'THERE REALLY wasn't a financial need to do this," said Ray Manzarek, speaking about the newly reincarnated Doors, who play the Tower tomorrow.

With Doors album sales closing in on the 50 million mark, and the group's archetypal, highly influential music still a staple of classic rock radio 30 years after the original members called it quits, Manzarek's not feeling too much pain.

"But it is something that seemed almost necessary for us to do, given the seriousness of the times," continued the keyboardist/composer/producer and 64-year-old chronicler of all things Doors. "We're in a rerun of the '60s - in a different part of the world, but the attitude is still the same. The warrior mentality of America is in full throttle, and we've again got a president from Texas - G.W. 'Two Gun' Bush - and he's making the same mistake Lyndon Johnson did in Vietnam. You can't push guns and butter at the same time."

It's a perfect time, said Manzarek, to reintroduce the supercharged messages in the medium the Doors used so brilliantly during the '60s as a battering ram against the establishment: a dark, ultradramatic brand of psychic-encounter rock scorched with surging electric organ and sinewy psychedelic guitar, laced with jazz and blues flourishes, plus tastes of Native American tribal beats, Spanish flamenco and German cabaret.

It was a dense sonic landscape that worked perfectly with the band's lyrical themes of elevated consciousness, unbridled lust and revolution on growling anthems like "Break On Through," "Light My Fire," "Riders On the Storm" and "Peace Frog."

The latter is "one we just have to pull out this year," said Manzarek, with its bemoaning of "blood in the streets" (and, by implication, blood on our consciences).

Also being introduced in concert are a couple of new Doors songs with music by Manzarek and lyrics by New York poet/songster Jim Carroll - "Cops Talk" and "American Express" - that the keyboardist hopes to extend into a full-blown Doors album project with musical help from fellow Doors guitarist Robby Krieger and guest lyricists like John Doe of X (whom Manzarek produced for disc), Michael McClure (the beat poet with whom Manzarek's often toured), "maybe Henry Rollins, if we can get him, and Ian, of course."

The Ian he speaks of is Ian Astbury of the British heavy mental band the Cult, one of the most prominent spiritual offspring of late, lamented Doors front man Jim Morrison.

The much younger Astbury and his band first paid respect three years ago by participating on the Doors tribute album "Stoned Immaculate," alongside Stone Temple Pilots, Creed, Train, Aerosmith, Smash Mouth and Days of the New.

Astbury then served as a guest vocalist on a VH1 Doors special. Last summer, he stepped up to front a "one-off" Doors reunion concert.

"We received a call from the Harley-Davidson motorcycle company, asking if we wanted to headline one of their 100-year anniversary gigs," said Manzarek. "Robby's a cyclist himself and had played some Harley events before with his own group. But this one sounded like it would be special fun, giving us the chance to perform before a huge number of fans again. When it turned out to be a smash, we decided to do some more."

Astbury "brings a dark, Celtic, shamanic quality" to the vocal gig, Manzarek said. "He comes from the same psychic space as Jim without imitating him, and he can sing the s--- out of those songs."

So is Morrison gone and forgotten? Not at all, said Manzarek.

"We know Jim is digging this. He's always there on stage with us, having a great time. He's a poet, and his works are being projected live into the ether, shouted out to an audience from 16 to 60. What more could he ask for?"

Original Doors drummer John Densmore is not touring with the group, primarily due to health reasons, according to Manzarek. "He suffers from tinnitus [a sensitivity in the ears] and can't play hard anymore. He originally said we could perform as the Doors without him, then tried to throw some legal roadblocks in our way, but it's now being worked out. He just wants his taste."

Stewart Copeland of Police fame was first to step up in Densmore's absence, but it didn't work out.

"He's too wild, too erratic, too lacking in the mystery that the Doors require of a drummer, so we parted company," Manzarek said.

In his stead, you'll find Ty Dennis, an L.A. studio guy who used to play with the Motels.

"Just solid as a rock," said Manzarek.

As our schmooze time ticked to a close, I had to ask Manzarek if he thought the youth counterculture of the '60s had won or lost the revolution, and how that might be affecting the present.

"At the moment, I think it's a tie. I think the forces of darkness from the other side are pushing hard, trying to push us back into a '50s, McCarthylike era. But I think eventually the energy of the heart will triumph over the killers, and in Islam as well.

"Around the world, there are good, intelligent, sophisticated people who are being ruled by a fundamentalist madness that cannot last. They're under the sway of their own fascists, and that will fade away because Islam is a religion of love, because Muhammad is a prophet of love. It's all a matter of opening your heart and letting the sun shine in."