January 18, 2012 (New York, NY) -- If you're a fan of The Doors you've probably bought the band's final album "L.A. Woman" a few times. I'm not an uber fan, but I bet I have at least 6 copies lying around. Yup. Original vinyl, reissue vinyl, 1980's CD, the "Perception" box remix and surround sound mix (not to mention a bunch of downloads and a bootleg surround sound disc), and now... the "40th Anniversary Edition", complete with a bonus disc of work-in-progress mixes and a newly discovered song called "She Smells So Nice".
"This might only be for the collectors at this point," The Doors' guitarist Robby Kriegar told me recently. "But this version has early versions of all of the songs, and the song that (longtime producer/engineer) Bruce (Botnick) found when he was going through all the tapes, so that's pretty cool."
Setting aside the foolish Jim-Morrison-as-shaman/poet narrative the band hit on in about 1981 and has stoked over the years, there's also a fresh crop of teenagers who discover The Doors' catalog each year who justify each reissue and increasingly deluxe upgrade.
"It's amazing," Kreiger said, clearly still shocked at his bands' longevity. "We had good songs, and unique combination of styles and sound, a great frontman. But still, all these years later it never ceases to amaze me. It's incredibly flattering."
For first and second (and even third) generation fans, even more exciting is a Blu-ray and DVD release called "The Doors: Mr. Mojo Risin': The Story of L.A. Woman" which chronicles the making of the "L.A. Woman" album and includes great new interviews with Krieger, Botnick, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore and Elektra honcho Jac Holzman and some wonderful stills and film footage of the sessions. In fact, like the "Classic Albums" documentary about the bands' debut album, this is a much better primer than the disappointing "When You're Strange" anthology style doc from 2010.
Better still, I'm giving away a copy of the DVD version of "Mr. Mojo Risin." I'll pick one winner at random who can tell me who played bass on the "L.A. Woman" album and one other infamous artist that he or she also played with. Email me at jeff@digitalretro.com with your answer, with the subject line "DOORS CONTEST" before 12 PM EST on Monday, January 22, 2012.
The expanded version of the "L.A. Woman" CD and the "Mr. Mojo Risin' documentary are out next week. Look for more from my interview with Robby Krieger closer to release date.
This article is copyright 2012 by Jeff Slate. No part may be reprinted or referenced without permission and/or attribution. All rights reserved.
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