DOORS, THE - CD
A SCANDINAVIAN PRAYER

LABEL:
Explorer Records ER 0107
SOURCE:
Konserhuset, Stockholm - September 20, 1968 (2nd Show)
FORMAT:
CD Picture Disc
RUNNING TIME:
78:27
SOUND/SOURCE:
Stereo Soundboard, Studio Outtakes
PACKAGING:
Color insert art w/Black & Photos
 

A Scandinavian Prayer front

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SOUND 9 / PACKAGING 8.5 / PERFORMANCE 8.5

 
TRACK LIST:

1. Five To One, 2. (Ballad Of) Mack The Knife,  3. Alabama Song/Back Door Man, 4. You're Lost Little Girl, 5. Love Me Two Times, 6. When The Music's Over, 7. Wild Child, 8. Money, 9. Wake Up!, 10. Light My Fire, 11. The End  

Bonus Tracks:  12.  Shaman's Blues (called "Let It Bleed" on the insert) Studio Demo 1968, 13. I'm Your Doctor (Session take, Hollywood July 22, 1969), 14. Love Her Madly (Work-in-progress version)

 
REVIEW:

This was certainly an interesting prospect when it arrived to market this Summer as any new Doors bootlegs, at least commercially, are a rarity these days.  Explorer Records notes on the back insert that this production is 're-mastered from master reels' which made it that much more interesting upon getting in this reviewers hands.

The information provided on the CD info doesn't identify which of the Stockholm soundboards is being presented but I have confirmed that it is the evening performance from September 20, 1968 after an a/b comparison to Swingin' Pigs' "Live In Stockholm" 2CD set.  Upon comparison I found that this new remaster didn't provide any upgraded benefit to the TSP version - at least within the first 3 tracks.  It actually sounded harsher, but after the exercise of comparing each it seems to be the sourcetape that is the cause.  "Live In Stockholm" just comes off a bit sharper due to the heavy-handed equalisation and compression TSP applies to most of those early 90's titles and of course their "NoNoise" reduction application too.  Explorer Records new single disc really shines as the tape clears up in time for the rare, "You're Lost Little Girl", through the rest of this portion of the CD.  It is here you are able to confirm the use of the original reels and makes this a really good title to pick up.  Now where is the earlier show from said master reel?  As we all have read and heard about The Doors 1968 European Tour, Jim Morrison had himself a good time abroad as they toured with The Jefferson Airplane.  These shows musically are rock solid but the tripped-out and inebriated Lizard King gave crowds some very unpredicatable and abysmal performances in most cases.  It is obvious in this particular peformance the guy is completely gone but is hanging on by a pinky-finger and enough to provide some assemblance to the pieces and recognizing his cues to "sing".  The format of the shows and this particular date having back-to-back performances keeps this set to just about an hour and is about all they could have ever hoped to get out of ole Jimbo.  It's actually a pretty nice set and "You're Lost Little Girl" is both beautiful and flawless.  Worth the price of admission alone.  The tape hear sounds warm and natural versus the over-treated TSP set.

The bonus tracks featured are certainly a random batch of tracks to tack on.  The first is supposedly an edited 'studio demo' of a track labeled as "Let It Bleed", but what is actually "Shaman's Blues" from The Soft Parade LP.  It sounds like just an edit of the actual finished track used for the LP but the guitar track is latent in this particular edited mix and is half as long.  "I'm Your Doctor" is a rather ridiculous Ray Manzarek-lead studio blues jams credited as a 'session-take' from a July 22nd, 1969 recording session at Elektra Studios in Hollywood.  Jim provides the other half of the call/response vocal treatment and the sound quality is excellent on all of these bonus tracks.  A 'work-in-progress' version of "Love Her Madly" from L.A. Woman rounds out the disc and again, sounds like just an edit of what was officially issued and makes for a puzzling inclusion but at least it all sounds great. 

This is a great acquisition for those that cannot find The Swingin' Pig set and is certainly an upgrade for the evening show recording anyway which makes it a worthwhile purchase for all Doors collectors. 


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Aug 16, 2007 - 9:28:20 PM


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