The Doors - A Collection

The first six Doors albums constituting all of their albums made while Morrison was alive. An incredible blues and psychedelic rock band.There’s a lot of Manzarek’s amazing keyboards and organ. Morrison’s voice is one of the great instruments in rock history. Krieger uses his guitar judiciously and with great effect. Densmore’s drumming is never flashy and always top notch. This band blends tremendously. Nothing ever sounds disjointed or poorly rehearsed. Unlike reviewers who waste our time with reviews without having listened to the album, I’ve extensively listened to each album.The first album, “The Doors,” is my favorite and considered by experts to be their best. The energy is just amazing and the brilliant musicianship is awesome. Standout cuts are “Break On Through (To The Other Side),” “Soul Kitchen,” “Twentieth Century Fox,” “Light My Fire,” “Back Door Man,” and “The End.” The other tracks are also brilliant. A groundbreaking and magnificent album.The energy decreases on the second album “Strange Days.” It’s a more contemplative record though it still rocks. Standout tracks are “Love Me Two Times,” “Moonlight Drive,” “People Are Strange,” “My Eyes Have Seen You,” and “When The Music’s Over.” A very good and listenable album.The Doors are more mature on their third album “Waiting For The Sun.” I love it. Standout tracks are “Hello, I Love You,” “Love Street,” “Summer’s Almost Gone,” “The Unknown Soldier,” and “We Could Be So Good Together.” Morrison’s deep voice purrs.“The Soft Parade” is their fourth album and it is softer. I like it though not as much as the others. The musicianship and vocals are so good the Doors with Morrison couldn’t make a bad song. “Touch Me,” “Do It,” “Wild Child,” and “The Soft Parade” make the strongest impression.They’re back rocking on their fifth album “Morrison Hotel.” The first two songs - “Roadhouse Blues” and “Waiting For The Sun” - take me back to the first album’s opening assault. “Peace Frog,” “Ship Of Fools,” and “Land Ho” are also particularly memorable. A very strong album.The last album “L.A. Woman” is almost as good as the first. “The Changeling” is hard blues rock. “Love Her Madly” and “L.A. Woman” are also phenomenal. The last three songs with Morrison alive - “Crawling King Snake,” “The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat),” and “Riders On The Storm” - end the record and, for the most part The Doors, magnificently.At worst the third best American classic rock bandi. CCR and Aerosmith are the other two. Never sloppy or stupid. “The Soft Parade” got negative reviews from critics and fans. Even that album is incredibly well made. Their floor is significantly higher than Aerosmith’s and the ceiling at least as high. I don’t know enough about CCR to comment accurately about them.Six albums, two great, three very good, and one at worst okay, for about $30. The cds come in cardboard sleeves which I don’t mind. The box is plenty sturdy. There’s a pamphlet with a nice band picture and information about each album that might not be on the back of each album sleeve and is much easier to read than the tiny words in the back of the sleeves.Before I bought this I didn’t know anything about the Doors’ songs besides the hits I’d heard on the radio. Such a stunning and musically exceptional band. Morrison’s alcoholism killed him, either directly or indirectly. One of the great tragedies in music history.

There's a reason why all but three reviews (as of 2/26/15) have given this box set four or, mostly, five stars. Pay no attention to what the three negative reviewers have to say about this box set. It's brilliant! You get a six-pack of The Doors studio albums with Jim Morrison but without the bonus tracks for a really cheap price. The CDs are unprotected in the carboard vinyl replicas, but you should know how to take out or put back the CDs without damaging them by now with all the so-called eco-friendly packaging that's been popular for the last two decades. (I'm old school and still prefer the jewel cases.) These are high quality CDs though, made the way CDs used to be made years ago (not cheaply made or thin, in other words). The remastered, 40th anniversary mixes may just be the definitive version of the six studio albums with Morrison too! If you're a serious fan like me, you already own multiple copies of the band's studio albums with Morrison pre-2006 as well.What I love about the 40th anniversary releases of these studio albums is how much you notice how good the rest of the band sounds; it's not just Morrison's voice. You notice nuances that you never did before. There are also occasional vocal or instrumental overdubs or additions that weren't included in the original mixes. However, it's usually done tastefully and is understated.I own two copies of The Complete Studio Recordings box set that was released in 1999, and bought at least one copy each of the six studio albums that were released individually with bonus tracks as part of the 40th anniversary remastered, remixed CDs in 2007: The Doors; Strange Days; Waiting For The Sun; The Soft Parade; Morrison Hotel, and L.A. Woman. These individual CDs with the bonus tracks were first released the year before as part of the Perception box set.As an aside, here's how I would rank the six Doors studio albums with Jim Morrison:1) The Doors (self-titled debut album) -- It's as powerful, beautiful and timeless as it was when it was released in 1967. (I prefer the original censored mix.)2) L.A. Woman -- It bookends the six studio albums with Morrison as a close second.3) Strange Days -- Perhaps when the band achieved their full vision musically and in every other way, too. It wins for the best cover!4) Waiting For The Sun -- I think this album edges out Morrison Hotel ever so slightly.5) Morrison Hotel -- This album doesn't pretend to be anything else than what it is: a kickass rock and blues album.6) The Soft Parade -- An underrated album that is every bit as good as the previous five, especially the 2007 remaster with bonus tracks!The bottom line is this: Buy this 2011 import box set at this really cheap price while you still can. Like many previous Doors releases, it will go out of print soon and the price will skyrocket! Thanks for reading my review. Make sure to read all my other reviews, too, including other Doors releases.