Disco de The Doors: “Live in Pittsburgh 1970”

Live In Pittsburgh 1970, the newest release from Bright Midnight Archives is yet another masterful recording. Although somewhat shorter than the Doors' other 1970 concert releases, this show does not cease to entertain. With a 22+ minute version of "When the Music's Over", including snippets from "The Soft Parade" and a completely unreleased track "Push Push" that was ONLY ever recorded live here and never made it onto that album. This release is well worth the money. If you are even a casual Doors fan, for the price you definatly need to check this out.

When Bright Midnite announced they were releasing concerts of the last major Doors tour I was intrested because I went to this show. Looking back what struck me as intresting is back then the Doors were on tour but they were not supporting their latest album (Morrison Hotel); they played 1 song from it: Roadhouse Blues. Looking at bands today and over the past 30 years that really has never been the case they because they feature songs from the newest album when on tour. The Doors were always about perfomance art and this is a good example of it with the ad libbed jams on songs like When the Musics Over and the opening Backdoor Man. This is what also makes the Doors and the time when this album was recorded special. Jim Morrison is a legend and his talent and poetic spirit shines on this CD. I love it because I was there and it is a part of what defines my musical tastes in music today.

Like some of the released live works of the Doors in the past decade, this show more than others pushes the argument again for the survival of Jim Morrison. When the studio releases in 1971,or so, "Absolutely Live" and claims Jim was drunk most the time etc., they had to splice shows...etc as the official story and 30 years later there are a dozen shows to come that are not incoherent or uneven, one wonders. This was a hot show, my beautiful friend, with 3 unreleased songs and the fullest display of Morrison's range from blues, rock to Sinatra vocal touches. Manzarek's and Krieger's support throughout was inventive, jazzy and extraordinary. What made this special is the surprising counter taunts by Morrison when the audience tires of the artsy "When the music's over" interlude and Jim breaks the trance with two or three bird calls straight out of Martin Denny's "Quiet Village," that no reviewer had yet identified. The seamless segueing into and out of formal song structure was amazing. New levels of improvisation, here. No 4 chord wonders, absolutely surprising 40 years on.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I first got this cd. But I certainly wasn't dissappointed. The sound quality is very good. The concert was very good, and the overall feel is excellent. If your a Doors fan I highly recommend it. If your a casual fan, I still recommend it, if you want to hear something different from a legendary band.

Does anyone have any photos from this concert in Pittsburgh? I was there as a youngster and everyone rushed the stage as they broke into Light my Fire. I ended up on the edge of the stage and Morrison danced over and shook my hand. I was wondering if that was captured on film.

Thanks,

Pete