THE DOORS 30 YEARS COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

"The Doors 30 Years Commemorative Edition" is a DVD of The Doors released in 1999. This DVD compiles three films which were also released as three individual videos before. The three films are "Live At The Hollywood Bowl" originally released in 1987, "Dance On Fire" originally released in 1985 and "The Soft Parade A Retrospective" originally released in 1991. The first was filmed live at the Hollywood Bowl in 1968 and is a short version of that live show. In 2012 the full version of this concert was released in CD, LP and DVD formats with the length of about seventy-one minutes long. The second is a collection of fourteen videos, including some rare footage from television performances. The third includes The Doors' last television appearance on PBS in 1969. It includes an interview with Jim, Ray, Robbie and John.

As I've already reviewed these three DVD's previously and individually on Progarchives, in a more extensive way, I'm not going to do it again. So, if you are interested to know, in more detail, what I wrote about them before, I invite you to read those my reviews. However, in here I'm going to write something about them in a more short way. So, of course, I'm not going to analyze them as extensively as I made before, but I'm only going to make a global appreciation of them.

"Live At The Hollywood Bowl": "Live At The Hollywood Bowl" is a great DVD. It was recorded on 5 July 1968 but it was only released for the first time in 1987. As I think, five versions of this live show were released. It was released two CD versions and two DVD versions. In 1987 it was released a CD version with only seven tracks and it became The Door's shortest official release, with only about twenty-two minutes long. The 1987/2000 DVD version has thirteen tracks and has about sixty-five minutes long. In 2012 the full version of this concert was released in CD, LP and DVD formats and it has the length of about seventy-one minutes long. This is a legendary live concert with some incredible great musical moments and where the entire band was absolutely great and where Ray Manzarek shows why he always was the secret key beyond the success of The Doors' sound. Despite some low quality of its images, it deserves to be checked.

"Dance On Fire": "Dance On Fire" is an excellent DVD of The Doors that covers all the group's musical discography when Jim Morrison was a band's member. It represents a very good and interesting musical document of one of the most important and charismatic rock bands that ever existed. This is undeniably one of the best collections from the group that contains some unique concert shots, immortal images of Morrison and his legendary band. There are some very interesting music videos. There's a lot of filler in this collection of song clips, which are interspersed with voice-overs of Morrison reading his poetry, and images of related subjects. So, "Dance On Fire" is a good collection of great The Doors musical material and images. The Doors ventured beyond the conventional realms of the musical expression with their surreal, psychedelic and unique style. This is a must have for anyone who is interested in this style of music.

"The Soft Parade A Retrospective": "The Soft Parade A Retrospective" is another excellent DVD of The Doors. It brings to us one of The Doors' calmer and more laid back performances where we can clearly see sadness and devastation in Jim Morrison. We sense that he is suffering intensely in the inside, and it's pretty obvious that on some level of his awareness he had realized that a good deal of his immense potential had gone down the drain as a result of alcoholism, drugs and fame, which somehow provoked a certain decadence. I'm sure that he knows that the 60's dream of liberation and freedom had completely failed, leaving him to live in a certain emptiness. Despite this is a short DVD, it represents a very important document of the end of the musical career of The Doors with Morrison. This is an essential document for all fans of this band, representing a nice look of thirty years after the legendary front man Jim Morrison's death.

Conclusion: It's hard to believe that have passed thirty years since the world lost a rock genius that left us hours of great music and the release of this DVD. Of course this isn't a perfect DVD. There's a lot of repetition on this DVD. The bonus tracks from the Isle of Wight offers only a few seconds from that legendary performance and instead, a lot of Hollywood Bowl footage is shown. The same holds for the Soft Parade documentary. However, I think that doesn't matter it duplicates some of the watched videos. By the other hand, despite the Hollywood Bowl live concert represents only an excerpt of all concert, I think it can captures the real essence of the band and I was even surprised that the 2.0 digital soundtrack held up to some seriously loud volume. So, this is an essential package for all fans of The Doors. If you don't know anything about them, get and enjoy it. This DVD proves why The Doors was one of the best live bands.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Share this THE DOORS review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to VianaProghead
• Report this review (#2983704)
• Buy THE DOORS music online with PA partners
• Show all THE DOORS MP3/Stream
• Go to THE DOORS page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to The Doors 30 Years Commemorative Edition page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for THE DOORS related discussions