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However much acid Jim Morrison dropped before The Doors’ celebrated Hollywood Bowl performance on July 5, 1968, it wasn’t enough to result in a loss of focus or intensity. Sure, Morrison seems to become increasingly heavy-lidded and generally out of it as the show progresses, but he remains magnetic from start to finish. Eagle Rock Entertainment has issued a restored and expanded version of the concert, Live at the Bowl ‘68, complete with numbers previously unseen due to audio problems inherent in the original soundboard recordings (more on how they circumvented that later).
The band rehearsed for the show and seems well prepared, regardless of whatever state of mind Morrison was in. They open and close with their twin epics, “When the Music’s Over” and “The End,” respectively. These lengthy pieces allow for plenty of instrumental interplay, ranging from somewhat tedious (Ray Manzarek’s sometimes clumsy organ soloing) to quite engaging (the mostly fluid guitar leads by Robby Krieger). These guys were never quite rock’s equivalent to a great modal jazz combo, but their flair for the dramatic was consistently arresting.
Morrison draws laughs from the crowd at various times, including the cheesy firing squad routine during “Unknown Soldier” and the improvised “Ode to a Grasshopper” bit in “The End.” The show hits the doldrums at the midway point with a series of lesser tunes (“A Little Game,” “The Hill Dwellers,” “Spanish Caravan”). Most of the time, however, The Doors are at the top of their game. “Moonlight Drive” grooves along slinkily, the “Back Door Man/Five to One” medley rocks, and “Hello I Love You” bounces along aggressively.
Apparently considerable work went into the visual restoration of Live at the Bowl ‘68. The 1080p AVC-encoded transfer is by no means difficult to watch. The troubling aspect for me was the overall lack of texture. This is a very smoothed out image, missing the natural film grain one would expect (especially from footage of this vintage). I’m guessing noise reduction was quite liberally applied. Sharpness and fine detail are a bit lacking overall. That said, the image is extremely clean, free of dirt, scratches, or other distracting artifacts.
The reason to pick this up on Blu-ray is the 5.1 DTS-HD lossless soundtrack. While the surrounds are not terribly active, reserved mainly for audience noise and some bleed-over of John Densmore’s drums, the sound field is very impressive. Morrison’s centered vocals are crisp and realistically full-bodied. Each instrumental element is well-defined. When Krieger flubs a riff, you’ll notice it (not to say that it happens too often). I was particularly impressed with the clarity of the drums. If anything, the mix is a little light on the bass end, but overall the work done by the audio department is outstanding.
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