The Doors - Live In Vancouver 1970 (2CD)

The Doors | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 22, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2010
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Rhino
• ASIN: B0046IGOIO
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #49,283 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Start Of Show

2. Roadhouse Blues

3. Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)

4. Back Door Man

5. Five To One

6. When The Music's Over

7. Applause - Jim Talks

8. Love Me Two Times

9. Applause - Jim Talks

10. Little Red Rooster - with Albert King

See all 16 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Tuning

2. Petition The Lord With Prayer

3. Light My Fire

4. Tuning

5. The End

6. Thank You & Good Night

Editorial Reviews

The Band Rocks The Great White North With This Unreleased 1970 Concert Featuring Guest Appearance By Blues Legend Albert King!

Four months into the band's 1970 Roadhouse Blues Tour, The Doors lit up Vancouver like the Northern Lights with an incandescent performance ignited by a rollicking set list, and blues legend Albert King, who sat in for four songs. Rhino and Bright Midnight Archives capture every shining moment with 'The Doors - Live In Vancouver 1970.'

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 74 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars They Had The Blues on Their Minds November 22, 2010

By Jym Cherry

Format:Audio CD

Albert King opened for The Doors in Vancouver June 6, 1970, The Doors asked him to jam with them for four blues standards, they were only months away from starting the recording of L.A. Woman in the fall of that year. And from the versions of the songs The Doors played "Live in Vancouver" it seems they already had the blues on their minds.

There was some experimenting going on in Vancouver. The Doors were seemed to be pushing the limits of rock or at least stretching those limits between rock and the blues. At first it sounds like the Vancouver show is more sedate (not sedated) than the Felt Forum shows a few months prior. Upon a closer listening you can see The Doors were going for more of a bluesy feeling than a hard rock sound, and explains why Morrison, in introducing Albert King gives a quick tutorial to the audience about the two main indigenous forms of American music blues and country coming together in rock `n' roll, he`s tipping the audience off as to what they're doing.

The instrumentals in most of the songs highlights the bluesy feeling such as in "5-1" and "Light My Fire." While they didn't change the song substantially, during the instrumental of "Light My Fire" Morrison comes in using "St. James Infirmary" as a starting point and slips in some bucolic, blues tinged imagery from "Porgy and Bess" to highlight the blusier aspects of The Doors usual repertoire "the fish were jumping, and the cotton is high." What band today of the same caliber as The Doors would or could risk such onstage experimentation?

That's not to say The Doors didn't delve into their psychedelic roots they played "When The Music's Over" and an interesting rendition of The End.... Early in their career The Doors were interested in dissonance for their experimental journeys, in Vancouver they show that assonance had taken over their experimental interest. The End in Vancouver is a mature rendering of that song, it isn't as frantic as earlier versions, The Doors let it play out like a noir film, Morrison stacking the familiar images upon each other, until the dramatic crashing climax, creating a movie for the mind of the audience.

Albert King played four songs with the band onstage, "Little Red Rooster," "Money," "Rock Me," and "Who Do You Love." King's solos on these songs, like the rest of the CD doesn't display a lot of unnecessary pyrotechnics but is solid playing all the way through.

I've been to a lot of rock concerts and listened have listened to a lot of live albums but none of those seem to have the context or coherence that The Doors were able to imbue into their best shows, and this is one of their best.

These Bright Midnight releases are great for fans like me who didn't have the connections to get bootlegs, or weren't' collectors but still longed to hear the shows they've long heard about. The Bright Midnight releases are like raiding The Doors archives without having to worry about the quality, the sound is crisp and clear. The liner notes give you some background right from The Doors' own pens that's more reliable than second generation legend. "The Doors Live in Vancouver" will make a nice addition to your collection.

Jim writes The Doors Examiner. Read more ›

47 of 49 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A unique show November 27, 2010

By Daniel K. Mckeown

Format:Audio CD

There seems to be two camps of people regarding this release. Some say it is a boring concert, and the sound quality is not very good. Others find it a great example of The Doors talent and improvisational skills.

I'm in the later camp. Sure there are some weak moments in this recording. But the individual parts are larger than the sum... if that makes sense.

There are a number of great performances in Vancouver:

- When the Music's Over
- Who Do You Love (w/ Albert King)
- Light My Fire

Regarding the sound quality. As mentioned in an earlier post this is not a soundboard recording. It was recorded with 2 microphones on the stage. An earlier post said the stereo separation is poor. I disagree, there is plenty of separation. Robby's guitar is very clean, clear and resolved on the right side (stereo channel), Ray's keyboards are distinct, but can sound a bit distorted when they get loud. Densmore's drums can be soft in the mix, though still clear. Jim's vocals are not center stage, a bit biased to the left (stereo channel)

Is this the best album for a Door's neophyte? No.

However if you like any of The Doors live albums... Absolutely Live, In Concert, or many of the BMA releases. You probably will appreciate this album.

A recommendation for those who would like to hear some of the best Doors live recordings. 1) In Concert. This is a "best of" creation by The Doors producer Paul Rothchild. It is an amalgamation of different concerts. Well recorded, with great performances, it is the gateway live album. 2) Live in Detroit. This was one of the cities that Bruce Botnick recorded using 8 track equipment. Sound quality is absolutely stunning. It sounds like it was recorded today.... It is a long concert with great performances.

Hope this helps. Read more ›

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Doors Do It Again: In Defense of Live in Vancouver November 29, 2010

By Kurtcobainlives2006

Format:Audio CD

I would to start by confessing I am not the biggest Doors fan in the world. I have their debut album and the Best of collection and that's about it. I bought this CD on a whim purchase because I saw that it featured Albert King whom I absolutely love. That being said I find this CD to be an incredibly strong live performance by a fine-tuned band. To start with the song selection is top notch with a nice selection of tunes from throughout their catalog at the time. The biggest revelation for me though are the songs with King which are fantastic. Hearing Morrison's growl blast its way through King Bee and Who Do You Love with the fiery yet still somehow subtle playing of King is simply sublime. To those who complain about the album I would say several things, first if you have a problem with the tracks containing silence or tuning delete them when you upload them to your computer or skipped over them when listening. Doing so in no way affects the experience of the show and actually makes it better. To those complaining about the sound, for a show recording from the 70s that was not on a soundboard the sound is fairly good, it drops out in some portions but what can you expect from a 40 year old show? In the end, this is a top-flight performance from a band that had reached the pinnacle of its talents. Highly recommended to all even remotely interested in the Doors.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Them Evil Reviewers December 26, 2010

By eurocrank

Format:Audio CD

can do a lot of damage. Clapton was once deeply upset by a Rolling Stone review; lots of performers don't bother reading reviews of their work. I almost avoided this Doors set because of what some people wrote about its sound, despite my being an Albert King fan.

I'd like to offer a less, hmmm, unique perspective on this CD package.

Comments like "flat-out terrible," "very poor," and "tinny" must come from reviewers who a) are less than 30 years old and are used to ProTooled music, b) have never heard a live album before, c) have never heard a guitar played with a slide before, d) wonder what the word "bootleg" means, e) have malfunctioning equipment, or f) watch music on audio analyzers. I'm sure they've never heard The Kinks, "Live at Kelvin Hall" or The Rolling Stones, "Got Live If You Want It," which are unfathomably poor audio-wise compared to "Live in Vancouver 1970."

The sound is excellent. It's better than most soundboard bootlegs I've heard and better than some officially released concerts ("Yessongs," for instance). If anything, there's too much stereo separation, with Morrison too much in the left channel. A more serious point could be that there's some distortion in his vocals, but it's not remarkable, much less offensive, given how important distortion can be in rock music. I hear no "muting" due to any suspected audio clean-up; tape deterioration is probably at fault for the (very) minute problems I hear. I can't imagine Albert King's guitar sounding any different than it does, which is clear, direct, and deliberate. Besides, what are you going to compare his sound to--where else have you heard him play slide?! Blame Albert, if you will.

Yes, there's a lot of stage tuning. But you also get the whole concert.... Grateful Dead fans often complained about the Dick's Picks series because they generally didn't offer complete concerts, and I can understand why. I have the Doors "In Concert" CD set and "The Bright Midnight Sampler" CD; they lack that moment-to-moment concert feel of "Live in Vancouver 1970." I too program only the music, but I very much appreciate the continuity of time and sound.

OK, the packaging leaves a lot to be desired. I find it outrageous that, since the invention of the jewel box, packaging has only gone down in quality, to the point where the compact disc (the most durable recording medium yet invented) is subject to scratches every time it's removed or replaced in many of today's sleeves. Shame on you, Neil Young (the last few albums), The Grateful Dead (the "Road Trips" series), Rush ("Snakes & Arrows Live" and others), Kansas (reissue of "Two for the Show"), Led Zeppelin ("The Soundtrack from the Film 'The Song Remains The Same'"), Bruce Springsteen (the last few albums), etc. Scratches can affect CDs, sometimes more significantly than LPs, and those paper/cardboard sleeves are very good at collecting the dust that causes the scratches.

If you're interested in either Albert King (who's listening intently to the band as he's playing) or Doors live albums other than "In Concert," I recommend this set highly. Read more ›