After
releasing a now sold out, limited edition vinyl pressing for Record
Store Day 2014, The Doors will now make their legendary, long
out-of-print compilation WEIRD SCENES INSIDE THE GOLD MINE available for
the first time as a 2-CD set. The 22 songs that appear on the
collection provide a wide-ranging introduction to the music recorded
between 1967-71 by the original quartet, John Densmore, Robby Krieger,
Ray Manzarek and Jim Morrison. The band's longtime engineer Bruce
Botnick re-mastered the music heard on this reissue, which takes it's
title from a lyric in 'The End.'
A
very interesting double LP retrospective two years after Jim Morrison's
version of the Doors had officially closed. Weird Scenes Inside the
Goldmine contained the first album release of two B-sides, Willie
Dixon's "(You Need Meat) Don't Go No Further," sung by Ray Manzarek,
originally on the flip side of the 1971 45 "Love Her Madly," and the
beautiful "Who Scared You," "Wishful Sinful"'s flip with Jim Morrison on
vocals from a session in 1969. Both are worthwhile additions not found
on their first "greatest hits" collection, 13. This compilation is a
strange amalgam of their music, the LP title taken from a line in the
song "The End," which concludes side two. Five of the 22 songs are from
the L.A. Woman sessions, including the title track of that album and the
full length "Riders on the Storm," both clocking in at seven-plus
minutes. With "The End" and "When the Music's Over" at 11:35 and 11:00
respectively, that's 38 minutes and 38 seconds between four titles, more
than a third of the 99-plus minutes of music on this collection.
Nothing from Absolutely Live is included, and surprisingly, the classic
"Waiting for the Sun" is not here, though that Morrison Hotel number
would fit the mood perfectly. "Love Street," the flip of "Hello I Love
You," is here, but pertinent singles like "Wishful Sinful" or "Do It"
and its flip, "Runnin' Blue," from The Soft Parade, are all missing in
action. The cover art pastiche by Bill Hoffman is worth the price of
admission if you already have all this material, while the inside
gatefold picture looks like an outtake from the first album. Bruce
Harris' liner notes are truly the '60s merging with the '70s; he calls
Jim Morrison "merely the index of our possibilities" and states that
Morrison didn't want to be an idol "because he believed all idols were
hollow." The essay is all the more silly when you realize it isn't
tongue-in-cheek in the way Lou Reed's incoherent ramblings inside Metal
Machine Music are more enjoyable than the disc. Harris seems to actually
believe what he pontificates. But the music is awesome, so put it on
and read the Metal Machine Music scribblings instead. Weird Scenes
Inside the Goldmine is a work of art in the first order, the way the
Beatles #1 album is wonderfully redundant, and it should see the light
of day again. This time they could add "Tree Trunk," the flip of the
"Get Up and Dance" 45 RPM from 1972's Full Circle album. ~ Joe Viglione,
Rovi
Additional Vocals: Clydie King
Unknown: Henry Lewy
Drums: John Densmore
Producer: John Densmore
Additional Vocals: Melissa MacKay
Keyboards: Ray Manzarek
Producer: Ray Manzarek
Lead Vocals: Ray Manzarek
Guitar, Harmonica: Robby Krieger
Producer: Robby Krieger
Lead Vocals: Robby Krieger
Additional Vocals: Venetta Fields
Writer: Robby Krieger
TREETRUNK
No comments:
Post a Comment