Rediscovering The Doors

I stopped listening to The Doors when I was in my early twenties. I got a job, got married a few years later and by my late twenties was a dad.

From 1988, in my universe, there was no music. Well very little anyway. That’s because there was very little time. It may sound sad but when you have young children you find that there are some things even more important than music.

Then, in 2003, I found myself spending lots of time in the car. I made an impulsive purchase of Van Morrison’s Moondance album. I’d played that to death years before but hadn’t listened to it for years. It’s a great album but I’m sorry to say, it hadn’t stood the test of time. It felt over-played even though it had been "digitally remastered".

At the supermarket checkout I made a couple more impulsive buys. Together with a couple of jazz compilations I got The Doors by The Doors which was selling for next to nothing. Unlike Van Morrison, this did stand the test of time. It stood the test of time for two reasons. First because it just does and second because  the digital remastering of The Doors really was a remastering with new bits revealed that I’d not heard before. “She gets high” instead of “She gets” in "Break On Through". Jim Morrison’s mantra “Fuck, kill. Fuck, kill” in the climactic section of "The End". It wasn’t long after that I bought all of the studio albums on CD. I’d play them all in chronological order on long journies.

If you were a Doors fan in the 60s, 70s or 80s, then grew up and never revisited them, then do so. It’s a magical rediscovery. I was lucky. I rediscovered them just in time. Just in time to see them live. Well almost. But almost was fantastic. And there were more discoveries too.