I CAN'T SEE YOUR FACE IN MY MIND, 1966 CHANGES THE WAY CONCERTS ARE PLAYED

 

After the first half of the 1960s in British and American music, the LP format became more and more established as opposed to the single 45. Musicians and groups began to think of their music as something to be cared for in detail and developed with the experiments made possible in the recording studio by new technologies.

Astounding albums are created thanks to the sound developments that take place in those years. On the other hand, they become much more difficult to be played live.

So, many bands began to exclude the more experimental or psychedelic songs from their live sets, in which unusual effects or distortions cannot be adequately played. In this context, the Beatles made an extreme decision: they ceased their live performances in August 1966, shortly after the release of "Revolver", an album that was as wonderful as it was impossible to be played live.

In this musical context, The Doors' debut album ("The Doors", January '67) mirrored the arrangements and on-stage attitude typical of the band's concerts. Not surprisingly, many tracks from this album would be the ones that appeared more often in their shows until the end of their career.

In contrast, their second LP ("Strange Days", September '67) fully incorporates the signature elements of psychedelia by introducing many new instruments and studio effects. The lengthy work done in the recording studio on sounds and distortions resulted in a kind of music that was impossible to play properly in front of an audience.

The main example we’d like to consider in order to describe this characteristic of some of the songs featured on "Strange Days" is "I Can't See Your Face In My Mind".

The only available live recording of this song seems to be the one made on March 7^th 1967, in San Francisco at the famous venue called "The Matrix". Here "I Can't See Your Face In My Mind" is rendered in a faster and more Latin-like manner than on the record. Moreover, the group replace the most complex musical elements with a simplified structure that is more linear and less fascinating than the LP version.

This opportunity to hear the song live anticipates its release on "Strange Days" by six months, that is before the beginning of the LP recording sessions. This fact underlines how the Doors' creative process developed during those months, when they were recording the “Strange Days” LP itself.

The LP version of the song includes exotic percussion, an experimental keyboard and an instrument whose sound is sent backwards. The soft, mysterious-sounding and melancholy arrangement completes the picture of a tune that consequently will be performed by the band only a few times in concert.

The track we briefly mentioned went through the transformation that has its starting point in the “Matrix” live version and the LP release as its end point. A path that sees psychedelia and attention to instrumental detail as determining factors in shaping ethereal music with experimental overtones.

As a consequence of its psychedelic features, “I Can't See Your Face In My Mind" will be soon dropped from the group’s concert repertoire, nevertheless leaving an indelible mark on vinyl in all its creative aura of mysterious charm.

P.S.: My book "The Doors Through Strange Days"- The most comprehensive journey ever made through The Doors' second LP, is out and available on Amazon.com!

Here’s the link:

Amazon – “The Doors Through Strange Days”