MOJO MAGAZINE

 February 2003 issue - page 106

"The Doors Soundstage Performances DVD"

on Eagle Vision

Rarely seen television footage from 1967 to 1971, plus fresh interviews with the three surviving Doors.

Although hardly a definitive Doors item, these three lengthy television performances will fascinate the faithful.  Back then, virtually any Doors television appearance seemed outrageous, pushing the boundaries of what a rock band might hope to achieve in the arenas of music, theatre, and politics.  In retrospect, though, there's an obvious sense of restraint throughout, partly because of the artificiality of playing in television studios, but mostly because there's no audience to feed off.   Thus the appeal of this DVD becomes intellectual rather than visceral - watching them evolve from trouser-pressed young bucks in '67 to wild-eyed hippies in '69, appreciating their complex musical interactions and savouring the new interview footage, in which guitarist Robby Krieger has the best line.   Describing what looks like a well-rehearsed segue from a Morrison poetry spiel into a Doors classic, he explains "I started 'Love Me Two Times' out of fear he'd ramble on to something else."

Extras:  photo gallery, capsule biographies

by Johnny Black

  return to Ida's  L. A. Woman Confidential  home page 

 for more Doors news and reviews

3/1/03