RIP Ray Manzarek

[SlyPokerDog]

Founding member of the Doors.

 

[Denny Crane]

He made a better door than window.

Makes me feel old when people who are my contemporaries die like this.

RIP

 

[SlyPokerDog]

He made a better door than window.

Makes me feel old when people who are my contemporaries die like this.

RIP

[video=youtube;JSUIQgEVDM4]

 

[maxiep]

Sad.

 

[NOVoodoo]

Wow, very sad. I just saw Densmore on Tavis Smiley the other day talking about the Doors' legacy and the ongoing dispute he had with Manzarek, and it got me thinking about how much he defined the band's sound. Jim was amazing lyrically, vocally, and as a frontman, but I don't think there was anyone who had more impact on shaping the Doors sound as much as Manzarek did.

 

[NOVoodoo]

Just listened to The Doors album... now I'm half-way through the Strange Days album. I think he changed his organ around the Waiting for the Sun album. What an amazing talent we've lost...

Man, I'm just burning through this discography. I forgot how short some of these Doors albums, but I guess that's the result of putting out an album (or sometimes two) every year. It's also crazy to think that they had such an enormous impact on the world of music but only put out five albums, spanning 1967-71.

I just finished listening to The Soft Parade album... used to love this one in high school, but it's probably The Doors low-point musically. The horns on some of these tracks just seem out of place for The Doors' sound. Apparently Krieger had his footprints all over this one because Jim was really starting to lose his shit with all of the drugs and alcohol. Looking more forward to playing Morrison Hotel...

 

[jlprk]

He and Jim Morrison had University of California degrees. One died in France, the other in Germany. All the morons hated them in the late 60s for being radicals, but we young people loved anyone in a rock and roll group. Great radical group.

 

[NOVoodoo]

He and Jim Morrison had University of California degrees. One died in France, the other in Germany. All the morons hated them in the late 60s for being radicals, but we young people loved anyone in a rock and roll group. Great radical group.

Ever get a chance to see them live? Jim was dead long before I was born, they've been one of my favorite bands since I was a kid. Just wrapping up the LA Woman album... what a great catalogue for such a short lived band...

I'm probably going to read John Densmore's new book, "The Doors Unhinged." Like I said earlier, I saw him on Tavis Smiley promoting it, and it seems like, in the book, he really opened up about the life of the band after Morrison's death, and the lawsuits involving Ray Manzarek over touring under "The Doors" name.

 

[jlprk]

No, but my brother saw them in concert and every other group. He was more into going out, acid, etc. Besides national TV, I watched them once or twice on live afterschool rock and roll programs on local Los Angeles TV. When Touch Me Babe and Hello I Love You were new, they were on teenage shows after school, promoting them. Things they did were in the L.A. Free Press, the big radical weekly newspaper.

A new generation discovered them because of Oliver Stone's movie, which failed to communicate everyone's suspicions about Morrison's mysterious death.

 

[NOVoodoo]

A new generation discovered them because of Oliver Stone's movie, which failed to communicate everyone's suspicions about Morrison's mysterious death.

Funny that you bring up the movie. I discovered their music from my pops at a pretty early age, and I was deep into their catalogue by the time I saw the movie, but I was an impressionable 12/13 years old, and I've always said that it was that movie that broke the camel's back when it came to me deciding to smoke weed and experiment in my teenage years. I was such a fan of the band, Morrison, and the whole aura surrounding the group. Once I saw the movie, it was game over for me... I was no longer undecided... especially with the early storyline, with their rise to fame in the late 60's, as well as Stone's way of romanticizing the drugs Morrison used.

I'd agree that Stone really "failed to communicate everyone's suspicions about Morrion's mysterious death," but I don't know if incorporating that would have been fitting for the way the movie was developing. It would have really taken away something from the movie if he left it with a "whodunit" ending. It would have been more appropriate/accurate, but the whole film, in general, was just one giant exaggerated/romanticized account of Morrison's debauchery, than it was a factual depiction of The Doors. There are several things that have come to bug me about the movie since I've grown older and become an even bigger Doors fan, one of which being the way they depict the writing of "Light My Fire."

BTW - I might be speaking out of my ass, but I think Ray Manzarek was actually pretty critical of the way they portrayed Morrison in the film.

 

[jlprk]

Both Ray and Jim had a tired, sarcastic manner of speaking. In the 1990s was that great TV thing with different singers subbing for Morrison while the rest of the real group played the hits. Is that on YouTube?

Most groups in the 60s had a political side, but kept it to themselves except in lyrics between the lines. Morrison, an admiral's son, had genes that made him boldly display his rebellion in your face, all the time 24-7. Police disliked him and had an informer bust him in Florida. That blew out his spirit and he hid in France till someone killed him. Word of his death took days to get back here, unaccompanied by a credible reason.

 

[NOVoodoo]

Both Ray and Jim had a tired, sarcastic manner of speaking. In the 1990s was that great TV thing with different singers subbing for Morrison while the rest of the real group played the hits. Is that on YouTube?

Most groups in the 60s had a political side, but kept it to themselves except in lyrics between the lines. Morrison, an admiral's son, had genes that made him boldly display his rebellion in your face, all the time 24-7. Police disliked him and had an informer bust him in Florida. That blew out his spirit and he hid in France till someone killed him. Word of his death took days to get back here, unaccompanied by a credible reason.

I'm sure there's some good stuff out there with the Morrison-less Doors performing, but I don't know if I'd really want to hear The Doors with a different lead singer than Morrison. An American Prayer is sort of where I draw the line. I think the touring without Jim was sort of the the impetus of the lawsuits involving Densmore vs. Manzarek/Krieger though. I haven't read the book yet, but he kept referring to them on Tavis Smiley as "The Doors with the Jimposters."

Based on what he was saying in that interview, I'd have to side with Densmore. I always found Manzarek to be very outspoken yet personable in his modern-day interviews, but there is something to be said for preserving the band's image. As Densmore was saying, it's okay to tour with the songs, just don't go on tour, release albums, and call yourselves "The Doors," when Jim Morrison has been dead for over forty years.

As for his death, you say "someone killed him," so I'm curious what your theory is on that. Do you think it was intentional? The theories that I've always heard have centered around an overdose that both the dealers and Pamela Courson freaked out about and then dumped his body in a tub instead of calling for help.

 

[Denny Crane]

No, but my brother saw them in concert and every other group. He was more into going out, acid, etc. Besides national TV, I watched them once or twice on live afterschool rock and roll programs on local Los Angeles TV. When Touch Me Babe and Hello I Love You were new, they were on teenage shows after school, promoting them. Things they did were in the L.A. Free Press, the big radical weekly newspaper.

A new generation discovered them because of Oliver Stone's movie, which failed to communicate everyone's suspicions about Morrison's mysterious death.

Did you see Mozart live? How was the show?