THE DOORS’ LIVE AT "THE MATRIX" (MARCH 1967): "PEOPLE ARE STRANGE"

"People Are Strange" is the first single from “Strange Days”, The Doors' second LP. It was released about twenty days before the album, in early September 1967 and it did not have the chart success the band expected (#12 in the US) after the chart-topping last single (“Light My Fire”).

Nevertheless, it remains one of the group's most popular songs, so much so that it is now one of the most listened to The Doors’ tracks on Spotify.

One of the few existing live versions of the song is the one recorded in San Francisco at "The Matrix" in early March 1967. At the time, the band was preparing to record their above mentioned second album, and "People Are Strange" would open its B-side.

In this live performance, we can see how the final version of this composition was already finished six months before its official release.

In fact, the arrangement, the sound and even Robby Krieger's electric guitar solo will remain unchanged with respect to this live version. A clear indication of how The Doors used live performances as a substitute for studio rehearsals, especially in their early days.

In this case, the song’s definitive characteristics were already defined after just a few weeks of gigs around California passed from the composition of the song to its final version.

So, unlike other songs of that period, such as "When The Music's Over", which required months of changes accumulated in close contact with the audience, "People Are Strange" was fixed in its final form rather quickly.

The only difference between the version at "The Matrix" and the one on the "Strange Days" album is the part played by Ray Manzarek on the electric organ. In the studio he actually overdubs the modified piano (tack piano) in addition to the electric organ he usually uses.

On "The Matrix", the overall arrangement of the song is not significantly altered by the absence of the modified piano. However, the solo, which is played by the latter instrument on the disk, here is played by the electric organ (listen from min. 1.31 to min. 1.46).

This is a discrepancy that does not substantially alter the performance, although it does change the musicality of the solo through the broader and softer chords that the electric organ allows compared to the piano.

In addition, Manzarek adds some small improvisational variations to the short solo, which will disappear on the LP track.

However, the final result of "People Are Strange" live at “The Matrix” is very similar to what we can hear on "Strange Days", including the vocal part sung by Jim Morrison.

Without diminishing its innate charm, this circumstance makes the track one of the least interesting compositions that The Doors played at the San Francisco venue in March '67, at least from an experimental point of view.

Nevertheless, its importance lies also in the rarity of this live performance. In fact, "People Are Strange" was performed on several live occasions (almost all in 1967), but only four of them have been recorded.

Unfortunately, two of them are of poor sound quality. This adds to the historical-musical importance of this performance at “The Matrix”, which opens an interesting window on the work of "Strange Days" six months before its official release.