The Doors: electric wedding

Relive the fervor of The Doors in March 1967 with Live At the Matrix, full of previously unreleased songs, reworked and remastered.

March 1967, San Francisco, 3138 Fillmore Street. At the Matrix, a club renowned for unearthing new talents on the psych scene, its owners Peter Abram and the co-founder of Jefferson Airplane, Marty Balin, are excited to welcome these young Doors whose buzz has continued to rise since their signing with Elektra, in 1966. And who released a captivating and confusing first hybrid rock album, whose sales did not take off, despite an advertising billboard on the Sunset Strip: “The Doors: escape with an electrifying record.”

“Electric weddings”: this is the stage ritual that Jim Morrison imagined for the Doors. As evidenced by this new edition, rich in 37 tracks, of a live already released in 2018, but not worked from the original tapes and lacking some unreleased tracks present here – which are worth the detour. These evenings, in front of a hundred people, Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger and John Densmore organize, in three chapters, a performance offering around twenty titles. They have plenty to play, with around forty pieces in their repertoire. Thus, titles from the first album (“The End”, “The Crystal Ship”, “Soul Kitchen”…), rub shoulders with some from the second, Strange Days (“People Are Strange”, “My Eyes Have Seen You”, “I Can’t See Your Face in My Mind”, “Moonlight Drive”…), Waiting for the Sun (“Summer’s Almost Gone”) and even LA Woman (“Crawling King Snake”).

There are also blues and jazz covers that the group likes. In addition to their famous reinterpretations of “Summertime” and “Gloria”, “I’m a King Bee” by Slim Harpo or the formidable “Close to You” by Willie Dixon (of which we will find another stage version in the Absolutely Live, published in 1970), the Doors revisit here “Bag’s Groove”, which they psychedelic in abundance without scratching it, and “All Blues”, by Miles Davis. Or two unpublished instrumentals from original masters restored by the faithful and always effective Bruce Botnick, from the tapes mainly recorded by Peter Abram on March 7 and 10. The result is stunning: we have the impression of being in the Matrix theater, a few centimeters from the stage.

Find this paper on The Doors in full and many others in our issue 155, available on newsstands and via our online store.

Here is the tracklist:

LP 1

• Side 1

1. Backdoor Man
2. My Eyes Have Seen You
3. Soul Kitchen
4. All Blues (Instrumental)

• Side 2

1. Get Out Of My Life Woman
2. When The Music’s Over

LP 2

• Side 1

1. Close To You
2. Crawling King Snake
3. I Can’t See Your Face In My Mind
4. People Are Strange
5. Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar)

• Side 2

1. Crystal Ship
2. Twentieth Century Fox
3. Moonlight Drive
4. Summer’s Almost Gone
5. Unhappy Girl

LP 3

• Side 1

1. Woman Is A Devil/Rock Me Baby
2. Break On Through (To The Other Side)
3. Light My Fire

• Side 2

1. The End
2. The End” (Partial) / Let’s Feed Ice Cream To The Rats

LP 4

• Side 1

1. My Eyes Have Seen You
2. Soul Kitchen
3. I Can’t See Your Face In My Mind
4. People Are Strange

• Side 2

1. When The Music’s Over
2. Money
3. Who Do You Love

LP 5

• Side 1

1. Moonlight Drive
2. Summer’s Almost Gone
3. I’m A King Bee
4. Gloria

• Side 2

1. Break On Through (To The Other Side)
2. Summertime (Instrumental)
3. Back Door Man
4. Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar)

7” Single

1. Bag’s Groove (Instrumental)