Doors, The - Soundstage Performance


Year of Release: 2002
Label: Eagle Vision
Catalog Number: 30017
Format: DVD
Total Time: 90:00:00

Okay, you have read all the books, heard the music, and listened to the lore and legend of concerts attended by family and friends. Therefore, what else could there be left to see and hear about the legendary rock group of the sixties The Doors? Well, a lot more than you could possibly imagine and more. Thanks to some successful boxed sets released over the last several years the group is enjoying a full blown resurgence prompting them to launch a website and start pumping out previously unreleased live recordings one after the other. I smell reunion around the corner. Well, as a matter of fact they may be getting together again to record or play live (check the band website for news), unfortunately without their front man Jim Morrison. It is too bad that the excesses of the music business and all its trappings pushed him into a life of misery with alcohol and drugs, then eventually his demise.

Soundstage Performances is a digital time machine. This enlightening and absorbing DVD is all about the sixties, which chronicles a time when people wore flowers in their hair, believed in free love and protested against the Vietnam War. Music was the driving force behind young people in America and certain groups shined brightly.

This eye opening and entertaining DVD gives you a glimpse of the past and a candid look at today from the surviving members of the band - Robbie Krieger, Ray Manzarek and John Densmore. They discuss in a matter-of-fact way their recollections of that time, of both the making of their music and the events that surrounded them. Jim Morrison's antics onstage created many problems for the group and their ability to play live. After the famous dawning of Jim's genitals at a Florida concert, the only place the band could play live was in California. After listening to the input on that situation from all the group members, it is revealed that Jim never did any of that onstage, he threatened to do so and went through all the motions, as the truth is told today ... the press and authorities fabricated it all. Robbie mentions that at the concert that night the cops were chatting and having beers with them, then they turned around and arrested Jim. It sounds to me like a conspiracy against the group because of their anti-war stance and being generally Un-American by not supporting the politics and bullshit that goes along with the makings of a war.

Thank god the entire Soft Parade album was committed to celluloid so we could see it on this DVD. Even though the studio would not permit an audience at the taping because of the pending court case, and what allegedly happened on stage, the group jumped at the chance to promote their new album. At that time, Morrison had put on a few pounds and grown a beard to project a new persona, as if to hide the real Jim that was responsible for the antics at the infamous concert. The performance was prior to the court case so he was distracted and nervous about all of that, according to the rest of the band. Regardless, his performance was exemplary and the band sounded great.

Including all of the wonderful footage of the group, the interviews with the band are what make this so interesting. The music is hypnotic as it always was. What helps to put together all the pieces of the Doors puzzle is listening to them talk about the songs and how they were created and what was happening with the group at the time. I now have a much better understanding of the group's concepts and ideas; more specifically, what was behind the music, thanks to this DVD. In the "1969 PBS 'Critique' w/ The Doors Interview & Panel Discussion" segment I found it interesting how Morrison was talking about how the music made him feel more comfortable and secure to be the poet he was and how he needed to work on reciting poetry and the spoken word without music, which he eventually did before he died. The group looked at him as the front man and as a sociopolitical figurehead that sang about how they all felt about life and where they lived, and so did everyone that bought their music -- that is what pissed off the status quo so much.

I spent a week taking in bits and pieces of this documentary and I would not only highly recommend that you get this outstanding DVD, but suggest that you carefully pay attention and take your time absorbing and processing all of it. By watching this DVD, you can read between the lines, or music as it were, and understand the band more than any book or TV show could ever hope to accomplish. This is the genesis of a group found nestled in the music and words of the people that created it; it simply does not get more concentrated than that.


Tracklisting:
The End / Whiskey Bar / Texas Radio & The Big Beat / Love Me Two Times / When The Music's Over / Unknown Soldier / Tell All The People / Backdoor Man / Wishful Sinful / Build Me A Woman / The Soft Parade

Highlights: The Doors talk about the 60s, The Doors in Europe/Denmark in 1968, The notorious Miami concert, and 1969 PBS "Critique" w/The Doors interview and panel discussion

Musicians:
Robbie Krieger - guitar
Jim Morrison - vocals
Ray Manzarek - keyboards
John Densmore - drums

Discography:
The Doors (1967)
Strange Days (1967)
Waiting For The Sun (1968)
The Soft Parade (1969)
Absolutely Live (1970)
Morrison Hotel (1970)
13 (1970)
L. A. Woman (1971)
Other Voices (1971)
Full Circle (1972)
The Best Of The Doors (1973)
The Doors/Strange Days (1975)
American Prayer (1978)
Morrison Hotel/L.A. Woman (1982)
The Doors/Waiting For The Sun (1982)
The Best Of The Doors (1985)
Greatest Hits (1996)
Complete Studio Recordings (1999)
The Very Best Of The Doors (2001)
Live At The Aquarius Theatre: The Second Performance (2001)
Life In Hollywood - Aquarius (2002)
Bright Midnight: Live In America (2002)
Legacy - The Absolute Best (2003)

Soundstage Performances (2002) (DVD)

Genre: Rock

Origin US

Added: November 17th 2002
Reviewer: Keith "Muzikman" Hannaleck
Score:
Artist website: www.thedoors.com
Hits: 2194
Language: english

  

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