When You're Strange (Songs From The Motion Picture) [Soundtrack]

The Doors | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 6, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2010
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Rhino Records
• ASIN: B0033G9OFA
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #84,958 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Poem: Cinema - By Johnny Depp

2. Poem: The Spirit Of Music - By Johnny Depp

3. Moonlight Drive

4. Poem: The Doors Of Perception - By Johnny Depp

5. Break On Through [To The Other Side] [Live at The Isle

6. Poem: A Visitation Of Energy - By Johnny Depp

7. Light My Fire [Live on The Ed Sullivan Show] [Mono]

8. To Be A Real Superstar [Interview Segment] - By Jim

9. Five To One

10. Poem: Wasting The Dawn - By Johnny Depp

11. When The Music's Over [Live on Danish TV] [Mono]

12. The Four Of Us Are Musicians / I'd Like Them To Listen

13. Hello, I Love You

14. Dead Serious [Interview Segment] - By Jim Morrison

15. People Are Strange

16. Poem: Inside The Dream - By Johnny Depp

17. Soul Kitchen

18. Poem: We Have Been Metamorphosized - By Johnny

19. Poem: Touch Scares - By Johnny Depp

20. Touch Me

See all 32 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

SOUNDTRACK THE DOORS - WHEN YOU ARE STRANGE

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Doors Songs, Morrison's Poetry Make Aural Documentary, April 6, 2010

By 

Jym Cherry "Writing Under The Influence of Ro... (Wheaton, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: When You're Strange (Songs From The Motion Picture) (Audio CD)

When You're Strange: Songs From The Motion Picture is a mixture of readings of Jim Morrison's poems and non-sequiturs, interviews from all the members of The Doors, and, the music of The Doors. At first a CD which incorporates the poetry of Jim Morrison and the music of The Doors may seem like a sequel to An American Prayer, but the soundtrack to When You're Strange is quite unlike anything The Doors have released before. The soundtrack comes out Tuesday April 6th, and is the companion piece to the forthcoming release of the film the following Friday on April 9th.

The soundtrack includes the classic album versions of the songs such as Moonlight Drive, Hello, I Love You, Soul Kitchen, live performances, Light My Fire from The Ed Sullivan show where Morrison famously refused to leave out the word `higher` as requested by the censors, When The Music's Over from the Danish television broadcast, and Break On Through from the Isle of Wight.

Jim Morrison's poetry is read by Johnny Depp who is reputed to have recorded the pieces on his boat in a darkened candlelit room. At first I thought the inclusion of having Depp read Morrison's poetry was a nod to increase the commercial potential of the soundtrack, Depp being one of the biggest contemporary actors, even though he brings his own hip cache and was drawn to the project by allure and legend of The Doors (he's a fan). Depp's understated readings may not have the full dramatic weight in the reading that Morrison used when recording his poems, for the birthday recording sessions that were later used in An American Prayer. Anyone who has heard Morrison reading his poems find his voice compelling even without music. Depp's candlelit reading works, it sets the tone, his reading of the poems has a sultry almost dusky tone to it, you can almost hear the smoke of those black cigarettes Depp smokes curling around Morrison`s words.

The soundtrack of When You're Strange has a different feeling and tone from other Doors albums, CD's or previous anthologies. First of all it doesn't rely on the usual chronological placement of songs or necessarily including all "the hits," but aims more for giving the listener a sense of what The Doors were about, a fusion and interweaving of poetry with the music, the poetry segues very smoothly into the songs. The poems don't seem to have been picked to add any context to the songs, or compliment the songs, or even the reverse, the songs adding context to the poems, but they seem to naturally fit together, Morrison`s poetry and the music of The Doors has always seemed to fit together as if they were always meant to be there. There's a couple clips of interviews where the band speaks for itself following the film's agenda of using only period clips and quotes from the band, some of which may not be all that well known, Morrison`s "Dead Serious" gives you a bit of an idea of where their heads were at.

This one disc CD, includes a booklet with pictures of the band, quotes from the movie's director Tom DiCillo, Johnny Depp, and producer Dick Wolf. The booklet opens up into a mini-sized print of the movie poster. When You're Strange: Songs From The Motion Picture creates an aural documentary of the film that can either compliment the viewing of the film or as a stand alone piece that provides some of the documentary elements giving the listener a feel for the film.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Nothing New Except For The Poetry Readings & Bad Live Tracks., April 22, 2010

By 

Mr. Fellini "Fellini" (Orange County, California United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: When You're Strange (Songs From The Motion Picture) (Audio CD)

The Doors have spent years finding new ways to re-package and re-sell the same basic songs from their six studio albums. Now they have a new excuse for yet another release, a documentary about the history of the band which of course opens the door for a "soundtrack."

The album for "When You're Strange" is basically the same recordings a Doors fanatic or casual classic rock listener probably already has in earlier releases, such as the much superior "The Very Best Of The Doors" and of course, the albums themselves. For die hard members of the Jim Morrison cult the only noteworthy new material here are the poetry readings by actor Johnny Depp (who narrates the film), most of them only last a few seconds, but does that matter to Morrison's disciples? It is a shame though, how short the poetry tracks are, because Depp's voice adds a nice, dark atmosphere to the words, like a fellow literary rebel reciting strange visions and ideas.

The other "new" material here are "live tracks" basically lifted from TV performances such as the notorious "Light My Fire" performance from the Ed Sullivan Show and a scorching "When The Music's Over" from European TV. But the quality of these tracks is so scratchy and fuzzy that you're better off with the actual performance footage found in Doors DVD releases which have much cleaner audio. The Doors fanatic will no doubt want to get them just for the sake of having them but the casual listener will find little reason for adding the recordings to their iPods. The same goes for the "interview clips" featuring the band, short clips which, again, are simply lifted from video sources most fans purchased long ago.

The music of The Doors is of course classic, powerful and timeless. Songs like "Moonlight Drive" and "People Are Strane" retain their dark, poetic power while "Break On Through" and "Soul Kitchen" are exciting numbers with killer rhythms. The beautiful "The Crystal Ship" is here as well with its wonderous visions and lush melodies and "The End" remains the band's epic masterpiece. But of course anyone who loves The Doors already knows all this. And those who loved 2007's remixed albums will find the original recordings which of course, they probably already own.

Some are saying that criticisms of this release are unfounded because hey, it is a SOUNDTRACK to a film after all. True, but reviewed as a product, it has little to offer Doors fans and for the newly initiated, they are better off getting the band's albums which are the true testament of any musical group. Wouldn't a new fan prefer the actual studio versions of "Light My Fire" and "When The Music's Over" anyway? "When You're Strange" is no doubt a fascinating film, but as a soundtrack, it's just more recycled product which you probably already have sitting somewhere in your CD collection or downloaded into your iPod.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Hope The Movie Is Better, April 14, 2010

By 

Gary T. "Gary" (East Coast, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: When You're Strange (Songs From The Motion Picture) (Audio CD)

This isn't a CD that you will want to hear over and over. The sound quality is not as good as other Doors remasters and what's worse, having Johnny Depp recite Jim Morrison's poetry was a mistake. Depp's voice is too soft and it doesn't project the wild, dynamic spirit of Jim Morrison. I did enjoy the live version of "Break On Through (To The Other Side)" that was included on this CD. Your money would be better spent on the Doors studio albums or the many Live CDs. I've always believed that the Doors were one of the greatest American bands but this CD feels like somewhat of a ripoff. This type of fluff is definitely not what the Doors were about.