The Doors — Live At The Matrix 1967

Live At The Matrix 1967

Rhino/Warner

Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

12/10/2008 12:00pm

Jim Morrison has often been described as a poet, but famed music journalist Lester Bangs once called him a "drunken buffoon." Whatever Morrison was, it's clear he was a brilliant frontman, and this double-disc set makes that very obvious. These oft-bootlegged recordings (among the first to document the band's sound in a live environment) were made in 1967 at San Francisco's Matrix. The Doors were then unknowns (but already had two albums' worth of songs under their belts) and barely a handful of people showed up to see them play this set, which might partly be because they were outside their hometown of Los Angeles. Nonetheless, it exhibits what would come over the next four years. Morrison's honeyed voice is on display one second, but he's already capable of turning into a shrieking banshee the next. Robby Krieger's guitar work is already idiosyncratic and virtuosic. While Ray Manzarek's keyboard work isn't nearly as impressive as it would become ("Light My Fire" is missing its fugue-esque intro and ends up sounding more like the version showcased in Oliver Stone's 1991 film, The Doors), there are hints of his talents on "Summertime" and the intro to "When The Music's Over," which is already in its final version. The set is tight and doesn't ramble despite being more than two hours long, and demonstrates why The Doors were one of the most influential bands of the '60s.

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