The Doors Entertainment Art "The Doors" "Strange Days" "Waiting For The Sun" "The Soft Parade" "Morrison Hotel" "L.A. Woman" (Rhino) Released March 27, 2007

With that in mind comes all six of The Doors’ studio albums remixed and expanded with bonus tracks from Rhino. The one thing that Rhino does well is repackage albums with a wealth of extras. Last year they released them in a box set called “Perception” and now they are available for the first time as individual single-disc releases. Not only are the songs remastered and offering a 5.1 Surround mixes but they are expanding the songs with what they are referring to as previously unreleased “sonic treasures”.

What does that mean? Well it’s kind of weird and unusual but according to the press release they are actually going back into the songs and adding vocals and instrumental parts to their “rightful place”. Strange way to put it but apparently this means they are actually adding alternate guitar solos, vocals by Morrison, etc. that were recorded but never used at the time and now adding them to these new mixes. Is this a good thing? I’m not sure, but it sounds ambitious to say the least.

From the very first notes of “Roadhouse Blues” from Morrison Hotel you can clearly hear the difference in the overall sound. It’s crisper, clearer and the instruments seem to be coming at you from their own individual speaker. It’s really that good. In fact all six of the albums have never sounded better with a much fresher and fuller sound. Their debut now for the first time is finally playing in the correct pitch and speed; an error that apparently occurred during the original mixing and mastering forty years ago. On L.A. Woman, the self title song’s intro has an alternate opening riff of “the Star Spangle Banner” added in and “Car Hiss By My Window” (also from L.A. Woman) has an extra verse thrown in for fun. But in general, (much like The Beatles mash-up disc- Love) I think the “sonic treasures” are really subtle and not that obvious. It would have been helpful to include that info in the booklet to guide and help us to open our ears.

So then why should you buy these albums again? Well if you are like me, then you want the alternate version of your favorite songs. You need them, you crave them and I guess because they are there and available. Perhaps you do this hoping to find that lost gem that has been hidden in the archives for all these years. Perhaps you are such a big fan you want everything available by that artist. Regardless, all six albums include never before released bonus tracks from the session. Some have more than others but Morrison Hotel has ten unreleased and alternate versions alone and is worth it to hear the process of "Roadhouse Blues" and a jazzed up version of "Queen of the Highway".

The good thing news is all of these new mixes have been supervised by the remaining Doors and their original engineer/producer Bruce Botnick. The bad news I suppose is they aren’t exactly the same sounding songs you grew up with. I spent a few hours going back and forth listening to both versions and although they were clearly different that didn’t mean I thought one was better than the other. What do I mean by that? Well other than the added “sonic treasures” it's obvious that some intruments have been brought up to the front and some pulled back more than previous mixes. For example the harmonica is more pronounced in "Roadhouse Blues". On "Love Her Madly" the bass and drums are more hidden in the mix then in the past mixes. Is this better no it's just different.

So I suppose than it comes down to what kind of person you are when it comes to your music. If you are a purist than stay away but if you enjoy rare and alternate tracks and a new crisper sound than these fortieth anniversary mixes are for you.

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