The Doors Live

There are those Doors fans that would not give live performances of The Doors iPod room. I can understand this. I never used to like Absolutely Live when I listened to it in the 70s. The studio albums are beautifully crafted – while many tracks recorded in a single sitting, others are heavily produced. Paul Rothschild (producer) and Bruce Botnick, (sound engineer) both deserve great credit.

The Doors live is different. Absolutely Live, the album, was the best bits. It gave a flavor for what a Doors concert was like - but it was a lie. The whole point about live is the performance. The noise of the crowd; the anticipation before the band comes on; the roar for an encore; the adlibs; the mistakes; seeing that it really is these people, really playing and singing these songs. Absolutely live took out the drunken antics and mistakes. They even spiced together songs from different performances. Technically impressive but just about the worse compromise you can get. If you want recording and performing perfection use a studio and do many takes. If you want a live performance, lets have it, warts and all.

And this is why I’ve been so pleased to see the more recent releases of Live performances. I loved “Boot Yer Butt” (the audience recordings) and I’m loving the New York gigs.