HiRez Poll Doors - Doors [DVD-A/SACD]

[JonUrban]

Please post your comments, thoughts and observations on this title released in first in the "Perception" Box set in the DVD-Audio format, then in 2011 by WB on SACD in Japan, and again in 2014 as a single US SACD (Made in Austria) or as part of the Limited Numbered Edition "Infinite" Box from Analog Productions.

 

[EMB]

Well, ya twisted my arm, so...

To put it succinctly, this is no less than one of the great debut albums in the history of rock music, and--though it's seldom mentioned--one of the most mature and knowing ever recorded. Why? For one thing, unlike most bands of the '60s, The Doors had a wide range of musical interests. On this 1967 album there is: one of the great opening tracks ever ("Break On Through," their debut 45); a great, gentle ballad ("The Crystal Ship," B-side of their sophomore 45); nods to serious R&B ("Back Door Man"), Brecht & Weill ("Alabama Song"--who else would've thought to do that?); the centerpiece and (edited) second and best hit ("Light My Fire"); and of course the perverse yet romantic finale, "The End" (censored in stereo, obviously profane in mono). And I haven't even mentioned the very cool and evocative "Soul Kitchen" or the sly "Take It As It Comes."

The chemistry was there early and never got better; or, as Greil Marcus once opined about this album, "...it was as far as they got" (which was true, despite some greatness to come). Jim Morrison, The Presence, Icon, Supreme Narcissist, or (as the late Lester Bangs claimed) a "Dionysian Bozo." Whatever he was, Morrison had talent not only as a singer (he could borrow from Sinatra for one song, Howlin' Wolf the next, and both when needed) but as a songwriter and (budding?) poet. Ray Manzarek's keyboard work lent the band several shades, for he could be a lounge lizard, garage band geek, or (more often) someone playing in some freak bar or honky tonk, the sound a little disturbing and off-kilter. Robbie Krieger's guitar work covered both rhythm and lead, acoustic and electric (much like the equally underrated Justin Hayward) and could shift from flamenco and basic riffing to slide work. John Densmore, like Ringo Starr, remains so underrated a drummer/percussionist, and for the same reason: he was anchoring three remarkable players, and wisely resisted going for flash or the spotlight, wonderfully consistent and resourceful.

Now, on to the mix (forgive my digression). My rating's is 9, not 10, only because it's a frontal L/C/R approach only; no rears at all. This decision was made because of the source session tapes. Even so, my hunch is that many (though not all) of the tracks probably could have had a decent 4.0 mix. That, and given the fact that RCA came up with workable (if not perfect) quad with Henry Mancini's earlier material, no reason that this one couldn't have been pushed a bit further. But that aside, the mix here is balanced, the sound exceptional.

This album is so strong it's worth owning in the original mono and stereo Lp mixes; the stereo CD remix (the MC here is based upon that disc--"Break On Through" and "The End" are uncensored); the quad Lp/tape; and in this L/C/R edition.


ED

 

[JonUrban]

I wonder why they stayed with the L/C/R approach when "Light My Fire" was a favorite 4 Channel demo track back in the quad days. Played it many times, and the "Best of the Doors", being a single inventory quadradisc, was probably the biggest selling CD-4 of all time (with Aloha it's nearest competitor)

At least we still have our QLPs, Q8's, and Q4's.

 

[Quad Linda]

9, only because of the mix. They didn't have a great deal to work with. Yet, they could have done better. I agree with Ed's "one of the great debut albums" comment. It ranks very high, but I'd vote for Moby Grape as THE BEST, also from '67. Passed on the Japan SACD MC, since I have the original "keyhole" Perception DVD-A/CD Box. If you don't already own the CD-4/Q4/Q8 and Perception Box, what's wrong with you? YOU NEED THEM!

Linda
21st Century Fox

 

[EMB]

Well, 1967 was a hell of a year for rock albums, from SGT. PEPPER, FOREVER CHANGES and SURREALISTIC PILLOW to such remarkable debuts as THE DOORS, MOBY GRAPE, ARE YOU EXPERIENCED? (US or UK edition), THE VELVET UNDERGROUND & NICO, THE YOUNGBLOODS, FRESH CREAM, and Kaleidoscope's very underrated SIDE TRIPS. So many other fine albums: Aretha's I NEVER LOVED A MAN THE WAY I LOVE YOU, Otis Redding's LIVE IN EUROPE, THE STAX/VOLT REVUE Vol. 1 LIVE IN LONDON, The Mothers' ABSOLUTELY FREE, The Young Rascals' GROOVIN', BEE GEES 1st (it wasn't their first, really, but what the hey), BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD AGAIN, The Who's HAPPY JACK, and so many, many more.

That we have THE DOORS in L/C/R, limited as that may be, is still impressive. But I do believe certain cuts, like "The End" would have come off very nicely in 4.0 or 5.0 (like many, I'm not much of a '.1' fan) and would have been worth the attempt. But this is too impressive an album to ignore because it isn't quad or 5.1.

ED

 

[arnold_layne]

Not having heard this 5.1 mix until I purchased the Japan SACD, I was a bit disappointed. To me it sounded a bit too harsh.
The music itself is excellent, but the 5.1 mix sounds too thin to me.

A_L

 

[cupboy]

The stereo mix is a bit thin also. Rather lacking in bass.

 

[Quad Linda]

Could it be the bass was lacking because:
A-Doors didn't have a bassist. Manzarek's organ was the only "bass instrument" on most Doors tracks.
B-Elektra had been a folk music label. The Doors and Love were their first forays into rock.

Linda
She's Fashionably Lean and She's Fashionably Late

The stereo mix is a bit thin also. Rather lacking in bass.

 

[cupboy]

20th Century Fox has quite a bit of bass on the stereo reel-to-reel version.

 

[arnold_layne]

Could it be the bass was lacking because:
A-Doors didn't have a bassist. Manzarek's organ was the only "bass instrument" on most Doors tracks.
B-Elektra had been a folk music label. The Doors and Love were their first forays into rock.

Linda
She's Fashionably Lean and She's Fashionably Late

I'm aware the Doors do not have a bassist.

I've heard the quad reel of Doors Best of, and doesn't sound as thin as this SACD does. I'll have to dig out my Doors LP's and compare.

A_L

 

[Mats Lindgren]

I refer to the DVD-A version "Immersion box" which I think is one of the best examples how to re-release older albums in a modern (at least DVD-A was still modern at the time of release) format. The overall sound is very good and there is no bass lacking either. I gave a 9 because there is no surround sound.

Mats

 

[rusinurbe]

Could it be the bass was lacking because:
A-Doors didn't have a bassist. Manzarek's organ was the only "bass instrument" on most Doors tracks.
B-Elektra had been a folk music label. The Doors and Love were their first forays into rock.

Linda
She's Fashionably Lean and She's Fashionably Late

They did not play live with a bassist but the studio albums were augmented with some great bass players.
This album has some great bass but the remix did not do it many favours. One of my favorite doors albums, but in this case the remix was not an improovement, i think it sounds too digital.

 

[ChristopherLees]

I thought they had at least some ambient rears on the remix...but basically it's all front l/r/c
I'll have to play the dvda again...and yes the quad mix was good

 

[mwk-empire]

Should have read this thread before listening to it. It was my first experience with a L/C/R mix. My first concerns had been broken hardware or mixed-up settings.
To me this was a disappointing experience. At least some ambient sound on the back channels would have been nice. I gave it a 7 for the music.

Markus

 

[LizardKing]

Should have read this thread before listening to it. It was my first experience with a L/C/R mix. My first concerns had been broken hardware or mixed-up settings.
To me this was a disappointing experience. At least some ambient sound on the back channels would have been nice. I gave it a 7 for the music.

Markus

I'm confused I thought the SACD was the same same mix as the DVD-A???

Is this a different mix than the Perception box set DVD-A? As there is definitely some (minimal) reverb/ambient sound in the rear channels & LFE on the DVD-A.

Is it really just L/C/R on the SACD?

 

[GOS]

Huge Doors fan here...so when they released all these on SACD, I was on it. I am so glad to have them in my collection now. I gotta say - yeah, this sounds great, though not a real bass fest. But, probably the Doors never were bass heavy, so maybe it's accurate. Still - I gave it an 8.

 

[rtbluray]

Normally I would NEVER suggest that you stick with the stereo mix, but this is definitely one disc where I recommend that.

There's really no surround to this disc at all. Like others have stated, it's basically an LCR mix.

Only get it if you can get the whole "Perception" DVD-A set, where the rest of the discs are much better.

Would have voted it a '6' but didn't want to be the lone lowest voter, so I went a little higher with a '7', with the music getting 4 points, the fidelity getting 3 points, and surround mix getting 0 points.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

 

[Jeddia]

I'm not, by any stretch, a Doors fanatic. But I've always liked their albums. For me, they require a 'mood'. I recently found the standalone SACD (US release, 2013) on Discogs.com for $23 US and couldn't pass it up.

This is definitely a great album, and frankly...given the material of other more modern bands out there, I still think it's surprising that they invested all that time into taking mono recordings and creating surround mixes of them.

The mix on this is definitely LCR'ish. There is a bit of reverb in the rears, but that's pretty much it. All in all, the frontal mix is pretty damn great. Solid bass from the sub, the instruments are presented clearly (albeit hard-panned in a lot of the mix), and the vocals are mixed nicely into the center with the reverb dished out conservatively into the surround channels.

I would've preferred a more playful mix on some of the songs, but I simply cannot complain about much on this disc. Gave it a 9. 4 for the mix, 4 for the material, and a bonus 1 for existing. Well worth the dough. I need to pick up the others if I can find them at a good price.

 

[marpow]

I voted 8. My review is of the Analogue Productions Hybrid SACD CAPP 74007 SA released 2013.
My listen was to my owned ripped file, DSD64, DR's are 10's, 11's, 12's, 13. I listened at a comfortable 60db.
My favorite song is The End, just love the spaceyness of it.
Pretty hard to knock any version of this iconic 1967 album, been listening to this for years.
5.1 Surround: Clearly, I will use my words, a front loaded surround disc. The 3 front speakers, left, center, right are the boss of this mix. the two rears are but ambient.
The sonics, bass, midrange, and treble are beautiful. On purchase I wanted to hear The Doors in a wild discrete surround setting. So of course I was disappointed as there was no wild surround. Once I got past that and just sat and listened for what it is, rather than what it isn't, it is still a good release and I very much enjoy listening to it.
The two rear speakers are very active, there is a strong signal moving them both, but it is the mix that puts the front ahead of the rears, so we end up ambient. I have heard movies and other surround discs, that closer to that true surround experience.
I am glad I own this and will continue to listen.
This is a very good article on INFORMATION THE DOORS, which I found a little helpful.
KEEP SURROUND POLLS PURE. NO OFF TOPIC OR NON RELEVENT CHATTER.

 

[GOS]

Huge Doors fan here...so when they released all these on SACD, I was on it. I am so glad to have them in my collection now. I gotta say - yeah, this sounds great, though not a real bass fest. But, probably the Doors never were bass heavy, so maybe it's accurate. Still - I gave it an 8.

I decided to rethink my vote and comments here. So, regarding the bass, it's just fine. Typical of early Doors. It's adequate. I lowered my vote to a 7. I mean, for a fact, the SACD (which is what I own) is super front heavy, with just not much going on in the rear speakers. To be specific, there is nothing discrete in the rears, at all. It's low level reverb. To prove it, I took Backdoor Man, slapped it in Audacity and raised the rear channels by 10db, played it in Foobar and it totally made it sound like I were listening in a deep cave. Basically, terrible.

Content (do we even have to say it?) 10
Fidelity 8
Surround mix 3