The Doors/NY,USA 1969

To commemorate the release of The Doors’ 1969 live recordings, we have prepared a precious live recording of a historic night in 1969. The Doors’ popularity had exploded in the US the previous year, and as proof of this, they performed at Madison Square Garden early in 1969. In the fall of the previous year, Cream had performed at MSG for the first time as a solo rock artist, but the Doors, who were at the height of their popularity, were the first American artists to perform at MSG alone. A month before, they had had a very successful homecoming performance at the LA Forum, but with their arrival at Madison Square Garden, they brought in their first support members to strengthen their sound. They added Harvey Brooks, a famous session player, on bass, and a horn section to recreate the mode of the album “THE SOFT PARADE,” which was in the works at the time, on stage. Although the opening of the day was the latest hit “Touch Me”, the next song performed was the unreleased “The Soft Parade”, which was an aggressive composition. Unfortunately, the existing audience recording was recorded from the middle of this song, and the opening “Touch Me” is not included. However, the thick live sound, which was different from the Doors’ previous ones, was due to the presence of the support musicians, and “Tell All The People”, which was performed only by the members at the LA Forum, also emits a gorgeous atmosphere from the stage reminiscent of the version released later. In this way, not only was the first half of the live full of new songs, but the stage was a perfect reflection of their confidence and popularity at the time, as they casually performed “Light My Fire”, which was like a hymn for the fans who gathered at MSG, in the middle of the live. If it weren’t for the horrible Miami incident, the Doors’ live performances may have inherited this style and toured arenas. There was only one mono sound source on this day, and the sound quality was typical of a vintage audience. In addition, because it was a large venue live performance, there is a sense of distance in the sound image, but the balance of the performance and Morrison’s voice is surprisingly good, and even though it is a record of the early days of rock concerts at MSG, the acoustics at the venue on that day were surprisingly good. Furthermore, because it is the only sound source that captures the MSG performance that the Doors realized only once, about half of the songs performed on that day were used in the infamous official “BOOT YER BUTT!” box. However, it was a puzzling edit that cut “When The Music Is Over,” which followed Morrison’s reading about Hitler, and only included the poetry part. And since it was included in “BOOT YER BUTT!”, an incomplete version with the overlapping take deleted is currently circulating on the Internet, but of course this time the entire sound source is included. Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA 24th January 1969 TRULY AMAZING SOUND (68:37) 1. The Soft Parade 2. Tell All The People 3. Love Me Two Times 4. Who Scared You 5. Spanish Caravan 6. Wild Child 7. Light My Fire 8. MC 9. Back Door Man 10. Five To One 11. MC 12. Adolf Hitler Poem 13. When The Music’ s Over Jim Morrison – vocals Ray Manzarek – keyboards Robby Krieger – guitar John Densmore – drums Harvey Brooks – Bass George Bohanon – Trombone Curtis Amy – Saxophone