Mr. Mojo Risin’: The Story of L.A. Woman looks and sounds very good on Blu-ray. The 1080i high definition video presentation, framed at 1.78:1, includes a mixture of sources given the documentary nature of the production. Newly taped talking head interviews look sharp. Vintage interviews, such as clips featuring Paul Rothschild, look their age; grainy but clear. Performance and rehearsal footage of varies but nothing looks unacceptable. The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio varies as well, depending on when the material was recorded. The main audio attraction is, of course, the music. The studio recordings sound great, with plenty of definition between the instruments. Vintage audio, like the video, is not quite as polished but is more than acceptable given its age. The new interviews sound fine; nothing fancy, but they don’t need to be.
Some 40 minutes of extra material is very welcomed, given the relative brevity of the main feature. Perhaps most highly anticipated (it was the very first thing I accessed upon loading the disc) is the L.A. Woman outtake “She Smells So Nice.” The recently discovered song is a rather lengthy, up-tempo blues workout and is presented her with a slide-show style video. While it’s absolutely nothing noteworthy–and marred by annoying distortion on Morrison’s vocal–it is pretty cool to hear a “new” Doors song. Best among the remaining features are extended interview segments with Manzarek and Densmore (why no extra Krieger, I wonder) and a live performance of “Crawling King Snake.” While not earth-shattering, the extra material adds considerable extra value to the release which Doors fans are likely to appreciate.
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