Customer Reviews

Waiting for the Sun

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

OK.....What we have here is a failure for some folks to have done their homework. This is the 40th Anniversary "remix" of Waiting for the Sun. It's supposed to be a bit different from the original. In fact ALL of the Doors studio albums have been not only remastered, but remixed. Bonus tracks added as well. If you want the Doors sounding like the albums you grew up with, then pick up the last set of remastered CDs from 1999. If you want killer sound quality, bonus tracks and a new take on these classics pick the 40th Anniversary mixes on Rhino/Elektra. If you're a big fan like me, you'll have them both. At any rate, these editions are great! They are the same you would have gotten if you bought the "Perecptions" box set (no DVD 5.1 mixes here or video content though). Don't be bummed out, just shop wisely and enjoy!! Once again, these editions are a must for longtime fans.

Hardcore Doors purists have been making quite a fuss over Bruce Botnick's "remixing" of the entire band's catalogue. However, the structure of the songs has not been changed at all, and the production is more akin to what was done in the "Elvis 30 #1 Hits" package, the songs have been literally remixed from their ORIGINAL elements for a much superior sound quality to any previous releases. The work done on "The Doors" and "Strange Days" brought those albums back to life with great energy and complete sonic coverage, the same effect is replicated here with the band's third release, "Waiting For The Sun." Although The Doors have always been known for the excellent quality of their packages, which has been superior to even some Beatles and Hendrix releases, there were still limitations in terms of volume and stereo mixing, all fixed here. There is good reason for fans to be skeptical, when Iggy Pop attempted the same experiment with "Raw Power," the result was an album that was sharper, but sometimes overblown on the volume levels, here Botnick and his team have achieved a great sonic feat by bringing songs back to life, giving them full stereo coverage, and setting them at a volume level that can finally compete with contemporary releases. So why am I not giving it the full five stars? The sound quality is great, but as an album "Waiting For The Sun" was never one of the Doors' strongest moments. Like "The Soft Parade," it has some excellent songs, but it never feels like a whole, complete work. There are still some classics here that sound just as timeless as ever, including "Hello, I Love You" which here shines with sharper instruments and keyboards, "Love Street" remains a tender ballad and "My Wild Love" is a wicked accapella. One of the best remixes here is "Summer's Almost Gone," here Botnick has managed to bring the drums back to life as well as Jim Morrison's vocals and Robby Krieger's dreamy slide guitar, this is the best the song has ever sounded. "Not To Touch The Earth" is a great, gothic epic that pounds harder here. "The Unknown Soldier" is a strong anti-war protest fitting for our times. "Five To One" rocks harder here, with Morrison's menacing, half-drunken soothsaying on the end of Flower Power. The other tracks of course sound better, but nothing can save a bad song. "Wintertime Love" is just lame filler and "Yes, The River Knows" is a sappy ballad Morrison's doesn't feel comfortable singing. The extras on this disc are not as appealing as the previous two albums' offerings. Here we get three needless takes of "Not To Touch The Earth," "Adagio In G Minor," which is already available on "American Prayer." Morrison's epic, ditched poem "The Celebration Of The Lizard" is included here, but it isn't much of a find anymore considering that yes, this has already been released in a previous set. The Doors remain one of rock's great revelations, and Morrison's theatrical, lyrical legacy is timeless, these remixes do justice to the music. A must for fans, purists should open their ears instead of closing them.

I bought this new version of "Waiting for the Sun" to get a studio-version of the legendary unreleased song "Celebration of the Lizard". Obviously the strongest part of the song is, what was released on the original album as "Not to Touch the Earth", and the track is what it says, "a work in progress". Still interesting moments. The other takes of "Not to Touch the Earth" which are included as bonus-tracks have made me realize how good a song this really is.

What surprised me the most when I listened through the album was that I thought it sounded different. Was it really that long since I last heard it? I did not realize that the album had been both remastered and remixed. I guess it will take some time to get used to these new "versions" - but the sound is really crisp and clear, and if I want to hear the old mixes I can always return to the originals.

The original album contains some the Doors' most poetic and melodic moments like "Yes, The River Knows", the exquisite "Love Street" , which is one of the highlights of the album. The moving "Summer`s Almost Gone". "Wintertime Love" and "Spanish Caravan" are other highlights.

"Not to Touch the Earth" and "Five to One" : Classic Doors !!!
The hit singles "Hello I Love You" and "The Unknown Soldier" may not have aged as well as the rest of the album`s songs. Except of course the weak "My Wild Love" which probably always will annoy me.

This is NOT somebody tampering with a classic. I put it in my car stereo and from the first drums fill on "Hello, I Love You" i could hear the clarity of the remix. It's still the same songs you've come to know and love so don't have a cow or anything. The only differences in the voclas aside from the clarity is that sometimes you hear Morrison scat-singing to himself during a solo or interlude of osme chatter in the studio. It's a classic rock album redefined with a clarity of modern day equipment. It doesn't sound like it was drowned in reverb like was the style so ofter in that era, but is actually clearer and more distinct and ultimately satisfying to the ear.
The different versions of "Not To Touch The Earth" have a second slightly slower version in which the lyrics are almost read rather than sung and a third version excluding the guitar fills and, of course the long version "Celebration of The Lizard".

I've always felt that "Waiting For The Sun" is the Doors' most underrated album. It's often slammed for it's pop edge, but I think that helps make this one the band's most immediate and visceral release.

This recent release, however, is a somewhat different album. The remix present here tends to emphasize the 'rock' side of the band more than the psychedelic. As a fan of psychedelia, this is sort of disappointing. Much of the compressed atmosphere of the original is opened up on the remix, but I feel that it robs the band of much of its mystery and makes them sound less distinctive. It's like a modern mix of vintage rock and doesn't quite work. With alternate instrumental and vocal parts appearing the new mix severely alters the feel of the original in a way that other modern mixes such as the stereo "Pet Sounds" does not.

On the positive side, the new mix is a showcase for drummer John Densmore. He is a technically superior and musical drummer, and it's nice to hear him clearly here. Unfortunately, this is often at the expense of Morrison and the rest of the band. "Wintertime Love's" shuffling rhythm is awesome, but it works much better underpinning the song than right on time in a mix more reminiscent of a modern rock mix. "Five To One" really suffers musically as Krieger's guitar parts are practically buried, and listening to Morrison's vocals requires significantly more attention.

The bonus tracks are of interest once or twice, but are not quite essential. "Albinoni's Adagio In G Minor" includes lots of recent overdubs and is more a piece of retrofitted history. A complete studio take of "The Celebration Of The Lizard" is very interested, but it's not in the same league as other Doors epics, and the best part of it is still the "Not To Touch The Earth" Section, which remains best heard in the original album version.

This is still a great album, and the remix does offer a nice alternate perspective of the Doors. Still, if you want to hear this album at its best, you'd be best off finding a copy of the well remastered 1999 editions of the original mixes. I've already returned to the original mix after giving this one a few chances.

This album was originally titled "Celebration of the Lizard", complete with the entire recording centered around one long concept. The suits and ties basically freaked out and the group went back to Jim's assorted poems and writings for the "remaking" of this release. But it's still classic!! After all, this is the album that includes "Hello, I Love You", "Love Street", "The Unknown Soldier", "Five to One", a small section of "Celebration" and its greatest song "Not To Touch The Earth" and the unforgettable "Spanish Caravan". Even though the album includes all of these all-time Doors songs, I personally like the "in between" tunes - "Summer's Almost Gone", "We Could Be So Good Together" and the most underrated song in the Doors catalog "Yes, The River Knows". If you've ever driven through L.A. or have lived there, this song is a musical equivalent to a photograph taken on a very smoggy, hot Los Angeles afternoon. Jim sings in this strange, twisted voice and Ray plays a tinny and compressed piano. The entire song is claustrophobic and magical. Robbie's solo is beautiful.....a true Doors fan has a special attachment to this album, if only for "Spanish Caravan". But I've never found a weak song on this release, which is amazing considering that the finished product was not the way the group wanted it to be. This new remaster includes the entire "Celebration" at last. For a real listening experience, track down the original vinyl version. There are only a handful of rock catalogs that are as impressive as The Doors and you can't go wrong with any of the 6 studio masterpieces. Enjoy......

When this album was released in the late 60's, I bought the vinyl album and noticed that the liner notes had the entire version of "The Celebration of the Lizard). The only part of this that appeared on the album was "Not to touch the Earth"
Not to Touch the Earth is probably the best part of the song, but its only part of it.
I remember being disappointed that the song was not long like, The End or When the Music's over were on their previous two releases.
FINALLY after 40 years they have released a studio version of the entire song.
Waiting for the Sun and their first album simply entitled the Doors are in my mind their best releases. Both albums are raw and are less commercial.
Some of the later releases such as Soft Parade and Morrison Hotel are either not as good or are too commerical. A few songs on Soft Parade even have horns and other things that make the recordings too "Refined"
Jim Morrison is reciting his poetry, and it is probably his first album where he does so.
For hard core Doors fans like myself this is a must. For casual listeners or new listeners, I dont know what to tell you.
For me the recording is now complete and Doors fans like myself can now hear this CD in its entirety.............Enjoy

When finally released in the summer of 1968, much of the album's cuts were already available as 45's. Hello , I Love You, The unknown Soldier, and Not to touch the Earth were recorded in late 1967. So to call this Doors album a cohesive work of art is questionable. Morrison's antics were becoming more problematic for the rest of the group, and the recording process itself was tedious and down right frustrating. Morrison would either not show up, or was too intoxicated to do a professional job. Paul Rothchild demanded upwards of 30 takes for some of the songs on the new album, and drummer John Densmore threw down his drum sticks and walked out, after months of Morrison's unreliable behavior. Still, there is some magic that's captured on tape as Robby Krieger, once again, provides the Doors enough original material to keep things afloat. This new release by Bruce Botnick adds a denser, brighter mix, complete with Morrison's double-tracked vocals, something the original mix deleted. The addition of rare out-takes gives the listener an historic glimpse into the world of TTG Studios while the Doors were recording their third album. This 40th anniversary edition of Waiting for The Sun is well worth the trip back to those extremely heady times of The Doors in 1968..

G.Ilenda

After "Strange Days," The Doors found themselves occupied with touring and other secular matters. As a result, the songs on "Waiting for the Sun" are not as strong as those on their first two efforts, and the group is given more to repetition of prior musical riffs. There is (mostly) a change in tone to beauty from night-world, but the songs are all over the place, giving the album an incoherent character. Controversy was the name of the game for The Doors, and "Waiting for the Sun" had its contribution to this.

"Hello I Love You," contrary to what many believe, was not a quickly constructed pop song under pressure to achieve a #1 single. It was one of six songs submitted on demo tapes to Columbia records in 1965 that did not lead to a contract. "Hello" has been overly maligned over time, as some amusing lyrics compensate for its poppy structure. Also, guitarist Robby Krieger has stated the inspiration for its riff was Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love," not The Kinks' "All Day and All of the Night." The pretty "Summer's Almost Gone," with nice slide guitar from Robby, is the other entry here from those demos.

"Not to Touch the Earth," the only part of "The Celebration of the Lizard" worth much, is the strongest track. It conveys powerful images as Jim Morrison roams through his visual wilderness supported by hard-driving and menacing music. The group displays its talents in achieving a colorful bleakness: e.g., "rugs silent, mirrors vacant"). The plan had been to include the entire "Celebration," but that was bagged in favor of merely including the lyrics on the vinyl sleeve. Now, the original plan is realized through the bonus tracks (see below).

Morrison wrote two more strong songs. "The Unknown Soldier," another solid theater piece, has artistic antiwar lyrics by Morrison (but its instrumental line sounds like "My Eyes Have Seen You"). "Love Street," biographical of Jim's love Pamila Courson, is a very pretty and evocative ballad, with a musical chorus that seems like a rework of "The Crystal Ship."

Morrison's political "Five to One" lacks musical refinement, but it has some memorable lines like "no one here gets out alive." The a cappella "My Wild Love" takes us nowhere special, and the weak "We Could Be So Good Together" (with traces of "Break on Through") is one of the worst Doors songs ever.

If some of the above sounded "un-Doors-like," Robby Krieger's songs were even more so. Still, the pretty flamenco "Spanish Caravan" was often played in concert. "Yes, the River Knows" is a ballad that is somewhat distended, but it does have pretty guitar lines. The schmaltzy waltz "Wintertime Love," if (certainly) not the group's worst song, is perhaps its most un-Doors-like song as Ray dishes out non-minor-note harpsichord.

Bonus Tracks: Among the reworked CDs of the Doors' six studio albums, "Waiting for the Sun" offers the best bonus tracks. "Albinoni's Adagio" is very pretty, and the "Lizard King" gives us more to Celebrate with. This CD has interesting alternate takes of "Not to Touch the Earth" that do not sound just like the original. Then, there is finally a "studio" version of the Celebration. But it is the "Absolutely Live" version that is the true "studio" version: It is the one we know, structured more plainly and tightly performed. The bonus version is more free-flowing than its predecessor. Its streaming instrumentation meanders more, with more sound variety. The level of originality and adventure, beauty and menace, is increased in this version. The Doors and their reptilian leader cruise to new "cool air heights."

An excellent mix of original tracks plus vocals and instuments that were left out of the record ~ It's mystical ~ morrocan ~ spanish ~ rock ~ and poetry ~ the Doors at their best.