This half of the Doors box set is the only part worth having.
The first disc includes some interesting songs: "Five To One"
is a Doors' staple at concerts but the sound quality here
is terrible. The only reason it was included (this is
just my guess) is that it was from the "Miami concert".
Next is a jazz rendition of "Queen Of the Highway" which
may be as good as the original, but it wouldn't take much
effort to better that one. Then comes "Hyacinth House", one
of the better demos on the whole set, as it sounds like
they actually wanted to sing this one.
"My Eyes Have Seen You" is pretty bad but it has a decent
"Whiskey,Mystics,and Men" is one of this disc's highlights and
Disc 2 is really the best part of the whole box set. However,
Then is a live version of "Peace Frog" which has the lyrics
For the sake of getting my review published I'll call the
This set is definatly better than the second half of the set
The Doors Box Set is a great collection of music, but the 4th disc is sadly a waste of money for most hardcore Doors fans. Part 1 on the other hand is the import which only contains the first two discs which were the best parts of the box sets. Featuring rare studio out takes and odd live performences on disc one and a great compilation of songs from the Doors four shows at the Felt forum in NYC on disc two this set is a must have for Doors fans. Be warned that Disc two is not all songs from the Felt Forum, "Gloria" is an amazingly dirty version that was done at a sound check in LA, but really it is a nitpick as the song is great as it is. This is an uncensored presentation of the Doors and new fans may be surprised to hear Jim Morrison like this, we all knew the stories but when you hear him cursing at the fans from the Miami performence for the first time it is a new experience.
In the US, the Doors Box Set was released as a 4 CD set in one of those standard 4 x 8 inch boxes. Each CD comes in it's own jewel case with a small booklet. In addition, there is a nice 50 page booklet with details about each of the songs and a history of the band.
The European version of the box set was broken up into two volumes and released in the standard double CD jewel cases. I don't know how complete the booklets are.
This volume 1 set contains the best two CD's. The first CD is a mixture of absolutely fantastic live material and demos and outtakes. Not all of it is perfect, the sound quality on one of the live tracks is horrible, and some of the outtakes aren't worth listening to more than once. Black Train Song is almost worth the price of the whole set, and although Rock Is Dead is very sloppy, it is also a must have. The second CD is a complete concert from New York. It came just after the release of Morrison Hotel. The performance is excellent, and the sound quality is good.
Volume II has some good material on the first CD, but it isn't as strong as Volume I. The second CD in Volume II is all previously released material, and of no value to anyone who already has the complete Doors collection.
At half the cost of the whole Box Set, it might be a better deal just to buy this volume I and forget about volume II.
