Search - Classic Albums: The Doors - The Doors on DVD

Four on the Floor would have been a Perfect Score

Mr. Richard D. Coreno | Berea, Ohio USA | 04/19/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The documentary is part of an ongoing series that airs on VH-1 and would have been vastly superior with more instrumental demonstrations & less chatter from those outside the band.

The enthusiasm of Ray Manzarek & engineer Bruce Botnick and technical explanations from Robby Krieger - with John Densmore adding a holistic dimension to the music - becomes muddled with too many people who have too little to add to the exploration of The Doors self-titled debut album.

It becomes a stretch to have friends of the group, Henry Rollins and Perry Farrell in a number of interview segments. That Farrell would share the album with his children hardly places the material in a historical context.

The bonus features place the spotlight back on the band members and the decisions that went into producing the album, with additional explanations through demonstrations. But the editing to the original documentary strays too much from letting the classic music do the talking."

The Doors, a Classic Albums Masterpiece from 1967

Tante Maren | Ohio, United States | 04/25/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For every Doors fan, this is a thrill to have the first Doors album featured on a Classic Albums dvd. I have been a Doors fan since 1967 and have enjoyed their very unique style of music for 41 years.
This dvd features 7 of their 11 debut album songs, 1.Break On Through (To The Other Side), 2.The Crystal Ship, 3.Back Door Man, 4. Alabama Song (Whisky Bar), 5.Light My Fire, 6.End Of The Night and 7.The End. It does not feature the following 4 songs: Soul Kitchen, Twentieth Century Fox, I Looked At You and Take It As It Comes. I wish they had covered all 11 songs, as it is fascinating listening to the surviving Doors Ray Manzarek (organ, piano and bass), Robby Krieger (guitar) and John Densmore (drums) telling how these songs began and how they evolved into one of the greatest albums of all time.
Jim Morrison's poetry was almost always the beginning of their great songs, but there were many other influences that Ray, Robby and John brought into their unique sound from jazz, blues, latin, flamenco and bossa nova music. They even brought in some James Brown music!
There is much bonus material that really makes this worth owning as well. Ray tells of learning to play a Marxaphone on Alabama Song that gives the song it's carnival sound. Robby tells about his slide guitar, which gave The Doors such a unique mystical sound. John tells many of his trade secrets on the drums, such as he uses size 7A drum sticks, which are very thin and break easily, but give him maximum speed.
There are also great stories about Jim Morrison from 1967 told by The Doors. Bruce Botnick, the sound recording engineer for The Doors, plays many tracks from this fantastic album by themselves, so you can hear just single tracks of Jim Morrison's voice or just single tracks of the instruments. Jim Morrison can be heard singing with no accompaniment to show that his voice alone was unbelievably incredible!
Ray was such a talent on the keyboard, that he was the bass player! They never needed a bass guitar player with the fantastic sounds Ray could make on his keyboard. They tell how Moonlight Drive never made it to this first album, because the sound was not quite right. Moonlight Drive did make it on the second album, Strange Days, when it was slowed down quite a bit and a harpsichord sound was added to it. There are also commentaries from manager Bill Siddons, Jac Holzman who signed The Doors to Elektra Records, friend and poet Michael McClure, LA DJ Jim Ladd, other musicians, a film student and a music writer.
This dvd brought back many memories from 1967, when the shortened version of Light My Fire stayed at #1 on the record charts for that summer. The magic and genius of The Doors from 1967 is still there and it comes through on this dvd. I only hope that Classic Albums will feature more of The Doors truly fantastic albums like Strange Days and Waiting For The Sun, because listening to the origins of The Doors unbelievably fantastic songs is just like listening to The Doors songs for the first time in 1967!"

Light my DVD player!

Bryan | Missouri, USA | 05/07/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Another great DVD from classic albums. The only downside in the series is that EVERY song from an album is NOT talked about, that's too bad but I guess I can't complain. The surviving members of The Doors are interviewed often throughout, especially keyboard/bass player Ray Manzarek who fondly looks back on the Doors glory days of the late 1960's, and at nearly 70 years old, is a little worn like old leather but still a pretty cool hippy from the 60's. Densmore shows some interesting aspects of his drumming in the 'special features' and how Jazz drummers influenced him and how to make his playing more confortable and with tones, etc. Not surprisingly, "Light My Fire" gets more of the attention as compared to the other songs on origins, arranging, etc and a brief clip from the Ed Sullivan show was fun to see. I never was too keen on the poetry aspect of Jim Morrison's lyrics -some of which I will never understand nor try to- and they do go into that on this DVD a little bit too much for me by showing a friend of the band recite 'Break on Through(to the other side)' as if it was the greatest thing ever written in the history of human civilization and then offer his comments about almost every line in the song(as he does in the 'special features' of the DVD). It was quite amusing to watch... once. It strays too much into beatnick territory for me. Luckily they talk about the music too - there is no denying that Ray Manzarek was a HUGE part of the Doors sound, not to discredit Krieger and Densmore. Manzarek does a lot of playing and demonstrations on this disc and his stories of Morrison on stage are entertaining to listen to, as well Krieger and Densmore. I am a casual fan of the band, who grew up in the 80s so it's nice to see how one of the best bands of the 60's got started and to hear stories of Jim Morrison and antedotes that maybe even diehard Doors fan never knew. Definitely worth owning and the price is very affordable if you look in a certain huge retail store throughout the USA. Half the price of what you will find on the internet."

The DOORS best album and a MUST have!

J. R. Cagle | Saint Charles, MO | 04/30/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have had a love affair with The Doors first album for years and what a treat it was to to see it as a Classic albums DVD. For the first time you get a inside look at the creation of in my mind, one of the best first albums ever. The viewer gets in inside look at this album thanks to the insights of Ray, Robby, and John along with Bruce Botnick. If you love the Doors first album or are even a new fan sit back and relax as your in for a real treat!

Bruce was clearly having a blast discussing this album as you simply couldn't wipe that proud smile off his face. The Doors were blessed to have his talent. Associates of the band and fellow muscians also weigh in on what made this album so unique and provide the listener with what it was like to hear this album for the first time in 1967. I loved Robby's slide flamenco playing and John shows us just how valued and underated a drummer he was and lets not forget Ray. His insights into this album and stories were wonderful and put a big smile on the viewers face. He takes you back in time to a period where albums were every bit as much as a performance on record as they were on stage.

Running time is 88 minutes and the bonus features go into more fuller details on what instruements were used and how they were played. When watching this I came away with a BIG amount of respect for the remaining Doors members. Jim will forever be the symbol of the Doors with his poetic words, timeless voice, and stage presence and rightfully so but like John said he never played a chord. Ray, John, and Robby made what Jim wrote WORK and without them Jim would have gotten nowhere and before I get flamed YES they needed Jim too! This album to me gives the surviving Doors their due and I was thrilled to see that respect paid in full.

If you love The Doors like I do GET THIS DVD TODAY! If you are new to the band its relatively cheap and a good introduction to the band if you are deciding on whether or not to buy the album. The Doors really were the alternative to the hippie flower power of the time and this album cements their status as TRUE LEGENDS whose music will live forever long after I am gone."