The Doors - 'Live In Boston '70'
Released through Rhino Records on July 24, 2007
THE BAND:
Jim Morrison - vocals
Robby Krieger - guitar, backing vocals
Ray Menzarek - keyboards, bass, backing vocals
John Densmoore -drums, percussion
DISC I - (First Show)
1.) Start
2.) All Right, All Right, All Right!
3.) Roadhouse Moan
4.) "Roadhouse Blues"
5.) "Ship Of Fools"
6.) "Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar)"
7.) "Backdoor Man"
8.) "Five To One"
9.) "When The Music's Over"
10.) "Rock Me"
11.) "Mystery Train"
12.) "Away In India"
13.) "Crossroads"
14.) Prelude To Wake Up!
15.) Wake Up! - Poem
16.) "Light My Fire"
Disc II - (Second Show)
Disc III - (Second Show Cont.)
1.) Start 1.)
Band Intros
2.) "Break On Through"
2.) Adolf Hitler
3.) I believe In Democracy
3.) "Light My Fire"
4.) "When The Music's Over"
4.) "Fever"
5.) "Roadhouse Blues"
5.) "Summertime"
6.) "The Spy"
6.) "St. James Infirmary Blues"
7.) "Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar)"
7.) Graveyard Poem
8.) "Back Door Man"
8.) "Light My Fire"
9.) "Five To One"
9.) More, More More!
10.) Astrology Rap
10.) Ladies And Gentlemen
11.) "Build Me A Woman"
11.) We Can't Instigate
12.) "You Make Me Real"
12.) They Want More
13.) Wait A Minute! 13.) "Been Down So Long"
14.) "Mystery Train"
14.) Power Turned Off!
15.) "Away In India"
16.) "Crossroads"
From The Doors Of Perception to L.A. Woman:
In July of 1965, two UCLA film school students, Jim
Morrison and Ray Manzarek broke on through to the other side with their chance
meeting at Venice Beach, California. Morrison told Manzarek he had been writing
songs. After some encouragement from Manzarek, Jim sang ‘Moonlight Drive’.
Impressed with Morrison’s lyrics, Manzarek suggested they form a band. Within
three months, vocalist Jim Morrison and keyboardist Ray Manzarek will complete
the final line-up by adding, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore.
Taking their name from the title of a book by Aldous Huxley, ‘The Doors of
Perception’ which in turn was borrowed from a line in ‘The Marriage of Heaven
and Hell’ poem by the 18th century poet William Blake: “If the doors
of Perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is:
infinite.” On August 18, 1966 after seeing The Door’s perform two sets at the
L.A. nightclub Whiskey A Go-Go on August 10th, Elektra Records
president Jac Holzman offered the band a recording contract. Recorded within a
few days with most of the songs in one take, The Doors self-titled L.P. was
released on January 4th, 1967 and spawned some of the bands biggest
hits such as “Break On Through (To The Other Side)”, “Light My Fire” and “The
End” just to name a few. Many music experts consider this L.P. to be the best
debut of an artist in music history. The band quickly earned a reputation as a
challenging, rebellious and entertaining live act. One example of the bands
rebellious act was when Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) network censors
demanded that Morrison change the lyrics to Light My Fire by altering the line
"Girl, we couldn't get much higher" (because of the possible reference to
drugs) before the band performed the song live on September 17, 1967, on the
Ed Sullivan Show. The line was changed to, "Girl, we couldn't get much
better". However, Morrison sang the original line instead, and on live
television with no delay, CBS was powerless to stop it. A furious Ed Sullivan
refused to shake the band members' hands, and The Doors were never invited back.
According to one account, Morrison was told he would never appear on the program
again; he replied, "We just did the Ed Sullivan Show”. At the time, an appearance
was a hallmark of success. With Morrison’s magnetic stage presence and good
looks, he quickly became a major sex symbol. The Doors second L.P. titled
‘Strange Days’ was released on October 7, 1967. ‘Strange Days’ was more subdued
then their self-titled debut. Tracks like “When The Music’s Over” and “The
End” help solidify Morrison’s reputation as the wild spiritualist of rock. As
the band started working on their third release tensions began to mount from the
result of Morrison’s growing dependence on alcohol. ‘Waiting For The Sun’
(released July 13th, 1968) is the band’s first #1 L.P. The first
single taken off the album is “Unknown Soldier”. Not long after it’s release it
is banned by radio stations due to the anti-Vietnam lyrical content. The next
single, “Hello, I Love You”, will be the second and last #1 billboard hit for the
band. Due to Morrison’s heavy drinking and now ingesting psychedelic drugs the
bands fourth L.P., ‘The Soft Parade’ (released August 5, 1969), was pretty much a
complete failure to their longtime fan base, with the track “Touch Me” being
the only highlight. The band’s next two albums, ‘Morrison’s Motel’ (released in
February 1970) and ‘L.A. Woman’ (released in April 1971), saw a return to the bands
classic 1967 sound with tracks like: “Roadhouse Blues”, “L.A. Woman” and “Riders
On The Storm”. Following the recording sessions of ‘L.A. Woman’, Morrison
decided to take sometime off and move to Paris with his long-time companion,
Pamela Coursen. On July 3, 1971, Pamela found Morrison dead in the bathtub.
The Paris Medical examiner concluded Morrison’s death the result of a heart
attack. However, since there was no autopsy report done fans have always
speculated about Morrison’s death. However, in his book ‘Wonderland Avenue’
Morrison’s former associate Danny Sugerman states that during his last meeting
with Courson, which took place shortly before her own death from a heroin
overdose, she confessed that she had turned Morrison to the drug and, because he
had a fear of needles, she had injected him with the dose that killed him.
Live In Boston:
After the incident on March 1, 1969 of Morrison allegedly exposed himself on
stage at the Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami Florida along with the poor success
of their next release ‘The Soft Parade’, the band roared back in February 1970
with the release of ‘Morrison Hotel’. This three CD anniversary set features
the tour’s first stop at the Boston Arena on April 10, 1970. In the sixties and
early seventies all touring artists were subject to perform two shows on the
same day and the doors were no exception. Disc one consists of the early
performance. The set list the band designed included some of The Doors biggest
hits such as; “Roadhouse Blues”, “When The Music’s Over” and “Light My Fire”,
just to name a few. Disc 2 & 3 contains the performance that the band played
later on that same day. The first obvious difference between the early and late
shows will be the set list. Jimmy, Robbie, Ray and John added seven more songs
to the set list. This tells me that The Doors were allotted a lot more time for
the late performance. It is blatantly obvious Jim is pretty ripped for the
second show. He is more brazing and barely gets the words to “Light My Fire”
out. For several different reasons as I was listening to this I was almost
brought to tears; 1.) Jim’s alcohol and drug addiction was mainly do to the
pressures of his rock god status, 2.) This tour was one of the last performances
of one of the greatest rock bands of all-time, 3.) In just fifteen month’s from
this performance Mr. Mojo Risin’ will overdose on heroin. However, absolutely
do not let this fool you as inebriated as Morrison in on the second performance
hit hits every musical cue as it was recorded solidifying his lead vocal god
status. It is dumbfounding to think a front man such as Morrison has to pass
away before they are considered legends. When it should have been blatantly
obvious to everyone outside of, Robby, Ray and John that Jim Morrison was
already a legend! A absolute must have for all Doors fans or fans of classic
rock.