Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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94 of 95 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Doors, October 21, 2004
Short but sweet: I don't want to ruin it for you... this is the ONE... there is no other DOORS CD like this one. Now if you're a casual fan a hits collection is what you want, but if you've "felt" the Doors in your bones you need this. The stereo mix is superb, it's on par with any of the studio albums. Morrison has his rock n' roll GOD hat on and keeps the poetry reading to a minimum. The band slams away like an acid-rock version of Impulse! era Coltrane. The liner notes claim that this show was the longest Doors gig ever, the encore was over an hour long... every second is on these two CDs. Breathtaking.
This is not the Rock n' Roll hall of fame 'touch me' bubblegummy Doors, this is the evil, MC-5, Stooges, Hendrix, acid-bent dirge Doors. This is the kind of thing you get and loan to that one friend you have that truly "gets it" and you say "man, you're not gonna believe this..."
Really, truly, honest injun... if you dig the Doors you really gotta get this. Package, liner notes, sound, it's all 5 star material. Even if you're not a Doors fan, say you're simply a fan of experimental or psychedelic music, and you happen to be reading this... get this, there are some extended organ-guitar battles that will blow your mind wide open.
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48 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Doesn't Get Better Than This, May 14, 2005
In 1970, shortly before they were banned from performing in the U.S., the Doors recorded several concerts in their entirety. Selections taken from these shows surfaced on the 2-disc LP "Absolutely Live", and later on the CD compilation "The Doors in Concert", which also included songs from other tours.
As is so often the case with the cut & paste jobs put together by the record companies (as with the official Stones live releases) you just don't get the impact of the entire show, and the best performances are left out.
At long last, the Doors have issued the entire concerts, including audience response and chit-chat between songs, on their specialty label, Bright Midnight. This one, recorded in Detroit, is the best of the bunch, and if you've only listened to the older releases, this will knock your socks off. "Light My Fire" is blistering (that's the only word for it) and the band has never sounded better.
This isn't a disc for the casual fan; if you want the greatest hits then the Legacy compilation is for you. But if you want to see, hear, feel, and taste just how good the Doors could be in concert, you need this CD in your collection.
...and if you ever thought the Doors weren't all they were cracked up to be --- listening to this will change your mind.
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27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE END of music evolution., May 13, 2006
Music evolved over the millennia.
Then The Doors played Detroit,
and evolution was complete.
"The human race was dying out,
no one left to scream and shout."
"When the music's over,
turn out the lights."
"This is The End
of our elaborate plan."
Jim Morrison and The Doors challenged convention, whether it be on the Ed Sullivan Show, where the band refused to change the lyrics to 'Light My Fire', or in Detroit on May 8 of 1970, when they ignored the union curfew and played an extra hour, enlisting a willing crowd in their rebellion with "don't let 'em chase us off". As a result, both were added to the growing list of venues that closed their doors to The Doors. Had Morrison lived longer, they may well have run out of places to perform.
Disc one of 'The Doors Live In Detroit' is an unrelenting education in rock and roll execution. The tracks are much more craftily constructed than the listings on the insert would suggest. 'Roadhouse Vamp', for example, is an instrumental version of 'Roadhouse Blues', which sits down briefly for Morrison to poetically tally the cities on this mini-tour ('Hello To the Cities'), before breaking into 'Dead Cats Dead Rats', which is really 'Break On Through', which it segues into. Fiery organ runs are offered by Ray Manzarek on tracks such as 'Ship Of Fools' and 'Break On Through', while Robbie Kreiger dashes off scintillating lead guitar runs on tracks like 'Back Door Man', 'Roadhouse Blues' (which also includes some fine rock-scat vocals from Morrison), and mimics Morrison's soaring vocals on 'Away In India' (which is played as another suite, teaming up with 'Mystery Train' and the closer, a cover of Robert Johnson's 'Crossroads'). 'Mystery Train' is a work of art in itself, slowly building tempo just like a train gathering steam, and erupting in some ominous Manzarek organ runs. The only respites from this rock and roll tsunami are 'Whiskey Bar', with its sweet pop melody seemingly mismatched to its ode-to-boozing-it-up lyrics, and 'When the Music's Over', one of the band's more psychedelic offerings (how else could you characterize, "Before I die, I want to hear, I want to hear, the scream of the butterfly")? The lyrics often challenge non-musical conventions, such as the revolutionary "the old get young and the young get stronger, they got the guns, we got the numbers, we're gonna win, yeah we're takin' over" from 'Five To One', as well as the spiritually penetrating, "cancel my subscription to the Resurrection, send my credentials to the house of detention" from 'When the Music's Over'. The band created an amazing, full-spectrum of sound despite omitting a bassist or rhythm guitarist, relying heavily on the often medieval texture of Manzarek's organ musings.
Disc two continues the rock and roll rampage as The Doors fulfill a backstage request for 'Carol' ("let me steal your heart away") before launching into a nearly twenty minute long tretise on 'Light My Fire'. When the band is ready to perform their last song, Morrison asks what they want to hear, and despite already having performed it, the crowd proclaims 'Light My Fire' the loudest. Fortunately we're treated to a rare and captivating performance of 'The End'. Aside from those three tracks, however, disc two is heavily blues oriented. On track four, Lovin' Spoonful founder John Sebastian is coaxed onstage, and through track ten the band puts on an exposition in blues standards. Even a reprise of 'Carol' takes on a blues motif, and Morrison offers up some blues-oriented poetry on 'Love Hides'.
Other audience participation includes Morrison parlaying a D mouth harp from a patron for John Sebastian to play. "Well get it up here, man", Morrison urges after mining the instrument from the throng. Since the disc features the entire concert, other 'contributions' from the audience are a trip in themselves. One audience member continually chimes in with "Wake up, Detroit!", which becomes especially poignant when Morrison screams out his own "Wake up!" in the midst of a slow passage in 'The End'. Cries such as "Get it together" and "You're beautiful" create a meaningful time context for the listener.
'The Doors Live In Detroit' is certainly one of the finest representations of the sincere spirit and intensity of the psychedelic era in music. Some brief segments of the recording are less than prime, such as 'Roadhouse Vamp' which sounds quite a bit like an overplayed vinyl record, but all-in-all this is an outstanding performance and well-recorded document. If you're a Doors fan, there is no question this two-disc set belongs in your collection, and the same is true even for the casual Doors fan. If you're not sure what you are, but you like rock or blues music, especially the vintage 1960's variety, give this one a spin. You're likely to be delighted.
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