The Doors Live in New York Genres:Alternative Rock, Pop, Rock, Classic Rock, Metal 2009 six CD box set that contains all of the Doors' performances in their entirety recorded in 1970 at the Felt Forum in New York. All four shows were mixed and mastered by the band's long-time engineer, Bruce Botnick, who... more » recorded a number of shows from their 1970 tour. While most of the music in the collection has never been released, a few songs appeared on the 1970 release, Absolutely Live and in the 1997 box set. Elektra.« less
2009 six CD box set that contains all of the Doors' performances in their entirety recorded in 1970 at the Felt Forum in New York. All four shows were mixed and mastered by the band's long-time engineer, Bruce Botnick, who recorded a number of shows from their 1970 tour. While most of the music in the collection has never been released, a few songs appeared on the 1970 release, Absolutely Live and in the 1997 box set. Elektra.
CD Reviews
The Doors At The Felt Forum Prove Why They're A Great Band!
Jym Cherry | Wheaton, IL United States | 11/17/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"After I became a Doors fan one of the first concerts I started hearing about was the Felt Forum shows. Not only did it sound like a great name for a 60's venue, but the shows were said to be great and that you had to hear them. Until now I haven't had the opportunity, so the anticipation has been building for 30 years. Rhino Records release of these shows in their box set, The Doors Live In New York, is what fans have been looking for.
Recorded on two nights, January 17th and 18th 1970. The Doors did four shows and each show is included in its entirety in this box set. Some of the songs have been included on other Doors live albums. You'll hear When The Music's Over that was on Absolutely Live, but just when you think you know the song, you realize there's more. The Absolutely Live version was edited. For The Doors fan searching for something new, each CD contains a veritable plethora of previously unreleased versions of songs. It's good to hear the songs in context with all the strengths and shortcomings The Doors had as a band. These recordings give the listener the full sense and feeling of the concert experience - the false starts, the band tuning up, Jim asking the audience what they want to hear, or the silences as the band consults amongst themselves what they want to play next. Jim Morrison seems to excise one of his demons, his ongoing struggle with lightmen. His, "Hey, Mr. light man!" rap that he did at many shows chiding the lightmen who never seem to do what he wants, seems to resolve itself as he compliments the lighting level at the show! The Doors were never a band to play the album version of songs, Morrison tinkers with the words of songs as well. This was before concerts became slick clones of each other, where the same thing happens at the same time in the concert, identical, from concert to concert, city to city. The Doors were stark theatre, a portrayal of reality through the songs like a novel is a portrayal through words, or a movie through film.
The band opens each show with a couple of songs from Morrison Hotel. It's cool to realize that as you're listening to Roadhouse Blues or Peace Frog the audience is very likely hearing the songs for the very first time. It opens you up to that experience. The Doors also experimented with the songs. Who Do You Love was played at every show yet no two versions of the song are alike! Curiously, Peace Frog, easily one of Morrison's most autobiographical songs, because of the Dawn's Highway section, where Morrison recounts the mystical experience he had as a child of feeling as if the soul of an Indian had leaped into his, as performed at the Felt Forum most of the versions omit that part, only in the last show does he include that portion of the song.
The last disc is a powerhouse of a encore with John Sebastian and Dallas Taylor sitting in. They play a bluesier version of Maggie McGill than is on Morrison Hotel, and this version fit's the song and works much better as a straight forward blues song
The sound on the CDs is excellent. Bruce Botnik in a technical note says in parts that were missing from the 8-track master they inserted live 2-track and the sound might change in those parts, but I didn't hear it. I listened to the CDs on a car CD player and in my computer. I didn't hear any change of quality, in fact it seemed crystal clear. In one section you can clearly hear the maraca Morrison shakes.
The boxed set includes a beautiful 40 page booklet with an introduction by Jac Holzman, and Bruce Botnik provides background details about The Doors playing the Felt Forum. James Henke a VP the Rock "n' Roll Hall of Fame and author of The Jim Morrison Scrapbook has also written an essay for the book. The book also includes about 15 high gloss photographs from the shows.
This is one of the last full blown tours of The Doors career. The next year would find the band finishing L.A. Woman, and Morrison planning his imminent departure to Paris. These shows are The Doors as they wanted be heard, in context and demonstrating the power of what a great rock band can be.
Jim writes The Doors Examiner."
The doors live at their peak!
Bill | Lawrence, KS United States | 11/18/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is the best sounding live 'doors' show around.
You can hears bits and pieces on other compilations and box sets but not even close to all of the music contained here.
Now its all in the same box at a reasonable price.
I was disappointed by 'Boot Yer Butt' because of the awful sound quality, 'Live in NY' is the exact opposite!
A must have for any 'doors' fan.
"
Stoned...and Loving Every Minute Of It!!!!!
Darrell Arciniegas | Central Texas, USA | 12/02/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This collection has made me speachless....as I sit and puff on a pipe, I sit in front of my Altec Lansing speakers....in awe...This was mixed great!!! I know some might have hangups on the instrumental mistakes of the members, but hey, we're all human!!! Its live and doctored minimally, so what more can u ask for!!! Im (at the moment) listening to The End...pretty sure its the same (though unedited) version off the one from the box set a few years back (labled "Live in New York") and just loving it!!! The packaging is great, and loved the notes inside, informative and somewhat funny! Anyway...Id highly recommend this!"
Four under the Garden
N. P. Stathoulopoulos | Brooklyn, NY | 01/22/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The Doors, well known for releasing the same material over and over again in a new package (hello original six albums), have done much to atone for those sins since 2000. That year, they set up Bright Midnight Records, which was dedicated to releasing uncut, un-doctored live material from the band's archives...the same archives they claimed were barer than die-hard fans knew. They've released some very excellent product, including most of the material recorded for Absolutely Live. This includes full, uncut and professionally recorded shows from Detroit, LA, Philadelphia, and other locales. They haven't released as many shows as originally envisioned, but what they have put out has been reverent. The only real hiccup along the way was the Matrix release from 2009, which was a great opportunity to finally provide an official outlet for well known bootleg material (the four Matrix shows over two days in early 1967).
Finally, finally, they deliver what fans have been clamoring for, especially since Bright Midnight was established: all four Felt Forum shows in their entirety, uncut, and (for the most part) un-doctored. We get six CDs, and only a little bit of this was ever officially released before; bits were included in Absolutely Live/In Concert, and the 1997 box set had a single disc that cherry-picked tracks from the four shows.
This release, another highly recommended gem, just about rounds out the Absolutely Live material. In January, 1970, The Doors played four shows over two consecutive nights at New York's Felt Forum, the smaller concert venue under the main Madison Square Garden arena. (They played the main arena in January 1969, but for their new tour, post-Miami, they opted for the superior acoustics and intimacy of the Felt.) Both nights they played an early and a late show, and packed a lot of material into each. Not only were these shows recorded in their entirety, but they sound (for the most part) like great shows.
While Absolutely Live and other older Doors live material were the product of Paul Rothchild's great talents as a producer, splicing together numerous takes of a single song to create the best-sounding concert album experience, the Bright Midnight releases revel in what fanatics and the bootleg-obsessed have always been interested in: complete, un-doctored shows. The good news is that the band and particularly Bruce Botnick (original Doors sound engineer) are very open with exactly what was done with the source tapes. Since those tapes were cut up for previous releases, there are gone-forever snippets here and there, and they went through a painstaking process to review the two-track live tapes versus the eight-track masters in order to determine exactly what was missing. In those cases, they swapped in parts of another 1970 show that fit the mood. You would be pretty hard pressed to identify these snippets in your ears, the work is seamless.
The biggest manipulation here is actually the overdubs done by John Sebastian, who joined the Doors on stage for one of the shows but whose harmonica was not picked up by the mic. I believe the 'bare' tracks will be released online, so fans can get both.
Many will note the differences between the early and late shows on each night. Typically, the later shows are longer and a bit more revved up, including longer jams and more improv. However, having four professionally recorded shows is a major bonanza. Once again, all of the in-between tuning, crowd noise, and chatter is included (tracks are titled 'Tuning / Breather', for instance). Yes, these tend to break up the momentum, and we now realize that bootleggers were regularly trimming these breaks to death in order to fit shows on a record or CD, but they reflect how the band performed. You'd be much harder pressed to see a band today that took a long breather between songs, and indeed, The Doors famously never agreed on a set list before each show, but rather let the vibe and the audience dictate where they would go. This was the band getting back to just the music, and returning to the blues work that defined their earlier club days. They also play several tracks from the not-yet-released Morrison Hotel.
Despite the glut of recent quality releases, Doors fanatics know that there is a good chunk of material still out there, ripe for the official outlet. This includes a number of professionally recorded or broadcast shows, including Seattle, 1970 (by many accounts a poor show with a very drunk and distant Morrison), Vancouver 1970 (significantly better), and the Isle of Wight performance, a crisp, broadcast version having been available on bootleg for over a decade. And there's plenty more if they want to get back into releasing audience stuff (the Boot Yer Butt box, while expensive, had some very, very rare material, though some of it was in horrendous quality).
Highly, highly recommended for the Doors fan. New fans, too...if you want a great intro to the live Doors, and a lot of value, this set is a great boon. Note the cover of the box, which reproduces an actual ticket from these shows, and the $5.50 price of an orchestra ticket. You can still go to the Felt Forum today (which has since gone through about 100 name changes), but for $5.50 you might only be able to get a box of Cracker Jacks."
