• Track Listing

A few months ago, we offered a new release that unearthed the first audio document of the Doors, "London Fog 1966." Now, the debut album that followed eight months after that club performance arrives in deluxe, expanded form to continue the 50th-anniversary celebration of one of the most enduringly intriguing bands in the annals of rock. One of the psychedelic shots heard ’round the world, this album (and this band) proved to have a whole lot more staying power than most music released in those crazy, hazy days, thanks to the one-of-a-kind Doors recipe of dark poetic lyrics, sleazy blues, jazzy drums and guitars and carnival keyboards. Both the stereo and mono mixes on the CDs here are of great interest, as the stereo one is a new mix by Bruce Botnick that was commissioned in 2007 and the mono one has never been on CD. That mono mix occupies the vinyl LP here, too,and rare and previously unseen photos join extensive David Fricke liner notes. The third CD opens another "door" for fans, letting us hear the band live at the Matrix in San Francisco on April 7, 1967. If you think you’ve heard that before, you might be right; it was issued by Rhino in 2008. But that release derived from a third-generation source, while this new version was sourced from the original master tapes, which were only recently found. All eight songs from that show are from "The Doors": "The End," "Soul Kitchen," "Twentieth Century Fox," "The Crystal Ship," "Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)" and the two classics that put the faces of Morrison, Krieger, Manzarek and Densmore on the Mount Rushmore of rock: "Break On Through (to the Other Side)" and their #1 smash "Light My Fire." An aptly expansive celebration of an essential rock album that turns 50 this year! Elektra.