein of gold to be mined by "remasters". So I've been able to replace long-lost discs without spending unnecessarily on albums I already have. (Even ex's have their uses, I suppose.)
If you are a newb to the Doors, this collection is not only a great deal (39 tracks for $15), it sounds great. It has all of the "great" songs which made the Doors legends; tho' I agree only the most casual of fans isn't going to have some quibble with all the choices of any anthology (by any band).
You're still encouraged to buy, at the very least, "L.A. Woman" if this collection confirms your taste for the Doors. The last studio album to be released before Morrison's death in Paris, Many of the greatest songs are on that album anyway.
The "classics" are all here; as are some gems usually neglected by AOR--"The WASP: Texas Radio and the Big Beat" (now condescendingly called "Classic Rock" by these punk kids who think that "rock" began with Nirvana, "Oh ye of little knowledge (and less taste!)"
As for the sound quality, I found it excellent (especially compared to the three or four songs I'd downloaded from iTunes @128kpbs AAC; good codec but at the bit-rate you can't expect much).
Over all, the remastering benefits this set.
In particular, the remaster of "Love Me Two Times" is exactly what a remaster should be. It brings out depths--and heights--here to fore missing in analogue-to-digital transfers of the material. I felt like I sitting at Robby Krieger's feet as he plucked out the jangling signature notes of the song's hook.
"People Are Strange", perhaps the most "perfect" song they ever recorded, sound wonderful clean and its sardonic refrain never cut more precisely.
More generally,
Manzarek's organ has gained a sharpness and a smoothness that I've never heard before on a Door's recording (and my first one was on vinyl--yes I know how I'm dating myself!). The often muddied passages on both analogue and digital media, have vanished, leaving this stop-gap for synthesizers (I'm almost happy that the Doors never had the chance to move into synths; Morrison's voice, as pointed out by another reviewer, WAS the band's primary instrument. The tendency of synths to become the centerpiece of a band's sound regardless of the vocalist's skill/charisma was never something that the Door's had to face.)
The "imitation" bass used on some cuts sounds, unfortunately, even more "imitation." The tracks where session bass players were brought it are immediately noticeable. It's too bad that Krieger was the ace on bass that he was on guitar where he must be placed in the first row of the second tier of World's Greatest Guitarists.
The drums, as they almost always do, gain from having as much of analogue's hiss (and vinyl's snap-crackle-and-pop) eliminated. Always properly-miked, I gained new respect for just how carefully the Doors crafted their sound. While not in the same league as Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin in that department, neither of those two bands had a phenom as a lead singer (no slight intended to Robert Plant, but Morrison has an almost Sinatran [?] ability to control his phrasing; and when he's on his game, he could match Ol' Blue Eyes. A strange comparison, I'll admit, but if you're familiar with the Chairman of the Board and the Admiral's Son, then pick a few tracks of Sinatra's and a few Door's gems and listen to them. You'll see that the Southern California Navy brat had chops almost as polished as the working-class kid from Hoboken.
One downside of the remasters' new clarity is the strain that can sometimes be heard in Morrison's voice, whether from over-singing (perhaps pushing to meet deadlines or simply conscious of how little time he had left) or the insane lifestyle that he led (anyone wanting a guide on how to "live young, die fast and..." and squander talent on loan from God, should check out, "No One Here Gets Out Alive" by Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugarman, the title coming from the lyrics of "Five to One"; thankfully the book is still in print; search Amazon in books and look for the $10 paperback).
On "Roadhouse Blues" I can hear Morrison straining to reach for the higher notes, probably the results, of drinking, smoking and his industrial promiscuity.
A word on the whole phenomenon of remasters....which has been called one of the greatest rip-offs ever perpetrated by the record companies.
Sometimes this has been true, sometimes not. Though I should think even the most experienced PR flack would be hard put to answer the question, "Why weren't the albums remastered when first converted to digital?
The results haven't always been worth the wait or the extra cash. The Rush Remasters, over all, haven't done much to improve the sound--which was always excellent even the bad, old days of vinyl acetate (don't be fooled by the bellyaching of those pining for snap-crackle-and-pop of LP records: CDs are an improvement in everyway).
The remaster of the Who's seminal classic "Who's Next" sounds almost identical to the first CD I ever bought of it. Apparently, they nailed it down the first time they recorded it; large applications of that questionable medication "Studio Magic" weren't needed.
We can argue whether or not the Doors' NEEDED to issue this remastered set. I say yes. For the reasons I outlined for both newbs and for those of us whose collections went the way of "The Lizard King", this set fills in the crucial gaps for those bereft for those just beginning to explore Jim Morrison's "Doors of Perception."
The "pre-remastered" Zep CDs sounded better, in my view, than Pagey's multiple remastering efforts. They were punchier, "warmer" (subjective as that term is), somehow more raw. The newer versions are sharper, clearer, colder, more precise. Something is gained , something lost.
My BIGGEST complaint is that these discs ARE not SACD Hybrids. I know the format is generally considered to have failed to catch on with all but audiophiles (which, in Industry Speak means jazz and art--"classical"--music lovers), there are still plenty of us who know the Doors deserve the absolute best in digital reproduction and SACD is it!
If you, like me, once had more extensive (music) collection and had it suffer from losses from poverty/fire/theft/ex-wife, etc, and don't particularly feel like buying all six of the studio albums or a hefty (price and other-wise) boxed set (what was the point of including duplicate DVD-As? in that set? the smart thing to do would have been to issue them as single, Hybrid SACDs, that way those interested in the highest fidelity available, would have the option while the SINGLE disc would still work in everyone of the 600M CD players on Earth, this gives you everything you loved about the Doors. After all, SACDs can travel with you and will play in your car stereo CD (or their copies, if you be wise enough to burn personal copies to protect the original--a must if you ask me: it keeps your CDDA collection in pristine condition).
70 of 81 people found the following review helpful
By Reviewer
Format:Audio CD
A terrific retrospective of one of the most enigmatic rock groups ever, "The Best of the Doors," opens with "Break On Through," then takes you on a wild ride through nineteen cuts that illustrate just exactly why this is such an enduring group. Jim Morrison's mesmerizing vocals, Robbie Krieger's "bottle neck" guitar, Ray Manzarek's keyboards and John Densmore's drums combined to create a unique sound, later imitated, but never duplicated by anyone else since. The songs included on this two-disc album open the doors that lead you into the ethereal, sometimes spiritual world of Morrison's poetry. His use of imagery and metaphor is remarkable, especially on such cuts as "Light My Fire," "The Crystal Ship," "People Are Strange," the impassioned "When The Music's Over," the subtly disquieting "Riders On The Storm," and the quintessential Door's song, the spellbinding "The End." Then there's the hard-driving "Roadhouse Blues," and "L.A. Woman;" the admonishing "Five To One;" and the stoic "The Unknown Soldier." There's a lyrical, almost mystic, quality to the music here; a substance that is rare in rock music, and delivered with a pulsating force that is transporting. Morrison's magnetism prevails throughout, and the more you listen to it, the more you realize how good this music really is.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Album is goog But...
I ordered this for my husband who is a huge Jim fan like most burnout's his age. lol. The only problem I had with this was that the second cd did not work at all. Read more
Published 2 days ago by Taylor Leath
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good Music
I had bought this for my husband. He is a fan of music from the 60's. The DOORS were among hios favorites.
Published 1 month ago by Jane Marie Watson
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Very Best Of [w/bonus tracks]
Can't beat this album. It is a must have item for anybody's collection. So many great songs you can't go wrong with this purchase!
Published 1 month ago by ldav70
5.0 out of 5 stars
This really is the very best of the Doors
I remember Light my Fire in the summer of '67' great time to be a teenager!!! Will never forget that period
Published 1 month ago by Curtis
5.0 out of 5 stars
Being there - again.
If you weren't there WHEN this great band was flying, you can be now and I defy you to stand still while you're listening.
Published 1 month ago by Eclectic
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jim Morrison
Listening to these CDs takes me back to the 70's. Jim was definitely a poet songwriter and a good-looking one at that!
Published 2 months ago by Ladybuyer
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Doors
This is the only CD you will need to hear any Doors music you remember. I could not recommend it higher.
Published 2 months ago by Wendy Bonner
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome music
Lots of tracks, some remixed many might not like. But I do feel this is a must have if you don't have any best of from the Doors.
Published 2 months ago by sWk
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good Selection
I love the Doors and this album has most of their big hits. It also has some of their lesser known songs and a remix that sounds like it was done in the 90's. Still pretty cool. Read more
Published 2 months ago by WILLIAM RISK II
5.0 out of 5 stars
5 Star
This album, I also have a high rating for, as it has a lot of my favorate songs on it
Published 2 months ago by Justin
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