The Doors of the 21st Century--L.A. Woman Live DVD
The packaging
Overall a nice looking DVD, Astbury really has the Morrison look down so I'll bet some foolish people may buy this thinking it's the original, not looking at the band list, but instead the photo. It looks okay with a few photos and a paragraph written by Manzarek on the back. The insert has the track listing above a band photo looking into the crowd. Not bad.
The content
Maybe it's because I'm a Cult fan...maybe it's because I liked The Cult before I liked The Doors, and maybe it's because I think...yes I really do think...The Cult is better than The Doors...but I've heard a lot of people say "oh, he's trying to sound like Morrison." I really don't think he is. He sounds like Ian Astbury...there's no "close your eyes and it's Jim." I don't even hear an impersonation. He's singing it his way, which yes is close to Morrison but they have a similar sound, but The Cult were not a Doors ripoff, comparisons are there, but Glenn Danzig sounds like Morrison, but there's no ripoff. Morrison wasn't the first howler with a deep, soulful voice and he sure as hell isn't the last.
I compare it to this, Whitfield Crane from Ugly Kid Joe joined Life of Agony for a tour...he tried to sound like Keith Caputo...he sang in a totally different style and register, it was an impersonation...a pretty damn good impersonation but it was still not natural for him...it didn't sound or look natural. When you watch Astbury it sounds natural...his moves? Not so much.
His stage persona is sort of like the way Davey from AFI has watched way too many Misfits videos. It's almost a 1982 Glenn Danzig act watching AFI.
Anyway...this is about The Doors.
There are those out there who will say "this sucks, Morrison is dead, The Doors died when he died." Then there are those who weren't even born when Morrison died and this is the only thing we have.
It would've been nice if the band wasn't "The Doors." I don't know what they could be called...How about "Strange Days: Featuring classic Doors songs with two original members"? You can't put that on a shirt, though.
so here's my take...Astbury does a good job and I like the band, but this does sort of tarnish the legacy. The band has their own "collectors label" that they easily could've put something like this out on but they opted for the full blown wide release. I'm not a huge Doors fan, I think Morrison ultimately was a bit overrated (it happens when people die young) and when people think of the band, they do ultimately think of Morrison. But, at the same time, Morrison didn't write the music, the songs are not his, and they were a "band"...it's wasn't Jim Morrison and the Doors...so it's their right.
This is a full live show, over an hour and a half of classic Doors including the entire L.A. Woman album. The sound is mixed perfectly, the video look isn't bad, and the performances are great.
Problems...well, they splice in comments from the band about Jim Morrison between songs. It disrupts the flow of the live show, because they'll be playing and all of a sudden you hear Robby Krieger talking about drugs, I guess it's done as a tribute, so I see why they did it. I would've preferred an interview feature seperate instead though.
No extras on here at all which is a shame.
Really, there are going to be two factions...either you won't give this a shot and will call it blasphemy, or you'll be open to it and will love it. If you saw the band with Astbury and you liked it, you'll enjoy this disc. If the thought of something under the name The Doors without Morrison being on the market sickens you, pass it by, there's plenty of old material on DVD for you.
