First, the packaging of The Doors (latest) box set, Perception, is pretty stunning and original. Eschewing the trend toward slimmer and nano-tiny, this thing is built to replicate a big-ass door. Looking through the peep hole, you can spin your way through a mini-slide show of The Doors at different stages of their career.
I'm brought back to when I was 14 or 15, discovering The Doors for myself. The classic rock music shop-meets-stoner hangout in my town, called Mr. Cheapo's for who-knows-why, would carry rare box sets and collections behind the counter. I used to stare at these artifacts longingly, wishing I could take each home (away from the incense and strange bearded dudes) and give it a special place.
The physical object of Perception recalls those giddy feelings, having a huge collection of brilliant and daring mood-altering music within your very and tangible grasp.
That said, the older and wiser side of me knows that I already own a hell of a lot of Doors music, and pushes me to articulate what, perchance, is special and unique about this particular round-up of remastered Doors classics, rare tracks, and other added-on goodies and treats.
I should state up front that I can only review the audio portion of Perception as I was not able to get my hands on the six DVDs that accompany the six Doors studio albums. So on to the music, then.
Each studio album (The Doors, Strange Days, Waiting For The Sun, The Soft Parade, Morrison Hotel, and L.A. Woman) includes all of each album's original tracks plus some small number of additional tracks, outtakes, or studio banter. In terms of the musical component of Perception, I'll say that if you were waiting for the right time to finally snatch up and own all six Doors studio albums, this is a great time to hop in and do just that. For longtime Doors fans, however, there are some very nice additions to the Doors canon but perhaps not enough to warrant a substantial outlay of cash. (Again, perhaps the DVDs are the X factor in this equation – I'd love to hear from anyone who has checked them out.)
I wasn't all that impressed with the digital remastering. There are places where it makes a subtle difference – and this may spin audiophiles and Doors acolytes off to new planetoids of wonder – but to me it just sounded like I was listening to The Doors. Great stuff, but great stuff that I've already been digging for near on 20 years now.
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
There are places where it makes a subtle difference " and this may spin audiophiles...
hey, you say that like it's a bad thing! ;-)
2 - Eric Berlin
Well, I must admit I was disappointed -- I really expected to be wowed and I just wasn't. I don't own high-end stereo/speakers, so maybe that would make a difference.
I should add that the DVDs include surround sound versions of the albums so that could make a significant difference.
3 - Mark Saleski
surround sound: icky.
it's interesting though, the results that can be had with remastered discs. to my ears, jazz releases have had better luck and treatment. a lot of rock remasters have just been made louder, with lots of compression added.
that's even happened with jazz albums though. the remastered Now He Sings, Now He Sobs, by Chick Corea actually has places where the piano distorts. just awful. makes me wonder if they listened to it after the remastering.
4 - Vern Halen
When the 1997 Doors box came out, I always suwpected there was more in the can somewhere. Now, if there were only some way to buy the extras... maybe these albums will eventually be available as single purchases and not just as part of the box set.
5 - DJRadiohead
Yeah, I am real happy to know the complete Doors box set wasn't quite exhaustive afterall.
6 - Eric Berlin
Vern, I suspect that in the not too distant future you'll be able to pick-and-choose from an iTunes or other online music source to fill out the actual and no doubt about it full-and-complete Doors collection. This will be a dark day for music labels, of course, who make huge bank off of offerings such as these.
7 - DJRadiohead
And might I add that it is damn good to have you writing some music, EB!
8 - Eric Berlin
Thanks very much DJR!
9 - Ian Woolstencroft
“surround sound: icky”
Sorry Mark but I don’t agree. Badly done surround sound may indeed be icky but try the SACD of Floyd’s Darkside of the Moon for an example of how it should be done. Or Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds, not to mention Fleetwood Mac. I’ll be picking this set up for the DVD-A’s as much as the rarities when it gets released, although with the Robert Plant box set due out the same day I’ll be on bread and water by the time payday comes around.
10 - Connie Phillips
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11 - Connie Phillips
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12 - reno faoro
I just got the box set this last week and was wowed to say the least. I've heard all versions of the 6 albums on 8track, cassette, original cds, remastered cds and now all in dvd audio. I loved it. You will find a lot of neat stuff that we missed through the mixes of old even from the remastered cds.
The s/t release isn't really in surround, but the back channels are basically ambient sounds. Though the front three sound great with great great bass sound. The "strange days" has limited surround tacks. The cuts Strange Days and Horse Latitudes stand out the most in surround. After those two the rest of the releases sound great in surround. Even some of the extras are in surround.
And Finally they released the song sung by Ray on "absolutely live","you need meat" on the LA Woman dvd-a. I feel this is well worth the $120 that they asking for. I did get it cheaper because it had a punch out hole over the upc label. I don't care, because I don't plan to resell it anyway. Maybe this release might get others out there to purchase a 5.1 system with a dvd-audio player.
13 - ghosttofu
what is the point of the review if you do not talk about the DVD's
14 - Eric Berlin
I would have loved to review the DVDs, but they were not included in my reviewer package.