Disco de The Doors: “Classic Albums: The Doors [DVD]”

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.

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.

If you are looking for a commentary about the meaning of the songs, or speculation about Jim Morrison's mysterious death, this is not the DVD for you. If you are interested in a story about FOUR musical geniuses creating a legendary album you will love this DVD. This DVD really demonstrates the Doors synergism and how each band member made equal contributions to each song. Light My Fire is my favorite example. Robby wrote the song which is no small contribution. Jim made a substantial contribution by adding one verse and singing it in that Doors style that only Jim could do. What a voice. John made his contribution by adding the Bossa Nova beat and his incredible drum work. Ray added the repetitive Boogie-Woogie style Doors signature left-handed bass line and that famous organ introduction. But the finished song is much greater than the sum of its parts isn't it?. The Doors polished that song by performing it live hundreds of times. My favorite version of Light My Fire is on the

recorded 3 or so years after the studio recording. I don't listen to the studio albums much anymore. The live Doors concerts are my favorites and are very different than the

album, which I call Absolutely Paul, which includes hundreds of edits by Paul Rothchild. I love Absolutely Live, but I no longer think of it as a Doors concert, but perhaps the best compilation album ever created. Also just released is the new 6-disc album The Doors

which is four unexpectedly good performances on two consecutive nights. Just think about that. More new music was just released in 2009 than the total music available when the Doors were still performing. And every performance is different. Ray said some days you eat the bear and some days the bear eats you. The Doors were always trying to eat the bear by creating those magical moments where everything came together to create some of my favorite performances. I listen to the Blues almost exclusively and The Doors seemed to break new ground musically without trampling over their songs' Blues roots. I love this DVD and highly recommend it to those of you interested in The Doors music.

There is a quite a bit of recycled stuff here, but the real annoyances are the mindless crap from people like Henry Rollins, Perry Farrell and others. I really don't care what those people think about Jim or the Doors, I want to see how the album was made. There is too much filler related to the turbulent times and all of that. Anyone with a brain understands the historical context of these albums.

Already have a lot of this, but it's a nicely arrranged collection. Just wish there were more of these. Fair price, as was shipping and handling. A+.