Classic Albums: The Doors — dvd review

by Greg   ⋅   May 19, 2008   ⋅   Comment now   ⋅    RSS

Starring: Jim Morrison and crew
Genre: Rockumentary, rock

“Is he writing about death? Do people write about that?! It’s not like Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da!” - Henry Rollins on The End by The Doors

When the Doors came out in the late 60s, it was clear that they were a different kind of rock band, one that was laden in dark poetic imagery and was influenced by everything from Kurt Weill, the blues, jazz, and flamenco. Unlike many other bands of the era, they seemed to come out fully formed with these influences, recording their most powerful and timeless album first. Classic Albums: The Doors is the story of how this well-loved first album came to be with remembrances by the three surviving members of the band and everyone else from their then-manager to their sound engineer to Perry Farrell.

The feature originally aired on VH1 and there are 38 minutes of never before seen bonus material. It starts with Ray Manzarek, the keyboard player, detailing how he met Jim Morrison, the singer, in film school and how the band came to be and follows their evolution until they get into the studio to record their debut. Time is given to almost every cut on the album with scenes of live performances and both history and appreciation. Time is devoted also to more technical aspects of the music and they openly admit their influences (Paul Butterfield, James Brown).

There is a genuine enthusiasm in the interviews for what The Doors were doing back than and a special reverence for the late Jim Morrison by all involved. It is revealed that he was a Sinatra fan, which makes perfect sense once you think about it. There is also an admiration for his fearlessness as a performer and writer; all of the people interviewed are fans of Morrison, including the other members. It becomes clear that the surviving members were excited to try to carry out Morrison’s vision and are really not trying to take a lot of credit for the success of The Doors, although they do talk about how Morrison would have a song in his head and they would figure the chords out on the spot. The musicianship of the three other members is evident in clips of them playing even now in their 60s and it is interesting to see how they took different styles of music and put them together logically.

The special features were particularly fascinating to me as a musician and huge fan of music. There are long scenes where Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robbie Krieger, and drummer John Densmore explain some of the evolutions of riffs and songs while playing their instruments. There are also a couple of really interesting anecdotes, one about Morrison on LSD and one about the infamous New Haven concert where he was arrested on stage for egging on the police. Also on the special features is an extended explanation of how The End evolved into the ten-minute plus epic on the album.

Classic Albums: The Doors is a great DVD for those who are fans of the band or fans of late-60s rock music in general. Those who are more casual fans or not as into the more technical aspects of the music might be less interested in some of the special features although they do contain some very cool musical performances.

About the Author:

On the DVD, John Densmore says “Magic comes through you, you don’t own it”. Gregory Masaki Jenkins , being a musician himself, has felt that magic before and it is wonderful. You can hear him play throughout the Bay Area playing music that sounds nothing like The Doors…but you might hear a Manzarek riff in there somewhere.

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