THE DOORS 30 YEARS COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

This DVD is a The Doors fan's wet dream! A few years ago I stumbled upon it, I couldn't believe me eyes: three video's and two bonus video tracks on one DVD and a pleasant mid-price! Let's have a look on this rock document.

Live At The Hollywood Bowl: This is the legendary 1968 concert and the only complete live gig of the Doors ever filmed (60 minutes). Looking at Jim Morrison performing his unique 'stage antics', you can imagine that it more or less influenced many rock artists, from David Bowie and Peter Gabriel to Fish and Johnny Rotten, even Elvis Presley bought a leather trouser after he had seen Jim wearing it during a The Doors TV broadcasting in 1967! My absolute highlight is Light My Fire, so many great moments, from the climax of the long and compelling organ solo when Ray delivers a heavenly smile and Jim is in trance with his maracca's to the the excellent build up in the end when Jim is hopping like a frog with his back to the audience, what a tension and explosive 'grand finale'! During The Unknown Soldier we can witness the 'execution' of Jim Morrison by Robby Krieger his guitar, John is playing the militairy snare drum and after the 'shooting', Jim keeps on singing while lying on the stage floor, this is rock-theatre at its best! And keep in mind that at the same time Jim's father was commander in the US Marine Force, did anybody say 'authority-conflict?! The final song The End contains sultry guitar scales, psychedelic organ (evoking early Pink Floyd) and a great final part when Jim is dancing like a native Indian in a pow-wow. The interplay between all musicians is outstanding , so dynamic and well timed.

Dance On Fire: This one contains a captivating selection of live and televised performances, promotional clips and behind the scenes footage (65 minutes). We can enjoy the infamous Light My Fire TV version during The Ed Sullivan Show (when Jim was not allowed to sing the word 'higher', this didn't keep Jim from screaming it loud into the camera!), The Unknown Soldier (execution of Jim on the beach with blood running from his mouth on flowers and scenes from Vietnam), Roadhouse Blues (featuring images from the riots on stage with Jim and the police), Touch Me (with Jim surrounded by a brass - and violin section of aged musicians) and Crystal Ship (most romantic The Doors song with a friendly and obviously 'stoned' Jim during a picknic)

The Soft Parade: This collection of footage drawn from the Doors' private archives, it features the band's last televised appearance on PBS in 1969 (65 minutes). Most songs are a blend of live, studio and private scenes. It's really sad to see how Jim has turned from a well-shaped and handsome God Of Orgasmic Rock into a old looking man with a beer belly, a thick beard and long, greasy hair, almost a 'living dead'!

Two bonus tracks: 'Break On Through' (a bit misleading named as an Isle Of Wight Festival track but it only contains a few glimpses of that concert in 1970) and 'The Ghost Song' (wonderful tribute featuring Jim his voice and poems, supported by the band members in a swinging rhythm with delicate Fender Rhodes piano, great guitarwork and inventive drumming.

THIS IS A GREAT VISUAL INTRODUCTION TO THE DOORS!

Review Nº 734

"The Doors 30 Years Commemorative Edition" is a DVD of The Doors released in 1999. This DVD compiles three films which were also released as three individual videos before. The three films are "Live At The Hollywood Bowl" originally released in 1987, "Dance On Fire" originally released in 1985 and "The Soft Parade A Retrospective" originally released in 1991. The first was filmed live at the Hollywood Bowl in 1968 and is a short version of that live show. In 2012 the full version of this concert was released in CD, LP and DVD formats with the length of about seventy-one minutes long. The second is a collection of fourteen videos, including some rare footage from television performances. The third includes The Doors' last television appearance on PBS in 1969. It includes an interview with Jim, Ray, Robbie and John.

As I've already reviewed these three DVD's previously and individually on Progarchives, in a more extensive way, I'm not going to do it again. So, if you are interested to know, in more detail, what I wrote about them before, I invite you to read those my reviews. However, in here I'm going to write something about them in a more short way. So, of course, I'm not going to analyze them as extensively as I made before, but I'm only going to make a global appreciation of them.

"Live At The Hollywood Bowl": "Live At The Hollywood Bowl" is a great DVD. It was recorded on 5 July 1968 but it was only released for the first time in 1987. As I think, five versions of this live show were released. It was released two CD versions and two DVD versions. In 1987 it was released a CD version with only seven tracks and it became The Door's shortest official release, with only about twenty-two minutes long. The 1987/2000 DVD version has thirteen tracks and has about sixty-five minutes long. In 2012 the full version of this concert was released in CD, LP and DVD formats and it has the length of about seventy-one minutes long. This is a legendary live concert with some incredible great musical moments and where the entire band was absolutely great and where Ray Manzarek shows why he always was the secret key beyond the success of The Doors' sound. Despite some low quality of its images, it deserves to be checked.

"Dance On Fire": "Dance On Fire" is an excellent DVD of The Doors that covers all the group's musical discography when Jim Morrison was a band's member. It represents a very good and interesting musical document of one of the most important and charismatic rock bands that ever existed. This is undeniably one of the best collections from the group that contains some unique concert shots, immortal images of Morrison and his legendary band. There are some very interesting music videos. There's a lot of filler in this collection of song clips, which are interspersed with voice-overs of Morrison reading his poetry, and images of related subjects. So, "Dance On Fire" is a good collection of great The Doors musical material and images. The Doors ventured beyond the conventional realms of the musical expression with their surreal, psychedelic and unique style. This is a must have for anyone who is interested in this style of music.

"The Soft Parade A Retrospective": "The Soft Parade A Retrospective" is another excellent DVD of The Doors. It brings to us one of The Doors' calmer and more laid back performances where we can clearly see sadness and devastation in Jim Morrison. We sense that he is suffering intensely in the inside, and it's pretty obvious that on some level of his awareness he had realized that a good deal of his immense potential had gone down the drain as a result of alcoholism, drugs and fame, which somehow provoked a certain decadence. I'm sure that he knows that the 60's dream of liberation and freedom had completely failed, leaving him to live in a certain emptiness. Despite this is a short DVD, it represents a very important document of the end of the musical career of The Doors with Morrison. This is an essential document for all fans of this band, representing a nice look of thirty years after the legendary front man Jim Morrison's death.

Conclusion: It's hard to believe that have passed thirty years since the world lost a rock genius that left us hours of great music and the release of this DVD. Of course this isn't a perfect DVD. There's a lot of repetition on this DVD. The bonus tracks from the Isle of Wight offers only a few seconds from that legendary performance and instead, a lot of Hollywood Bowl footage is shown. The same holds for the Soft Parade documentary. However, I think that doesn't matter it duplicates some of the watched videos. By the other hand, despite the Hollywood Bowl live concert represents only an excerpt of all concert, I think it can captures the real essence of the band and I was even surprised that the 2.0 digital soundtrack held up to some seriously loud volume. So, this is an essential package for all fans of The Doors. If you don't know anything about them, get and enjoy it. This DVD proves why The Doors was one of the best live bands.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)