L.A.MAN

MYTHS AND MYSTERY pervade nearly everything about the Doors. But at the heart of those myths are real people. And real people are never one-dimensional, are they? The same may be said about the Doors as a collective, and perhaps even more so, as individual men.

Transmuting mythology and erotic intrigue into the raw material for a blues-based, jazz-conscious and soul-savvy sound, the Doors distilled an unlikely alchemy of confrontational, cutting-edge pop-rock, experimental theater and potent poetry. That volatile chemistry would explode into public consciousness less than two years after their auspicious first rehearsals by the warm sands of Venice Beach, California, in the early summer of 1965.

The mythological motifs, militant stance and nods to both classical and avant-garde theater that singer Jim Morrison weaponized as broadswords in the culture wars of the late ’60s were quickly met by a quadruple counterpunch of adulation, controversy, commercial success and, finally, legal jeopardy following his arrest in Miami, Florida on March 1, 1969, on questionable charges of public obscenity and inciting a riot. Rocked by the harsh reaction and rejection from promoters and the public, Morrison and his bandmates — late keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore and their quietly virtuosic guitarist and co-songwriter Robby Krieger — collected themselves and carried on doing what they loved most: making music together as a team. Strained synapses and all.

In the last few turbulent years of his life, then, Morrison helped the Doors deliver two arresting and accomplished albums, boasting a clutch of enduring staples of rock radio, including Morrison Hotel’s barreling “Roadhouse Blues,” as well as L.A. Woman’s “Riders on the Storm,” “Love Her Madly” and the indelible title track, a seven-minute post-modern bluesnoir epic for the ages. L.A. Woman, the album that began to bloom only when the band’s longtime star producer Paul Rothchild quit the project in evident disgust in its formative stages, turns 50 this year. It is a bittersweet anniversary.

“ROBBY’S FINGERS WOULD SORT OF CRAWL ACROSS THE STRINGS LIKE A CRAB. IT GAVE HIM THIS VERY UNIQUE LIQUID STYLE, A GLORIOUSLY IMPRESSIONISTIC SOUND”
— JOHN DENSMORE

With leading-edge audio tools wielded by album producer/engineer Bruce Botnick, and the help of realignment technology from Plangent Processes, the upcoming 176kHz/24- bit remasters of the have been restored to their proper “true azimuth” tape speed. The tracks sound as vivid, immediate and urgent as they must have sounded during first playback through the Langevin 12-input solid-state console at the Doors Workshop studio at 8512 Santa Monica Boulevard, in West Hollywood. To be fair, it was a makeshift studio at best: a highceilinged but compact room with a few baffles, a couple of acoustic wall panels and