The Doors - New Releases

New Releases

In 1997, the first archive material was included on the release of The Doors: Box Set, a four-CD set, one of which was a "greatest hits" type CD. Some of the material had been previously available on bootlegs. A notable inclusion on the compilation was a CD of highlights from the 1970 Felt Forum concert and a cleaned-up recording of the (edited) 1969 "Rock Is Dead" session. The surviving members again re-united to add new musical backing to the solo Morrison song "Orange County Suite".

The 1999 Complete Studio Recordings box set only included the first six studio albums (omitting An American Prayer, Other Voices and Full Circle), and the Perception box set, released on November 21, 2006, continued the same trend omitting the three post-Morrison studio albums. The 2006 box set contained about two hours of mostly unheard studio outtakes from the first six albums. Each album was represented by two discs: a CD of the album and the bonus tracks, and a DVD-Audio with both stereo and 5.1 surround sound mixes (produced and mixed by Bruce Botnick) in 96 kHz/24-bit LPCM, Dolby Digital, and DTS, as well as mostly previously released video footage. The discs were accompanied by new liner notes by Botnick and articles from several music critics and historians for each album.

Following the recording of Storytellers: A Celebration, the band members joined solo and together to record for Stoned Immaculate: The Music of The Doors. These sessions also yielded new songs credited to The Doors; "Under Waterfall" and "The Cosmic Movie".

In November 2000, The Doors announced the creation of Bright Midnight Records, a label through which 36 albums and 90 hours of previously unreleased Morrison-era Doors material would be made available on CD. This was launched with a sampler of forthcoming material, mostly from live concerts. The first full release was a two-CD set of the May 1970 show at Detroit's Cobo Center, notable for being, according to Doors manager Danny Sugerman in its liner notes, "easily... the longest Doors set ever performed." It was followed by two CDs of interviews, mostly with Morrison, and the two 1969 Aquarius shows and one of the rehearsals. A four-CD set Boot Yer Butt included bootleg quality material but sold out nevertheless. It was notable for the inclusion of the only known performances of songs from L.A. Woman including the title track and "The Changeling" from The Doors' final recorded show in December 1970, Dallas, Texas. In 2005, a two-CD concert from Philadelphia in 1970 was released.

Many bootleg recordings are available of the group. Among them are a wealth of shows from March 1967 at the Matrix Club in San Francisco. Many shows are available from 1968 when the band reached the height of its popularity, notably two shows in Stockholm, Sweden. The infamous Miami show has become widely available while many 1970 shows, notably a radio broadcast of the June 5 Seattle and June 6 Vancouver show, make the rounds. The complete 1969 Rock Is Dead studio jam was discovered in the mid 1990s. In Rock is Dead and in interviews Morrison makes it clear that the music is a continued exploration of the Dionysian mythic content that had informed his earlier poetry. The apocalyptic elements in the music and the poetry were ahead of the music of the day; later groups like Nirvana are influenced by The Doors. We also have to consider the possible influence of Pamela Courson.

In July 2007, Rhino announced the release of The Doors – Live In Boston, a three-disc live album by The Doors. It was recorded on April 10, 1970, as part of the Absolutely Live tour. This is part of previously unreleased material of the Bright Midnight Archives collection of live albums by The Doors.

In March 2008, Rhino announced the release of The Doors – Pittsburgh Civic Arena, a live album by The Doors released in 2008. The concert was recorded in Pittsburgh at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena on May 2, 1970. This is part of previously unreleased material of the Bright Midnight Archives collection of live albums by The Doors.

In November 2008, Rhino announced the release of The Doors – Live at the Matrix 1967, a double live album compiled and resequenced from recordings made on March 7 and 10, 1967 at The Matrix in San Francisco by club co-owner Peter Abram. The recording is notable because it is one of the earliest live recordings of the band known to exist: The Doors had recorded only one album by March 1967, "Light My Fire" had yet to be released as a single, and they were still relatively unknown outside Southern California.

In November 2009, Rhino announced the release of The Doors – Live in New York, a six-disc box set of the final four concerts performed by The Doors on January 17 and 18, 1970 at the Felt Forum in New York City. About a third of the material on the set was previously unreleased.

In April 2010, Rhino announced the release of The Doors – When You're Strange: Music From The Motion Picture, a single disc of the soundtrack to the 2010 documentary film, narrated by Johnny Depp, about The Doors and their music. The soundtrack features 14 songs from The Doors’ six studio albums, with studio versions mixed with live versions, including performances from The Ed Sullivan Show, Television-Byen in Gladsaxe, Felt Forum in New York and The Isle of Wight Festival.

In November 2010, Rhino announced the release of The Doors – Live in Vancouver 1970, a two-disc live album. It was recorded on June 6, 1970 in Vancouver, Canada. Vince Treanor, The Doors’ tour manager, recorded the show for the band on a Sony reel-to-reel using two microphones placed on the stage. While not a multitrack high fidelity recording, it is clean, quiet and clear, allowing the unbridled energy of the performances to shine through. This is part of previously unreleased material of the Bright Midnight Archives collection of live albums by The Doors.

When You're Strange was released in April 2010. It is, as Ray Manzarek says, the true story of The Doors, told through use of new interviews and previously unreleased video footage. The film is narrated by Johnny Depp, and directed by Tom DiCillo. Rhino Entertainment released a soundtrack to the movie in March 2010, containing both live and studio recordings.

In July 2011, Rhino UK announced the release of The Doors – A Collection, a six-CD retrospective box set of the first six albums from The Doors recorded 1966-1971. It features remastered tracks by Bruce Botnik and original artwork in replicated paper sleeves.

In January 2012, Rhino announced the release of The Doors L.A. Woman (40th Anniversary) CD. Two CD re-issue of the original album, remastered, with an additional disc of bonus material. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of L.A. Woman, Eagle Rock Entertainment has created this documentary detailing how The Doors created their last studio album. Mr Mojo Risin’ goes into detail of how the album came about, its recording and what was happening to the band at the time. The story is told through new interviews with the three surviving Doors: Ray Manzarek, Robbie Krieger and John Densmore plus contributions from Jac Holzman, founder of their label, Elektra Records; Bill Siddons, their manager; Bruce Botnick, engineer and co-producer of the album and others associated with the Doors at this time. The show includes archive footage of the Doors performing both live and in the studio, classic photographs and new musical demonstrations from the Doors. The documentary was released in (DVD/Blu-ray Disc) on January 24, 2012.

In January 2012, The Doors announced the release of L.A. Woman: The Workshop Sessions (2 LP Vinyl Set) An alternate take on L.A. Woman, featuring the previously unreleased alternate versions of songs and studio chatter found on the 40th anniversary edition. Pressed on 180-gram heavy vinyl at RTI, with lacquers cut at Bernie Grundman Mastering.

Also in January 2012, Ray Manzarek, Robbie Krieger and John Densmore, the surviving members of The Doors, worked alongside the LA dubstep artist Sonny Moore; a.k.a Skrillex, titled Breakn' a Sweat. They also appeared on the music video with the US techno and dubstep artist as part of the documentary Re:GENERATION music project

In October 2012, The Doors announced the release of Live at the Bowl '68 in multiple format (2 LP Vinyl Set), (1 CD Set), (Blu-ray Disc) and (DVD-Video) featuring the previously unreleased songs Texas Radio And The Big Beat, Hello, I Love You, Spanish caravan expanded edition.