Bright Midnight: Live in America (The Doors, 2001)

Unlike many bands of their era (The Grateful Dead aside) the Doors actually committed quite a few of their shows to tape, making them one of the better documented bands of the 1960's. The Bright Midnight archives label launched with the release of the hearty sampler Live in America, and vastly expanding the number of live Doors releases (judging from their website, by sixteen concerts).

Overall, this is an excellent introduction to the live Doors experience. Songs from every album are represented (actually one from each, and the rest are from the first album, or cover/filler songs that don't appear on albums). Most of the concerts sampled here are from around 1970, so a lot of the first album songs are performed through the lens of tipsy/slurring/party-time Jim Morrison. Even L.A. Woman get represented with the song "Been Down So Long", a live number that was later brought into the studio. On this version Morrison delivers a particularly graphic (and comical) set of lyrics that obviously didn't make it to the album version. Some really awesome highlights, however, are courtesy of our woozy frontman: "Light My Fire", "Roadhouse Blues", and a medley of "Love Me Two Times" with "Baby Please Don't Go" and "St. James Infirmary". Meanwhile the band shows they are capable of meaningful improvisation around their material, especially Robby Krieger throughout, but Ray Manzarek (who is literally playing his parts one handed since he's doubling with keyboard bass) gets in on the act as well. "Touch Me" without the horn section? DoneCome on, you always knew "Break On Through" is really just "Tequila" with more words. Right? As far as the not so good, probably just "The End" which is all over the place and probably worked better if you were actually there.

This was yet another promotional copy score from my Borders days. In some ways Bright Midnight shot themselves in the foot with this release because I feel like I got the full experience and don't need to invest in the 16 individual shows. Also, the 1970 recordings may not be everyone's cup of tea, as Morrison is pretty wiped out on a lot of the songs, but unless you insist on note-perfect reproductions, I think most people can embrace this album as a fun (and ultimately fatal?) romp through their classics.