The Doors 30 Years Commemorative Edition (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Soundtrack	Outstanding
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	A must have for Doors fans
Disadvantages:	Non fans may wonder what all the fuss is about

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

This DVD is a one DVD collection of 3 different Doors programmes. These being 'Live at the Hollywood Bowl', 'Dance On Fire', and 'The Soft Parade, a Retrospective'. I will break all the sections up and give a brief summary of each (will anyone make it to the end?) Easier that way I think. First off though the DVD as a whole and the menus...

TOTAL PACKAGE
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There are 3 hours and 5 minutes of stuff here. It seems like more. It's also one of those DVD's that you can dip in and out of. You can easily get to one particular song rather than having to trawl through the whole thing.
The menus are fairly straightforward. The initial menu lets you select the following:

>PLAY ALL
>LIVE AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL
>DANCE ON FIRE
>THE SOFT PARADE
>BONUS MATERIAL
>AUDIO (STEREO 2.0 or PCM)

Play all is self explanatory. Followed by the 3 seperate programmes. The Bonus Material being a track from the Isle of Wight festival in 1970 and 'The Ghost Song' - More of which later. You can also choose how you want to hear it (Stereo or PCM).

The packaging is tasteful, with a small booklet inside that give track listings and a little info on each recording.

PROGRAM 1 - LIVE AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL
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Length - 1 hour 3 minutes
Menus: fairly easy to navigate; you can play all or select your tracks. No problems.

July 4th, 1968, The Doors at the peak of there musical powers. The stadium is completely packed and it's a hot and steamy L.A. evening.
The consensus on this concert is that it is the best captured and best played of the Doors gigs. The gig was professionally captured in colour using 4 cameras and a 16-track audio system (pretty swanky at the time). This means the viewer gets a real insight into what it must have been like to be there.

The band are on good form; Jim strapped into his leather trousers at his animated best. Jumping around, interacting with the crowd, and generally acting like you expect Jim to act. His singing is sensational, sounding more like the gruff, later, 'L.A. Woman' era Morrison in places. Criminally underated, Ray Manzarak (Organ - Melody & Bass!) and Robby Krieger (Guitar) are on top form. Ray was head and shoulders with Jim in my opinion, he may not have turned many heads but he adds the melody and the driving basslines. Going off the subject a bit... He once covered for Jim at one of their peformances (Jim probably working off a huge hangover somewhere), and by all accounts he pulled it off in some style. That's: his usually melody and bass lines, and the vocals! What a man! Robby is also on form. Improvising when it's called for and generally getting sounds out of his guitar that were both inventive and unique. John Densmore (drums), also doesn't put a foot wrong. Also underrated, he must have been pretty good to keep up with the rest of the band.

TRACKS...

1) When The Music's Over
2) Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar)
3) Back Door Man
4) 5 To 1
6) Moonlight Drive
7) Horse Latitudes
8) From The Celebration Of The Lizard (A little Game, The Hill Dwellers)
9) Spanish Caravan
10) The Unknown Soldier
11) Light My Fire (Extended Version) >>>An eruption from the audience when they break into this one. The crowd seemed to be visibly wilting from Jim's surreal poetry. During the long solo break Jim's jigging away, and generally working himself up for the finale<<<
12) The End

PROGRAM 2 - DANCE ON FIRE
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Length - 1 hour 15 minutes.
Menus: easy to navigate; Play all or track selection.

This collection is a mix of promos, live and televised performances and behind-the-scenes footage. Bit like a documentary on the band (without dialogue). The footage spans their career. This has fairly decent sound quality throughout and some rather entertaining footage. A must see for fans. 'People Are Strange' being my particular highlight. A promo video which includes the Doors singing out in L.A. Great to see an animated Jim. Other clips like 'Light my Fire' seem to be taken from TV shows (good quality colour though!) Obviously whoever has put this together has kept the quality control up. The version of 'Roadhouse Blues' is the favoured live version ('Ladies and Gentlemen, from Los Angeles, California...'), which is a cut up of concert footage (crowd going wild, Jim going wild, cops looking nervous, people invading the stage etc).

TRACKS...

1) Break On Through
2) People Are Strange
3) Light My Fire
4) Wild Child
5) L.A. Woman
6) The Unknown Soldier
7) Roadhouse Blues
8) Texas Radio & The Big Beat / Love Me Two Times
9) Touch Me
10) Horse Latitudes/Moonlight Drive
11) The End
12) Crystal Ship
13) Adagio
14) Riders On The Storm

PROGRAM 3 - THE SOFT PARADE, A RETROSPECTIVE
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Length - 47 minutes
Menus: easy to navigate; play all, select, subtitles.

Features lots of walkaround footage of the Doors and snippets of conversation between Jim, the press, and the fans. In colour and black and white. Interspersed with live cuts, though the music seems to be of recorded quality rather than live (which is good). Good quality production. Entertaining and illuminating. The centrepiece being The Doors last televised appearance (aired in 1969).

1) The Changeling
2) Wishful Sinful
3) Wild Child
4) Build Me a Woman
5) The Unknown
6) Soldier
7)The Soft Parade
8) Hello I Love You
9) Build me a Woman

BONUS MATERIAL
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Menu gives the choice of the following two:

1) Break On Through (Isle Of Wight Track)
...The audio has come from the said concert but the majority of the footage is a mix of archive footage.

2) The Ghost Song
...A recent revival of a piece of Jim's poetry set to music by the living Doors. The video is standard VH1 fare.

SUMMARY
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Excellent collection of good quality Doors material. Good value if you can get it between £10 and £20. I have noticed that since I bought it about 5 years ago it's availability has become a bit limited (though you'll always get a copy on Ebay and found on Amazon for £6.97!!! ) I would thoroughly recommend this to anyone who has even a passing interest in The Doors.