HiRez Poll Doors, The - THE BEST OF THE DOORS [Blu-Ray Audio (Dolby Atmos)]

[key_wiz]

Yeah… Rhino is pretty good, sometimes, at thinking outside the box.
And different albums, or titles, if you will, is not unheard of, for multichannel deluxe.
Ex: Fear of a Blank Planet/Nil Recurring.

It could just be thought of as bonus material.

Blame Elektra for this.

they released three different compilation albums under the title “The Best of The Doors”. ‘73, ‘85 and 2000. And the 2000 album had both single disc and double disc versions.

This is the ‘85 version.

(Not to be confused with The Doors Greatest Hits from 1980, The Very Best of The Doors (2 albums under this title in 2001 and 2007, the 2007 having a single disc and two different double disc versions) or The Absolute Best of The Doors from 2003. )

 

[4-earredwonder]

Not to sound ungrateful, but I believe RHINO/WEA have sufficiently mined the Doors Catalogue TO THE MAX! I have the awesome MLP DVD~A 5.1 Perception boxset, the AF QUAD SACD, the 2 RBCD Mono/QUAD BD~A and now the 19 Track Dolby Atmos edition of the Door's GH. I don't have any of the Analogue Production Doors SACDs with the supposedly superior Stereo remasters and don't forsee adding them to my already burgeoning collection but all I can say is I'm COVERED and hopefully with all these Doors remasters out of the way, RHINO can now concentrate on what us QQ rockers really want ...the Eagles ..... all remixed/remastered in new Dolby ATMOS settings on superior sounding Pure Blu~ray Audio discs!

But like Markie [marpow] my vote of 10 for this latest Rhino BD~A ATMOS remix still applies.....sounds exceptional on my new system! And who knows the Doors better than BRUCE BOTNICK who remixed this latest compilation into Dolby ATMOS?

 

[mandrix]

I had the '73 CD-4. It disappeared somehow years ago. Would be nice to make a comparison. Hmm. I have Quad Reel rip that was authored as a SACD. Time to pull it out and give it a spin.

As for the new disc, it was a tug of war between an 8 and a 9. I ultimately had to go with 9.
For whatever shortcomings the mixes have, I believe he did the best he could with what he had. Some will think that's no reason for a high score; I'm fine with that. I'm just enjoying the disc.

 

[rusinurbe]

The more tracks used for the recording the better the mix is. Overall its me buying the a set of Doors songs for the umpteenth time. Good to have and I don't regret buying it but I think this is the lastime.

 

[DrKlahn]

I gave it an 8. It doesn't measure up to the best Atmos out there, but it's still very good and engaging. I found it seemed to take until People are Strange to start really getting immersive. It does have some moments of things feeling like they are being thrown in as surround elements, but they don't sink the experience. Definitely some tracks that are excellent too.

 

[sjcorne]

I think an 8 is fair as well. Some head-scratchers aside (why is the backing vocal in "Hello, I Love You" now in the front?), for the most part I'm happy with Botnick's choices. Plus, it's hard to argue with $25 for 19 songs.
https://immersiveaudioalbum.com/the-doors-best-of-the-doors-5-1-surround-sound-dolby-atmos/

 

[kenm]

Not to mention that Manhattan's Ziegfield Theater at the time was afforded a meticulous fine grain 70mm print and had a state of the art sound system which made the experience absolutely jaw dropping!

And to begin the film with The Doors THE END was prophetic in itself considering the outcome of the Viet Nam 'conflict'.....as the futility of that ill advised conflagration ended the age of innocence for the US on the world stage!

BTW, I likewise like Morrison's spoken intro to Riders On The Storm. As Jonathan suggests, it does add a new layer of studio banter absent from previous versions especially when Jim suggests we need some thunder......and thunder front to rear and overhead is what we get...as the song begins!

Boy, I miss The Ziegfield Theater, so many great surround experiences, Close Encounters the bang in the beginning, audience jumped out of their seats, remaster Lawrence of Arabia 70mm 6 trk surround, Edward Scissorhands my 1st digital surround experience, so many more.

 

[beerking]

I've always admired the versatile Ray Manzarek's style of keyboard playing.
To me his tinkling of the keyboards brings the sound of The Doors alive.
Jim's voice has to be one of the greatest male voices there has ever been.

And so onto the Atmos mix.
I've given my rating opposite to Marpows.
10 for Fleetwood Mac
9 for The Doors
The reason being it just lacks that certain extra to give it full marks.
Although the track 'Rider on The Storm' is to die for .
Played that endlessly when I got the album L A Woman.

The doors are now closed for future purchases of Jim and his mates.

 

[jazzbo51]

I just noticed the creepy whispered vocals in the rears during "Riders." Yikes!

 

[edisonbaggins]

I just noticed the creepy whispered vocals in the rears during "Riders." Yikes!

That’s the best part of Riders! In surround, at least.

 

[atrocity]

I'll have to check out Apocalypse Now again, for some reason my memory of that song in that movie felt like there was a lot more going on than what is happening on this mix (or the perception box). Maybe there was a lot of extraneous sound effects filling it out in the movie and my impression isn't accurate.

It confused the heck out of my friends and me the first time we saw that movie: It sure sounded like there was a lot more audible Jim Morrison than we'd ever heard before.

Turns out that's exactly what was going on: The version in the movie is a remix and leaves in some R-rated bits that aren't on the standard stereo album, though the mono mix surprisingly retains some pretty blatant F-bombs.

I see that the mono version is now available from at least Qobuz in 192kHz. I'll have to check it out some day--I bought legit MP3 files of it from Amazon long ago when that's all that was available and there's a ton of distortion, though from what I remember reading at the time, that distortion is baked into the mono mix for some reason.

 

[Bill B]

It confused the heck out of my friends and me the first time we saw that movie: It sure sounded like there was a lot more audible Jim Morrison than we'd ever heard before.

Turns out that's exactly what was going on: The version in the movie is a remix and leaves in some R-rated bits that aren't on the standard stereo album, though the mono mix surprisingly retains some pretty blatant F-bombs.

I see that the mono version is now available from at least Qobuz in 192kHz. I'll have to check it out some day--I bought legit MP3 files of it from Amazon long ago when that's all that was available and there's a ton of distortion, though from what I remember reading at the time, that distortion is baked into the mono mix for some reason.

It sure would have been nice if Botnick had tried to duplicate what they did. I think they could have at least tried to double up the right and left output to both full on the front and rear speakers (big stereo) when the song gets intense in the last few minutes. I guess the point is, if they could do something like that for the movie why wasn't it on the table for this release. I don't care if some think it's hokey or if it veers from the original recording, I wanted to be WOWED.

 

[Wagonmaster_91]

Let me begin by saying I am a huge Doors fan and have been one since 1967. I have all their albums on vinyl (including both stereo and mono versions of the first 3), all the CDs, all the box sets, live and surround releases. I had that iconic Jim Morrison poster (used for this BR cover) up in my bedroom.

Now on to the new Best Of Pure Audio Atmos blu-ray. I am so glad I watched Edison B's video before playing the Doors Atmos or I would have gone nuts trying to figure out what was suddenly wrong with my audio system. Full disclosure: My system is not Atmos, 7.3 actually with the side channels in the rear 1/3 of the room in a vaulted ceiling giving a perfect angle to the "sweet spot" on the couch, matching ESS AMT1s floor standing fronts and rears and a combo ESS AMT tweeter/mid and Sony center. I was 5 - 7 songs in before hearing much of anything from the ceiling or rear speakers. I'm sorry, but if I have to put my ear up to a rear speaker just to make sure it is on, I don't really consider that surround sound.

The fidelity is great, but the soundstage is 95% L,C,R. Now, I have heard the excuse that Botnick was limited because the early albums were only recorded on 4-track but if your not going to try to 'fill the room' a bit, there's not much point going past making a good stereo mix. Even if he had only duplicated some of the instruments in the rears, it would at least pull those sounds out more into the room. If the Doors were actually playing right in front of you, you would still get the ambience of the sounds bouncing off the walls and space around and behind you. Another excuse is the Doors were just singer, guitar, keys and drums - and that was usually true in concert - but they had actual bass players on the albums including Larry Knechtel and Doug Lubahn. And we have several good surround releases by other bands that have similar instrumentation and/or limitations.

The mix sounds to me like Bruce thought the side and rears channels are just for "effects" - a whispered vocal, a keyboard "squiggle" or a thunder clap - gimmicky. And I don't care for some of the "extra" or "originally not used" elements added to some of the songs. As was mentioned earlier, having the studio chatter before "Riders On The Storm" is a bad choice. I'm usually OK with some studio chatter, especially on a re-issue, but in this case it spoils the mood of the song, changing it from feeling like a scary, foreboding story is about to unfold to a "Let's try this studio track again fellows..ha-ha-ha - play the sound effect, Bruce". I would be OK with including some chatter before just about any other song on the set, except for "Riders". Although including the cutesy intro on "L.A. Woman" mars that one, too, for the same reason. A big part of The Doors music is mood - Don't spoil that.

Also, Morrison's vocal on "Love Her Madly" sounds like it is from the room mic rather than a direct feed from his vocal mic. I don't understand why you would want to make him sound distant on this track. And using the "extra" harmonica track on the beginning of "Roadhouse Blues" just gets in the way. They made the right choice when they originally left that out. My personal fave Doors' song is "When The Music's Over", and was hoping the surround treatment would be interesting, but it is L,C,R too. At least "Touch Me" has strings and horns in the rears which make sense. That is the only song from "The Soft Parade", one of my two favorite Doors albums (I know that is not a popular opinion, but it is mine) and I wish more were included.

To wrap up, if I had watched Edison's video before ordering this BR, I would not done so. I don't need it as I already have stereo Doors albums and this is barely more than that.
Since so many of you have given this 9's & 10's, I'm not going to vote and bring down the average.
If I was to vote it would look like this:
Fidelity - 9 (-1 because it is a bit too bright in places)
Content - 10 (It's The Doors!)
Surround Mix - 3 (I'm being generous, but there's a little bit here and there so I won't go lower)
I was really hoping for so much more from this release. Playing the Alanis after this restored my faith in surround/Atmos..but that's for another review.

 

[Bill B]

Let me begin by saying I am a huge Doors fan and have been one since 1967. I have all their albums on vinyl (including both stereo and mono versions of the first 3), all the CDs, all the box sets, live and surround releases. I had that iconic Jim Morrison poster (used for this BR cover) up in my bedroom.

Now on to the new Best Of Pure Audio Atmos blu-ray. I am so glad I watched Edison B's video before playing the Doors Atmos or I would have gone nuts trying to figure out what was suddenly wrong with my audio system. Full disclosure: My system is not Atmos, 7.3 actually with the side channels in the rear 1/3 of the room in a vaulted ceiling giving a perfect angle to the "sweet spot" on the couch, matching ESS AMT1s floor standing fronts and rears and a combo ESS AMT tweeter/mid and Sony center. I was 5 - 7 songs in before hearing much of anything from the ceiling or rear speakers. I'm sorry, but if I have to put my ear up to a rear speaker just to make sure it is on, I don't really consider that surround sound.

The fidelity is great, but the soundstage is 95% L,C,R. Now, I have heard the excuse that Botnick was limited because the early albums were only recorded on 4-track but if your not going to try to 'fill the room' a bit, there's not much point going past making a good stereo mix. Even if he had only duplicated some of the instruments in the rears, it would at least pull those sounds out more into the room. If the Doors were actually playing right in front of you, you would still get the ambience of the sounds bouncing off the walls and space around and behind you. Another excuse is the Doors were just singer, guitar, keys and drums - and that was usually true in concert - but they had actual bass players on the albums including Larry Knechtel and Doug Lubahn. And we have several good surround releases by other bands that have similar instrumentation and/or limitations.

The mix sounds to me like Bruce thought the side and rears channels are just for "effects" - a whispered vocal, a keyboard "squiggle" or a thunder clap - gimmicky. And I don't care for some of the "extra" or "originally not used" elements added to some of the songs. As was mentioned earlier, having the studio chatter before "Riders On The Storm" is a bad choice. I'm usually OK with some studio chatter, especially on a re-issue, but in this case it spoils the mood of the song, changing it from feeling like a scary, foreboding story is about to unfold to a "Let's try this studio track again fellows..ha-ha-ha - play the sound effect, Bruce". I would be OK with including some chatter before just about any other song on the set, except for "Riders". Although including the cutesy intro on "L.A. Woman" mars that one, too, for the same reason. A big part of The Doors music is mood - Don't spoil that.

Also, Morrison's vocal on "Love Her Madly" sounds like it is from the room mic rather than a direct feed from his vocal mic. I don't understand why you would want to make him sound distant on this track. And using the "extra" harmonica track on the beginning of "Roadhouse Blues" just gets in the way. They made the right choice when they originally left that out. My personal fave Doors' song is "When The Music's Over", and was hoping the surround treatment would be interesting, but it is L,C,R too. At least "Touch Me" has strings and horns in the rears which make sense. That is the only song from "The Soft Parade", one of my two favorite Doors albums (I know that is not a popular opinion, but it is mine) and I wish more were included.

To wrap up, if I had watched Edison's video before ordering this BR, I would not done so. I don't need it as I already have stereo Doors albums and this is barely more than that.
Since so many of you have given this 9's & 10's, I'm not going to vote and bring down the average.
If I was to vote it would look like this:
Fidelity - 9 (-1 because it is a bit too bright in places)
Content - 10 (It's The Doors!)
Surround Mix - 3 (I'm being generous, but there's a liitle bit here and there so I won't go lower)
I was really hoping for so much more from this release. Playing the Alanis after this restored my faith in surround/Atmos..but that's for another review.

Your vote would be a 7. (22 / 3). It would not make a difference to the overall average. I think your logic is sound and your appraisal is legitimate. You should cast your vote without any concern. I was very disappointed with the surround activity as well.

 

[Wagonmaster_91]

OK, I'll vote, but given how disappointing this disc is, it's getting a 6 from me.

 

[Albert Dagger]

OK, I'll vote, but given how disappointing this disc is, it's getting a 6 from me.

I'm happy with honest reviews and votes, whatever they might be. If a release ends up having a number of people voting below 7, it is clear that there are some issues with the release.
Voting 6, or even lower, can actually help others make an informed decision before committing to a purchase. Go for it!
There are too many 10s in the polls, and we can't possibly buy everything
By the way, I've already got this release because it's The Doors.

I haven't voted yet, but the reason for purchasing this title was the amazing Atmos mix of Riders on the Storm, which is demo material for me.

 

[cornwall198]

Let me begin by saying I am a huge Doors fan and have been one since 1967. I have all their albums on vinyl (including both stereo and mono versions of the first 3), all the CDs, all the box sets, live and surround releases. I had that iconic Jim Morrison poster (used for this BR cover) up in my bedroom.

Now on to the new Best Of Pure Audio Atmos blu-ray. I am so glad I watched Edison B's video before playing the Doors Atmos or I would have gone nuts trying to figure out what was suddenly wrong with my audio system. Full disclosure: My system is not Atmos, 7.3 actually with the side channels in the rear 1/3 of the room in a vaulted ceiling giving a perfect angle to the "sweet spot" on the couch, matching ESS AMT1s floor standing fronts and rears and a combo ESS AMT tweeter/mid and Sony center. I was 5 - 7 songs in before hearing much of anything from the ceiling or rear speakers. I'm sorry, but if I have to put my ear up to a rear speaker just to make sure it is on, I don't really consider that surround sound.

The fidelity is great, but the soundstage is 95% L,C,R. Now, I have heard the excuse that Botnick was limited because the early albums were only recorded on 4-track but if your not going to try to 'fill the room' a bit, there's not much point going past making a good stereo mix. Even if he had only duplicated some of the instruments in the rears, it would at least pull those sounds out more into the room. If the Doors were actually playing right in front of you, you would still get the ambience of the sounds bouncing off the walls and space around and behind you. Another excuse is the Doors were just singer, guitar, keys and drums - and that was usually true in concert - but they had actual bass players on the albums including Larry Knechtel and Doug Lubahn. And we have several good surround releases by other bands that have similar instrumentation and/or limitations.

The mix sounds to me like Bruce thought the side and rears channels are just for "effects" - a whispered vocal, a keyboard "squiggle" or a thunder clap - gimmicky. And I don't care for some of the "extra" or "originally not used" elements added to some of the songs. As was mentioned earlier, having the studio chatter before "Riders On The Storm" is a bad choice. I'm usually OK with some studio chatter, especially on a re-issue, but in this case it spoils the mood of the song, changing it from feeling like a scary, foreboding story is about to unfold to a "Let's try this studio track again fellows..ha-ha-ha - play the sound effect, Bruce". I would be OK with including some chatter before just about any other song on the set, except for "Riders". Although including the cutesy intro on "L.A. Woman" mars that one, too, for the same reason. A big part of The Doors music is mood - Don't spoil that.

Also, Morrison's vocal on "Love Her Madly" sounds like it is from the room mic rather than a direct feed from his vocal mic. I don't understand why you would want to make him sound distant on this track. And using the "extra" harmonica track on the beginning of "Roadhouse Blues" just gets in the way. They made the right choice when they originally left that out. My personal fave Doors' song is "When The Music's Over", and was hoping the surround treatment would be interesting, but it is L,C,R too. At least "Touch Me" has strings and horns in the rears which make sense. That is the only song from "The Soft Parade", one of my two favorite Doors albums (I know that is not a popular opinion, but it is mine) and I wish more were included.

To wrap up, if I had watched Edison's video before ordering this BR, I would not done so. I don't need it as I already have stereo Doors albums and this is barely more than that.
Since so many of you have given this 9's & 10's, I'm not going to vote and bring down the average.
If I was to vote it would look like this:
Fidelity - 9 (-1 because it is a bit too bright in places)
Content - 10 (It's The Doors!)
Surround Mix - 3 (I'm being generous, but there's a little bit here and there so I won't go lower)
I was really hoping for so much more from this release. Playing the Alanis after this restored my faith in surround/Atmos..but that's for another review.

Totally agree with your experience/assessment. The Atmos adds zero to the 5.1 versions l already own, and is worse in some places. What on earth is wrong on the vocal on Love Her Madly? What a strange remixing decision. And, although some seem to like it, I hate the 'chat' that launches the Atmos ROTS. Horrible (to my ears) in the sense that it totally undermines the mystery, tension, and anxiety that is so critical to the song's beginning. Sometimes seeing behind the curtain is counter-productive in the extreme. Ugghhh... Six from me too - and maybe that is too generous for a thoroughly disappointing surround experience. Yep, Edison's video nailed it. Ah well!

 

[srbjab]

After comparing the Atmos and 5.1 tracks on the new blu-ray, and then comparing with a few tracks on the AF quad Best Of disc as well as with several individual 5.1 sacd and dvd-a titles, sadly the Atmos mix comes off as least successful. As many have mentioned, the Atmos is ultra clear and crisp but leans toward being overly bright, especially at volume. Inexplicably, it also sounds much thinner than Atmos mixes usually sound and is demonstrably lacking in bass compared to the 5.1 mixes. Sadly, many of the tracks would not even be identifiable as Atmos without looking at the menu screen or what your AV processor was decoding. It's a real mystifying missed opportunity. You would think that if a 5.1 mix already exists for a song, any Atmos mix should at least sound as good, but probably a bit better, without a lot of effort. Especially if the main selling point is, ahem, Atmos.

So, in terms of available surround mixes, I'd rank the quad mix first, 5.1 second and Atmos last. Although the quad mix often places drums and percussion in the rear channels (something I typically don't care for) somehow it just works and helps build a more immersive and interesting soundfield. The 5.1 mixes (on this new blu-ray and the individual albums) are OK to pretty good, and are generally better sounding than the Atmos mixes.

In terms of a ranking, I'm still giving the new blu-ray a 7, but mainly due to the inclusion of a 5.1 mix. If you don't already own any Doors in surround, are not a huge Doors fan, or don't feel like tracking down older releases, this is a good surround compilation for a reasonable price. However, if you already have most of the songs covered in other surround releases, this one is unnecessary.

 

[Wagonmaster_91]

Update: OK, I listened to the DTS-MA 5.1 mix and actually think it sounds better than the Atmos mix. The later songs have a little bit more going on and the problems with "L A Woman" and "Riders" aren't on this mix. For example, "Waiting For The Sun", "Spanish Caravan" and "When The Music's Over" have more going on in this mix. And the fidelity is good, so I'm going to up my vote. (I still wouldn't buy it for the Atmos mix, but nice to have.)

 

[ar surround]

It's another mixed bag with the Atmos tracks in this set. I'll give you a few examples:

- The Atmos mix of Riders On The Storm on my 7.1.4 system (with actual ceiling speakers) sounds spectacular.

- The Atmos mix of Light My Fire sounds superior to the 5.1 (Perception) mix, but inferior to the quadraphonic mix, especially with a tweek of the bass control.

- The Atmos mix of Touch Me sounds better than the quad mix, but not as good as the 5.1 mix.

I'm taking everything into consideration here including fidelity. I'm glad that I have all of the versions for comparison. Too bad they didn't include the original quad mix in the set for those who don't have the AF disc.