THE DOORS LIVE IN BOSTON MARCH 17, 1968: A GUIDE TO THE BOOTLEG

One of the lesser-known The Doors’ bootlegs is the one that allows us to hear the group live in Boston on March 17, 1968.

The less-than-perfect sound of the recording is more than compensated for by a first-rate performance by all the members, caught in one of the best moments of their career.

It was early '68, and the fame The Doors had achieved the previous year with the single "Light My Fire" and their first LP ("The Doors") had been confirmed by a long series of live performances.

Moreover, the group's concerts in the second half of '67 had definitely brought poetry and theatre to rock.

In Boston, therefore, appeared a group confident in its artistic achievements and ready to reinforce its role as a pioneer in the field of contamination between different arts (music, poetry and theater).

The Doors were in the midst of recording their third album, "Waiting For The Sun", which would be released in July '68 to reach the top of the U.S. and the 16^th spot in England.

The March 17, '68 live show opens with "When The Music's Over", a song that immediately highlights Morrison's scratchy, deeply passionate vocal performance.

It remains so for the whole bootleg, giving us an example of how The Doors frontman's distinctive singing could be at once instinctive and restless, fierce and charming, mysterious and seductive.

A hallmark of the entire concert, Morrison's vocals also forcefully characterize "When The Music's Over", taken from "Strange Days", the band's second album, released about six months before the Boston live date.

Next, the group bursts into a long version of "Back Door Man" from their debut album.

Contained within is one of the most exciting surprises of the entire bootleg: Morrison actually inserts almost all the lyrics of "Five To One", a song that was in progress and would later end up on the aforementioned "Waiting For The Sun" LP.

In many subsequent concerts, these two songs would be played in sequence, forming a medley that would become famous.

Here in Boston, however, the instrumental background is still that of "Back Door Man", with the lyrics of "Five To One" flowing sinuously and provocatively over it.

An anticipation, perhaps an improvisation by Morrison himself, that would soon lead to the "Back Door Man"/"Five To One" medley so popular that it was later included (in extended form) on the group's only live album (Absolutely Live, released in July 1970).

"Break On Through (To The Other Side)" is the next track; Ray Manzarek stands out with a pleasantly irregularly contoured solo. His electric organ gives way to some improvised verses from Morrison, then returns overwhelmingly  to finish off the final verse-rhythm sequence.

“Love Me Two Times" keeps the atmosphere electrifying, although it substantially  sticks to the original vinyl version (again, it's "Strange Days").

From the same LP comes also "You're Lost Little Girl", rarely performed live and here faithful to the studio recording (it’s the part of the concert with the worst sound quality).

It is Morrison's voice that dominates the song, in this case in its deepest and most poetic tones.

An abrupt interruption of the bootleg’s tape brings us to "Light My Fire" (unfortunately the intro is missing).

Manzarek's electric organ solo begins with broken, diverging lines with a strong jazzy flavor, somewhere between Thelonious Monk and Jimmy Smith. Immediately afterward, the keyboardist ramps up to saturate the theater that hosted the evening with high, frenzied chords.

The concert ends, as it often did, with "The End", a composition that also closed the aforementioned “The Doors” album.

The piece meanders between dream and nightmare, with evocative and interesting instrumental interventions by all band members.

Once again it is necessary to point out the role Morrison plays in this masterpiece. He hypnotizes and shocks the audience by alternating extremely powerful and expressive singing with real poetic-theatrical acting.

Much of the original text is also replaced by an impressive sequence of poems declaimed with astonishing intensity: Across the Sea; The Accident; The Holy Sha; The Crossroads; Ensenada.

Without any loss of musical quality or degree of innovation, "The End" ends with a sonic explosion that, like an exclamation point, sums up the fantastic journey that has been made in the 53 minutes of the recording.

It should be noted that R. Krieger's electric guitar is almost completely inaudible on this bootleg, a circumstance that has inevitably affected the listening guide you are reading.

This does not prevent this bootleg from being an unforgettable electric trip conducted by The Doors on the simultaneously dark and flaming sea of their unforgettable music.

A few days after the Boston concert, the band will play two nights (March 22 and 23, '68) at New York's historic Fillmore East.

Thanks to Mildequator.com.

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”