Category: Doors
50TH! TALKIN’ ‘BOUT MY GENERATION: TOP HITS OF ’69!
THE DOORS
“Tell All The People” was playing the Billboard Pop Singles chart and Detroit Top 40 radio on this date. 50 years ago. June 1969
WHEN THE DOORS PERFORMED AT COBO: MAY 8, 1970
The Doors – Live In Detroit
ABOUT THIS ALBUM
*****
Live in Detroit is a double live album by the American rock band the Doors. It was recorded at the Cobo Arena in Detroit on May 8, 1970 during the band’s 1970 Roadhouse Blues Tour.
The concert is one of the longest live performances by the Doors. Among the 25 songs played the group played eight blues standards such as “Back Door Man”, Junior Parker‘s “Mystery Train” and “Crossroads” by Robert Johnson. The band were joined by Lovin’ Spoonful‘s John Sebastian on guitar and harmonica on the L.A. Woman track “Been Down So Long,” “Love Hides”, Chuck Berry‘s “Carol”, Muddy Waters‘ “Close to You,” and Slim Harpo‘s “I’m a King Bee.” The concert was originally scheduled to end before midnight but ran on until one in the morning. This late end, against union rules, saw the band banned from the Cobo Arena.
Live in Detroit was mixed and mastered by long-time Doors’ sound engineer/producer Bruce Botnick. He had recorded several shows from the Doors’ 1970 Roadhouse Blues Tour on multi-track tape for the Absolutely Live album released in July 1970.
The concert took place as the band were recording their last studio album, L.A. Woman.
(Source: Wikipedia; All Music and Discogs)
*****
‘Memories from the Soundtrack of Your Life‘
50TH! TALKIN’ ‘BOUT MY GENERATION: TOP HITS OF ’69!
THE DOORS
“Touch Me” by The Doors was playing the Billboard Singles chart as well on Detroit Top 40 radio on this date. 50 years ago. April 1969
THIS WEEK 50 YEARS AGO: THE HOTTEST HIT IN THE USA!
NUMBER 1 IN AMERICA ’68 * The Doors * 07/28/68 – 08/10/1968
BILLBOARD HOT 100 TOP FIVE: WEEK-ENDING August 3, 1968
(Click on chart image 2x for detailed view)
NUMBER ONE FOR 1968!
___
TWELVE WEEKS on the singles chart, “Hello, I Love You” by The Doors peaked this week at No. 01 (2 weeks) on the Billboard Hot 100. July 28 through August 10, 1968. (Source: Billboard)
___
MCRFB Link: For the previous No. 1 record in the U.S.A. 1968 GO HERE.
50TH! TALKIN’ ‘BOUT MY GENERATION: TOP HITS OF ’68!
THE DOORS * 1968
50TH! TALKIN’ ‘BOUT MY GENERATION: TOP HITS OF ’67!
THE DOORS * 1967
THIS WEEK 50 YEARS AGO: THE HOTTEST HIT IN THE USA!
NUMBER 1 IN AMERICA ’67 * The Doors * 07/23/67 – 08/12/1967
BILLBOARD HOT 100 TOP FIVE: WEEK-ENDING JULY 29, 1967
(Click on chart image 2x for detailed view)
NUMBER ONE FOR 1967!
___
SEVENTEEN WEEKS on the singles chart, “Light My Fire” by the Doors peaked this week at No. 01 (3 weeks) on the Billboard Hot 100, week July 23 through August 12, 1967. (source: Billboard)
___
MCRFB Link: For the previous No. 1 record in the U.S.A. 1967 GO HERE.
THE DOORS EMERGES ‘HOT’ WEST COAST BAND . . . JUNE 10, 1967
From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1967
Los Angeles Group Hottest Commodity For New York Based Record Label
HOLLYWOOD — The Doors have emerged as the leading Coast rock group for Elektra, a New York-based label. The quartet’s LP bearing its name has been moving out of the label’s local distributor at a brisk rate. Since January 1, some 50,000 copies have been sold, according to the company.
The rising popularity for the group, who have been together over a year, has sparked a Manhattan concert and a club engagement in mid-June. They will perform at a June 11 concert at the Village Theater with Janis Joplin and work the Scene for three weeks following the concert. Locally, the group has worked every major rock club on a percentage basis, usually $1,000 against 25 per cent. Their Scene booking engagement will be set for a reportedly marked straight salary pay.
Their New York engagements are the group’s second East Coast appearances. The first time around they were not as active on the charts as they are now. Their current single, “Light My Fire,” and their debut LP from which the single had been adapted from, both are chart climbers. This sales reaction, which began in the band’s hometown Los Angeles, is now spreading Eastward.
Elektra has also snared enthusiasm for Love, to obtain a strong one-two punch among Coast contemporary and progressive music buffs, an added respective momentum employed by the label’s increase both in sales (Doors and Love) in current singles and LP charts. END
___
(Information and news source: Billboard; June 10, 1967)
LIGHT MY FIRE (Single) * The Doors * ELEKTRA (1967)
A MCRFB NEWS brief: 1967
DOORS STRIKE GOLD ON ITS DEBUT ALBUM
NEW YORK — The Doors’ album, ‘The Doors’ on Elektra, has been awarded the RIAA Gold Record for sales in excess of 1,000,000. The group is the only one this year to win a Gold Record with their first album. The Doors’ second album, ‘Strange Days’ will be released late this month. END
(Information and news source: Billboard; September 23, 1967)
LIGHT MY FIRE (Instrumental) * The Doors * ELEKTRA (1967)
THE DOORS (Complete Album) * ELEKTRA (1967)
A MCRFB NOTE: Click over (Complete Album) for link of album title tracks.
RAY MANZAREK, DOORS KEYBOARDIST, DEAD AT 74
‘Ray was a huge part of my life and I will always miss him,’ says Doors guitarist Robby Krieger
By Andy Greene | May 20, 2013 5:50 PM ET
Doors co-founder and keyboardist Ray Manzarek died today in Rosenheim, Germany, after a long battle with bile duct cancer. He was 74.
“I was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of my friend and bandmate Ray Manzarek today,” Doors guitarist Robby Krieger said in a statement. “I’m just glad to have been able to have played Doors songs with him for the last decade. Ray was a huge part of my life and I will always miss him.”
From the Archive: Ray Manzarek Opens a New Door
Manzarek grew up in Chicago, then moved to Los Angeles in 1962 to study film at UCLA. It was there he first met Doors singer Jim Morrison, though they didn’t talk about forming a band until they bumped into each other on a beach in Venice, California, in the summer of 1965 and Morrison told Manzarek that he had been working on some music. “And there it was!” Manzarek wrote in his 1998 biography, Light My Fire. “It dropped quite simply, quite innocently from his lips, but it changed our collective destinies.”
They quickly teamed up with drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger and began playing gigs around Los Angeles. About a year later, the Doors recorded their debut album for Elektra Records. “We knew once people heard us, we’d be unstoppable,” Manzarek wrote in his memoir. “We knew what the people wanted: the same thing the Doors wanted. Freedom.”
The Doors didn’t have a bassist, so Manzarek often played the bass parts on his Fender Rhodes piano. He also played a Vox Continental organ, which can be heard on the famous intro to “Light My Fire” and numerous other Doors classics. The group shared credit on most songs and split all profits evenly.
The group carried on for two more albums after Jim Morrison died in July of 1971, but they split in 1973. Manzarek remained extremely busy, producing albums for X and playing with Iggy Pop, Echo and the Bunnymen and others. In 2002, he began touring as the Doors of the 21st Century with Krieger and Cult frontman Ian Astbury. Doors drummer John Densmore filed a lawsuit over the use of the name and it lead to a protracted legal battle.
“Morrison required all three of us diving into his lyrics and creating music that would swirl around him,” Manzarek told Rolling Stone in 2006. “Without Jim, everybody started shooting off in different directions. . . The Doors was the perfect mixture of four guys, four egos that balanced each other. There were never any problems with ‘You wrote this’ or ‘I wrote that.’ But [after Jim died] the whole dynamic was screwed up, because the fourth guy wasn’t there.”
(Article print from rollingstone.com online May 20, 2013).