Another RSD, Another Doors Release

More studio outtakes from the group’s sophomore album

The surviving members of The Doors (Krieger and Densmore) and its management are masters of taking their legacy, a span of less than 10 active years, and milking it beyond reason for decades. As their core fanbase ages and withers into the sands of time, studio and live material continues to beireleased that one would’ve expected to already be out there. Record Store Day is the perfect venue for these ongoing excavations. Last year, engineer Bruce Botnick unearthed his personal tapes of rough mixes from the group’s Strange Days sessions and released them as Strange Days 1967: A Work in Progress (you can read my review here). If you thought everything Botnick found had been unleashed, think again!

Strange Days 1967: A Work in Progress Part 2 brings together more unreleased material from the recording sessions for the Doors’ sophomore album. Joel Brodsky’s iconic photography is featured throughout the packaging. An outtake from the ‘mirrors’ photo shoot (as seen on the picture sleeve for the “People are Strange” single) adorns the front cover, and the image found on the printed inner sleeve of the original Strange Days album finds its way on the back cover. Inside is a printed inner sleeve featuring a tape box scan and liner notes from Bruce Botnick explaining the background behind the material featured on this release. Whether it was done to complement the turquoise tinge of Brodsky’s photo or not, the turquoise-colored vinyl is eye-catching and sharp-looking. 

Side 1 consists of two early takes of “When The Music’s Over,” both recorded on April 25th, 1967. Take 1 presents the epic at its loosest and most subdued from an arrangement standpoint, lacking the structure and excitement unleashed on the album. Some of the notable differences are the heavy vibrato on Ray Manzarek’s Vox Continental organ and session bassist Doug Lubahn providing the bottom end instead of the Rhodes piano bass on the album version. Jim Morrison’s vocal delivery is akin to a soothing crooner rather than a screaming shaman. He plugs in random bits of poetry, one of them being a stanza from the “Not to Touch the Earth” section of another Doors epic, “The Celebration of the Lizard” (‘the mansion is warm at the top of the hill…’). Robby Krieger’s lucid guitar work has this Egyptian flair that works very well within the track’s confines.

Take 5 is where the song slowly takes form. Krieger’s guitar solo sounds more solidified, yet it's a frenzy how he slithers so rapidly around the fretboard. Morrison refines his choice of poetry, delivering one of the many stanzas that have become synonymous with the track (‘cancel my subscription to the resurrection…’). When the middle section reaches its most delicate point of subtlety, Lubahn’s walking bass licks pop out as a singled-out spotlight. It’s a solid take that abruptly ends when the tape ran out during the final post-chorus. 

Side 2 consists of rough mixes dated from May 9th, 1967. “People Are Strange” is almost identical to the album version, featuring an alternate vocal take from Morrison that sounds more authoritative than seductive. It’s admirable to hear the trio of Manzarek/Krieger/Densmore lay down the gruntwork on the backing tracks of “Love Me Two Times” and “Strange Days.” As bare as they sound without vocals, it allows for some of the instrumentation to shine more, particularly the keyboards on the latter. Krieger’s whirly doubled leads on “We Could Be So Good Together” (released on Waiting for the Sun in 1968) and Manzarek’s tack piano on “Moonlight Drive” also sound more prominent.

Whereas last year’s Strange Days 1967: A Work in Progress lacked sonic wowness, Part 2 is a noteworthy upgrade. There’s a lively ‘in the studio’ element to the alternate takes of “When The Music’s Over,” making the listener feel like a fly on the wall. The remaining tracks hardly sound as ‘rough and ready’ as they’re boasted, more so as alternate mixes that are missing that finishing sparkle. Even for being rough mixes, a lot was taken into account, considering how Krieger’s guitar in “Moonlight Drive” pops out of the right channel, creating space for a broadening soundstage. John Densmore’s drums have great tonality, but they could’ve benefited from improved equalization, rather than sounding a tad thin. 

Strange Days 1967: A Work in Progress Part 2 fulfills its intent by giving fans more material that pries into the Doors’ creative process, but releasing it as 1LP bite-sized portions is ludicrous. If Rhino/Doors Music Co./Bright Midnight Archives had the bright idea of releasing the 4xLP L.A. Woman Sessions box set in 2022, it’s a no-brainer to give Strange Days, let alone every other Doors album, the same type of deep-dive analysis and dig deeper into the multitrack tapes. I’ll honestly be damned if we receive Part 3 next year, and yet a tape from Jim Morrison’s final show from New Orleans on December 12th, 1970, is still sitting on a shelf somewhere…

Proof that the New Orleans 1970 tape exists! Read/see more here