THE DOORS AFTER THE "STRANGE DAYS" LP RELEASE, LIVE IN DENVER: THE BOOTLEG

Immediately after the release of the Doors' second album, "Strange Days" (Sept. 25, 1967), the group performed three concerts: Sept. 27, 29 and 30 1967. The last one takes place in Denver at a large venue called "Family Dog", famous in its time for hosting the best of the California rock scene.

From this live show we fortunately get a short bootleg, which documents the performance of "Light My Fire," a song contained on the band's first LP ("The Doors," January 1967) which had topped the U.S. charts only two months earlier.

Although just one song is available, the recording is important both because of the scarcity of live material at this wonderful stage in The Doors' history and because of the features of this “Light My Fire” live version.

In fact, it is Ray Manzarek's solo on the electric organ that is the distinctive and most interesting element here.

At minute 1.14 of the bootleg, the keyboardist begins his solo journey in a different way than usual. He plays notes that are dissonant and surprising in the way they follow one another, directing the listener's interest on a path that is as original as it is fascinating.

The organ notes compose a journey at once jagged and evocative, in which the typical technique of jazz pianist Thelonious Monk clearly appears.

To better appreciate the styles we are juxtaposing here, we recommend comparative listening between the electric organ solo featured in this bootleg and the song "Five Spot Blues" (from min. 1.48 to min. 2.30), recorded by Monk in the fall of 1962 and released on the LP "Monk's Dream" in ‘63.

Than it's the turn of Robby Krieger's solo on electric guitar. Soon after, however, instead of returning to the main theme of the composition, Manzarek comes back with another short but convincing solo.

This sequence clearly shows the improvised and spontaneous live spirit of this moment in the Doors' career. It also highlights the musical mastery and ability to listen to each other of those musicians.

This is a highly recommended listening to grasp the spirit that characterized the band's concerts at the time and the atmosphere of exhilarating passion that its members generated while playing.