Morrison Hotel 40th Anniversary Mixes Expanded

I will first say the only DOORS I ever purchased was the vinyl Greatest Hits and the early CD greatest hits. I am not a DOORS affectionado as many others on here are. Actually I wouldn't even consider myself of being a big DOORS fan until I bought the Soft Parade in this new re-mixed and re-mastered form. I thought that the sound was excellent and wondered why so many DOORS fans were not happy with it. I know all the arguments of horns etc... Please take this review of Morrison Hotel from this perspective. As far as sound quality, I immediately compared it too the DOORS first album done in HDCD. There was not much of a loudness issue between formats but there was a sonic and clarity issue. Everything on Morrison Hotel was very clear. The crashing on the symbols, the keyboards, bass lines and guitar sounds were searing. The DOORS HDCD wasn't bad but not comparable in my opinion to this new technology. Also, since I have literally no DOORS on album or earlier CD, the changes in the music themselves doesn't bother me at all. Now when Roadhouse Blues started, you could certainly hear a couple of things that have not been on a standard greatest hits. It didn't bother me one bit. I very much enjoyed Morrison Hotel. I especially like Peace Frog. What a great tune. I also liked the Soft Parade and now am purchasing all these new DOORS CD's in their new technology. I guess for those who have been devout followers all these years that the new sound or masters are a problem. Not to me. Now, if it was another catalog of one of my personal favorites that I know every note sound for sound. Maybe I would have the same problem. In the end, I will purchase the others. The sound is as good as anything I have heard in any technology out now. That includes SACD and DVD-Audio. By the way, I am not part of the young crowd. I am 47.

Great product

This is a solid remix. I do have the earlier versions though in the earlier boxset. Which are the versions you heard for all those years of this classic disc. the doors had been attacked for making a lush pop rock disc in 1969. ((which is a great disc actually) and had a number one hit on it! Still this was the age of rock must be rock only and the boys bounced back with this classic. It's almost as good as the monster classic 'la woman' even. It's got solid songs and the fantastic 'roadhouse blues' , 'peace frog'' , 'blue sunday' , 'you make me real' and others are on here. Strangely they finally put out their 1968 song 'waiting for the sun' on this one. (and it fits in well, although one must wonder why they named that earlier disc 'waiting for the sun' when the didn't have the title song on it! However fans finally got to hear that song on this one. the remixes are good but have added some changes that were left off when the disc was mastered in 1970. this may upset some people. but these were recorded at the time and not in 2007. I am glad though that I have the earlier boxset for sure. However this is a great version of this classic disc. and worth owning.

This latest release of the remastered tracks in Morrison Hotel and the ten bonus tracks is astounding in some places and dull in others. But one could never expect the near-perfection of their first two albums to be rivalled by the follow-ups. But still, Morrison Hotel, especially this remastering, is a great spiritual victory for Doors fans and for the surviving band members, producers and engineers.The long liner-notes are a must read for those of us too lazy to read whole books on the doors. Indeed, if one reads the liners to all these re-releases, one will get a tremendous and condenced and poetic sense of the doors and their mission. Just because the Doors were egomaniacs, and just because they were rather primitive musically, does not mean that they were not giants. Critics often make the mistake of believing that skill, professionalism and accurate self-assessments are some profoundly determining factor in art. They are not. Many of the most competent and sane folks on the planet are also the dullest and finally the most discouraging.Doors believers, of which I am one, having been a real member of the now dormant "Church of The Doors," can truly take solace in this re-release series. The focus on the multiple takes of Roadhouse Blues reveals not only a certain lack of technical talent, but also a wonderful and child-like curiosity and experimentalism, which, finally, is more important that excellent craftsmanship. Sorry, you classical music didacticians and cynical, nihilist rock critics.One great gift on this album that bears retelling is the simplistic and Wagnerian "Waiting for The Sun." The song was dumped from the album which bears its name, and one can see why, because it's a rather half-complete concept. However, as the graces would have it, many projects in which the gods cut us short are the best ones. This song, had they thought it out too much, would have lost its wondrous simplicity. True, they only put it on this record because they were in a bit of a slump, but, astounding, it's rather fun and has an almost early british invasion meets the Ventures kind of all-wrongness that comes out just magestically.Another forgotten and underated song is "The Spy," which is really fantastic even though they could only think of one verse and simply repeated it over and over again. But, as one commericial songwriter I know, one who has sold tens of thousands of albums once said, "The problem with certain songs is that they only have one verse, but that often ends up being the whole genius of them."Indian Summer is another almost Half-Song which, if the Doors had felt like they were on a hot streak, might have never let see the light of day. But, as it is, the song is nearly a nursery rhyme, one that is amazingly powerful in its innocense.The truth was, Jim Morrison was not really a singer. And, as snobby literary critics love to point out, was not the great poet that he thought he was. But, as Cosmic Fate would have it, had he been a true professional at either, the whole force of Jim Morrison's massive, albeit flawed, character would never have created the half-century stir that they have. Genius is not what great craftsman do with their natural talents, it's what people with big gaps in their talent do to make up for it. (A concept I stole from Vonnegut's Bluebeard.)Morrison Hotel caught The Doors right in an awkward middle of their career, but even so, this re-release is just a fabulous gift to us all.

Great Doors album

For the longest time this album and LA Woman were the only Doors stuff I liked for the heavy blues influence between them. This one actually got me looking backwards into their catalog to which I'm grateful because I'm a fan of their entire output now. Of course there's the popular track Roadhouse Blues on here but take that away and there still isn't one weak cut on the whole thing. I'm not gonna attempt a track by track review because it would just pale in comparison to others on here but check the other reviews and if you're interested I wouldn't second guess this one too much if you're a fan and don't already own it. *****

My husband wanted this and loves it!