marți, 3 august 2010
The Doors Fan Club
The history of The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California. Throughout its existence, the group consisted of vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger. They were among the most controversial rock acts of the 1960s, due mostly to Morrison's wild, poetic lyrics and charismatic but unpredictable stage persona. After Morrison's death in 1971, the remaining members continued as a trio until finally disbanding for good in 1973.[1]
Although The Doors' active career ended in 1973, their popularity has persisted. According to the RIAA, they have sold over 32.5 million albums in the US alone.[4] The band has sold over 75 million albums worldwide. Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger still tour sometimes, with additional musicians, as Manzarek-Krieger, performing Doors songs exclusively.
History
1965–68
Origins and formation
The origins of The Doors lie in a chance meeting between acquaintances and fellow UCLA film school alumni Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek on Venice Beach California in July 1965. Morrison told Manzarek he had been writing songs (Morrison said "I was taking notes at a fantastic rock-n-roll concert going on in my head") and, with Manzarek's encouragement, sang "Moonlight Drive". Impressed by Morrison's lyrics, Manzarek suggested they form a band.[citation needed]Keyboardist Manzarek was in a band called Rick & the Ravens with his brothers Rick and Jim Manzarek, while drummer John Densmore was playing with The Psychedelic Rangers, and knew Manzarek from meditation classes. In August, Densmore joined the group and, along with members of The Ravens and bass player Pat Sullivan (later credited using her married name Patricia Hansen in the 1997 box CD release), recorded a six-song demo in September 1965. This circulated widely as a bootleg recording. That month the group recruited guitarist Robby Krieger, and the final lineup — Morrison, Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore — was complete. The band took their name from a line in William Blake's poem The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, ('If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite'), according to the currently festival-touring documentary on The Doors, When You're Strange.
By 1966, the group was playing the LA club London Fog and soon graduated to the prestigious Whisky a Go Go, where they were the house band, supporting acts including Van Morrison's group Them. On their last night together the two bands joined up for "In the Midnight Hour" and a twenty-minute jam session of Them's "Gloria".[5] On August 10, they were spotted by Elektra Records president Jac Holzman who was present at the recommendation of Love singer Arthur Lee, whose group was on Elektra. After Holzman and producer Paul A. Rothchild saw two sets of the band playing at the Whisky a Go Go, they signed them to the Elektra Records label on August 18—the start of a long and successful partnership with Rothchild and engineer Bruce Botnick. Later that month, the club fired the band after a profanity-filled performance of "The End". In an incident that foreshadowed the controversy that later followed the group, an acid-tripping Morrison raucously recited his own version of the Greek drama Oedipus Rex, in which Oedipus unknowingly kills his father and has sex with his mother.[6]
Debut album
The band recorded their first album from August 24 to 31, 1966 at Sunset Sound Recording Studios. 'The Doors' self-titled debut LP was released in the first week of January 1967. It featured most of the major songs from their set, including the nearly 12-minute musical drama "The End".In November 1966, Mark Abramson directed a promotional film for the lead single "Break On Through (To the Other Side)". To promote the single, the Doors made their television debut on a Los Angeles TV show called Boss City, circa 1966, possibly early 1967 and then on a Los Angeles TV show called Shebang, miming to "Break On Through," on New Year's Day 1967. This clip has never been officially released by the Doors.
The band's second single, "Light My Fire", became the first single from Elektra Records to reach number one on the Billboard singles chart, selling over a million copies.[7]
Early television performances
The Doors appeared on American television on August 25, 1967, possibly for the first time, guest-starring on the variety TV series, Malibu U, performing "Light My Fire". They did not, however, appear live. The band is seen on a beach and are performing the song in play back. The music video did not gain any commercial success and the performance was more or less forgotten.[8] It was not until they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show that they gained attention on television.The Doors made their international television debut in May 1967, recording a version of "The End" for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) at O'Keefe Centre in Toronto.[9] But after its initial broadcasts, it remained unreleased except in bootleg form until the release of The Doors Soundstage Performances DVD in 2002.[9]
In September 1967, The Doors gave a memorable performance of "Light My Fire" on The Ed Sullivan Show. According to Ray Manzarek, network executives asked that the word "higher" be removed in favor of "better", as you couldn't say "high" on national TV. The group initially agreed to this, but nonetheless performed the song in its original form, either because they had never intended to comply with the request, or Jim Morrison was nervous and forgot to make the change (Manzarek has given conflicting accounts). Either way, "higher" was sung out on national TV, and a furious Ed Sullivan cancelled another six shows that had been planned, to which Jim Morrison reportedly said: "Hey man, so what? We just did The Ed Sullivan Show."
On December 24, The Doors taped "Light My Fire" and "Moonlight Drive" live for The Jonathan Winters Show. From December 26 to December 28, the group played at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. An excerpt taken from Stephen Davis' book on Jim Morrison (p. 219–220):
The next night at Winterland, a TV set was wheeled onstage during The Doors set so the band could see themselves on The Jonathan Winters Show. They stopped playing "Back Door Man" when their song came on. The audience watched the Doors watching themselves on TV. They finished the song when their bit was done, and Ray walked over and turned the TV off. The next night was their last ever in Winterland.They played two more dates in Denver on December 30 and December 31, capping off a year of almost constant touring.
Strange Days
The Doors spent several weeks in Los Angeles' Sunset Studios recording their second album, Strange Days, experimenting with the new technology they now had available. The commercial success of Strange Days was middling, peaking at number three on the Billboard album chart but quickly dropping, along with a series of underperforming singles.[7]New Haven incident
The incidents leading up to Morrison's arrest in New Haven are still somewhat unclear, though it is believed that Morrison was making out in a bathroom stall with a fan when a police officer appeared. Morrison became belligerent, resulting in his being sprayed with mace.[10]
On stage, Morrison proceeded to go on an obscenity-laced tirade to the audience, explaining what had happened backstage and belittling New Haven police. Then Morrison was arrested and dragged offstage, resulting in a riot which spilled from the gates of the New Haven Arena into the streets. Morrison was taken to a local police station, photographed and booked on charges of indecency and public obscenity.
Morrison later referred to this event in the song "Peace Frog" on the 1970 album Morrison Hotel, which contains the lyric, "Blood in the streets in the town of New Haven."
Waiting for the Sun
Recording of the group's third album in April 1968 was marred by tension as a result of Morrison's increasing dependence on alcohol and drugs, and the rejection of his new epic, "The Celebration of the Lizard", by band producer Paul Rothchild, who deemed the work not commercial enough. Approaching the height of their popularity, The Doors played a series of outdoor shows that led to frenzied scenes between fans and police, particularly at Chicago Coliseum on May 10.The band began to branch out from their initial form for this third LP. Because they had exhausted their original repertoire, they began writing new material. Waiting for the Sun became their first #1 LP, and the single "Hello, I Love You" was their second and last US #1 single. Controversy arose with the 1968 release of "Hello, I Love You" as a single when the rock press pointed out the song's resemblance to The Kinks' 1964 hit, "All Day and All of the Night". Members of the Kinks have concurred with the critics; Kinks guitarist Dave Davies has been known to add snippets of "Hello, I Love You" during live solo performances of "All Day and All of the Night" as a sarcastic commentary on the subject.[11] In concert, Morrison was occasionally dismissive of the song, leaving the vocal chores to Manzarek, as can be seen in the documentary The Doors are Open.[12]
A month after riotous scenes took place at the Singer Bowl in New York, the group flew to Britain for their first venue outside of North America. They held a press conference at the ICA Gallery in London and played shows at The Roundhouse Theatre. The results of the trip were broadcast on Granada TV's The Doors Are Open, later released on video. They played dates in Europe, along with Jefferson Airplane, including a show in Amsterdam where Morrison collapsed on stage after a drug binge.
The group flew back to the US and played nine more US dates before returning to work in November on their fourth LP. They ended the year with a successful new single, "Touch Me", (released in December 1968), which hit US #3. They started 1969 with a sold-out show on January 24 at Madison Square Garden.
1969–71
The Soft Parade
The Doors' fourth album, The Soft Parade, released in July 1969, contained pop-oriented arrangements and horn sections. The lead single "Touch Me" featured saxophonist Curtis Amy.While the band was trying to maintain their previous momentum, efforts to expand their sound gave the album an experimental feel, causing critics to attack their musical integrity. According to John Densmore in his biography Riders On The Storm individual writing credits were noted for the first time because of Morrison's reluctance to sing the lyrics of Robbie Krieger's song "Tell All The People". Morrison's drinking made him difficult and unreliable, and the recording sessions dragged on for months. Studio costs piled up, and The Doors came close to disintegrating. Despite all this, the album was immensely successful, becoming the band's fourth hit album.
Miami incident
[edit] More legal problems
During the recording of their next album, in November 1969, Morrison once again found himself in trouble with the law after harassing an airline staff during a flight to Phoenix, Arizona to see The Rolling Stones in concert. He was acquitted the following April after a steward mistakenly identified Morrison as his travelling companion, American actor Tom Baker.The group started 1970 in New York with two well-received nights at The Felt Forum, just prior to the release of Morrison Hotel.
Aquarius Theatre performances
The Doors gave two concerts at the Earl Carroll Theatre (then called the "Aquarius" theatre) on Sunset Blvd, Hollywood. The two shows were performed on July 21, 1969. A "backstage" performance, a so-called "private rehearsal" without an audience occurred on July 22, 1969. This was only a few months after the "Miami incident" in March of that year. The shows featured a more laid back, bluesy style of Doors music. Morrison appeared not as his trademark, "young lion" in black leather pants. Instead, he wore a beard and sported loose fitting carpenter-like pants.The performances included Morrison singing sitting on a stool. His usual theatrics were more sober and subdued as compared to previous performances; the convulsing and writhing were not seen. Morrison focused on his vocals and expressed himself more musically—even shaking maracas during many of the songs.
Of the songs performed with an audience, "Universal Mind" and the "Celebration of the Lizard" suite were released on The Doors' 1970 Absolutely Live album, whereas "You Make Me Real" was released on Alive, She Cried in 1983. Further, the Van Morrison track, "Gloria", which was performed and recorded during the audience-less rehearsal, was also released on Alive, She Cried. Both the first and second shows along with the rehearsal the following day were released in 2001. It was at these shows that Morrison issued his poem, "Ode to L.A." while thinking of Brian Jones, the deceased former Rolling Stones guitarist. Morrison would die exactly two years after Jones.
[edit] Morrison Hotel and Absolutely Live
The Doors staged a return to form with their 1970 LP Morrison Hotel, their fifth album. Featuring a consistent, hard rock sound, the album's opener was "Roadhouse Blues". The record reached US #4 and revived their status among their core fanbase and the rock press. Dave Marsh, the editor of Creem magazine, said of the album: "the most horrifying rock and roll I have ever heard. When they're good, they're simply unbeatable. I know this is the best record I've listened to ... so far".[14] Rock Magazine called it "without any doubt their ballsiest (and best) album to date".[14] Circus magazine praised it as "possibly the best album yet from the Doors" and "Good hard, evil rock, and one of the best albums released this decade".[14] The album also saw Jim Morrison returning as main songwriter, writing or co-writing all of the album's tracks (as opposed to the poppier The Soft Parade, for which Robbie Krieger contributed a large number of songs).Once The Doors had completed Morrison Hotel, with a tour to support it, Morrison and the band found their career consumed by the Miami trial.
July 1970 saw the release of The Doors' first live album, Absolutely Live. The 40th Anniversary CD reissue of Morrison Hotel contains outtakes and alternate takes, including different versions of "The Spy" and "Roadhouse Blues" (with Lonnie Mack on bass guitar and The Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian on a bluesy harmonica).
The band continued to perform at arenas throughout the summer. Morrison faced trial in Miami in August, but the group made it to the Isle of Wight Festival on August 29. They performed alongside artists such as Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Joni Mitchell, Miles Davis and Sly & The Family Stone. Two songs from the show were featured in the 1995 documentary Message To Love.
Last public performance
On December 8, 1970, his 27th birthday, Morrison recorded another poetry session. Part of this would end up on An American Prayer: Jim Morrison in 1978 with music, and is currently under the possession of the Courson family.The Doors' tour to promote their upcoming album L.A. Woman would comprise only two dates. The first was held in Dallas, Texas on December 11 and reportedly went well. During the Doors' last public performance, at The Warehouse in New Orleans, Louisiana, on December 12, 1970, Morrison apparently had a breakdown on stage. Midway through the set he slammed the microphone numerous times into the stage floor until the platform beneath was destroyed, then sat down and refused to perform for the remainder of the show. Drummer John Densmore recalls the incident in his biography Riders On the Storm, where after the show he met with Ray and Robbie; they decided to end their live act, citing their mutual agreement that Morrison was ready to retire from performing.
[edit] L.A. Woman
The Doors set to reclaim their status as a premier act with L.A. Woman in 1971. The session included guitar work by Marc Benno, and bass by Jerry Scheff. The album contained two top 20 hits and has gone on to be their second best-selling studio album, surpassed in sales only by their debut. The album explored their R&B roots, although during rehearsals they had a falling-out with Rothchild. Denouncing "Riders On The Storm" as 'cocktail jazz', he quit and handed the production to Botnick. The singles "L.A. Woman", "Love Her Madly" (the Doors last top ten hit), and "Riders On The Storm" remain mainstays of rock radio programming, and the latter, as of November 25, 2009, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for its special significance to recorded music. During the sessions, a short clip of the band performing "Crawling King Snake" was filmed. So far as known, this is the last clip of the Doors performing with Morrison.On March 13, 1971, following the recording of L.A. Woman, Morrison left the Doors and moved to Paris with Pamela Courson. He had visited the city the previous summer and seemed interested in moving there to become a writer in exile.
While in Paris, he was again drinking heavily and using other drugs. On June 16, the last known recording of Morrison was made when he befriended two street musicians at a bar and invited them to a studio. This recording was finally released in 1994 on a bootleg CD entitled The Lost Paris Tapes.
Morrison's death
Morrison died at age 27, the same age as several other famous rock stars, including Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones, Alan Wilson of Canned Heat, and Gary Thain of Uriah Heep. Morrison's girlfriend, Pamela Courson, also died at the age of 27.
[edit] 1971–73
[edit] Other Voices and Full Circle
The surviving Doors continued for some time, initially considering replacing Morrison with a new singer. Instead, Krieger and Manzarek took over on vocals and The Doors released two more albums before disbanding. The recording of Other Voices took place from July to August 1971, and the album was released in October, 1971. The recordings for Full Circle took place during the spring of 1972, and the album was released in August, 1972. The Doors went on tour after the releases in support of the albums. The last album expanded into jazz territory. In 1973 the group disbanded; Krieger, Manzarek and Densmore reunited in 1978, 1993 and 2000.While neither album has been reissued on CD in the United States, they have been released on 2-on-1 CDs in Germany and Russia.
1978
An American Prayer
The third post-Morrison album, An American Prayer, was released in 1978. It consisted of the band adding musical tracks to spoken-word recordings of Morrison reciting his poetry. The record was a commercial success, acquiring a platinum certificate.[17] An American Prayer was re-mastered and re-released with bonus tracks in 1995.[18]
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