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A terrific retrospective of one of the most enigmatic rock groups ever, "The Best of the Doors," opens with "Break On Through," then takes you on a wild ride through nineteen cuts that illustrate just exactly why this is such an enduring group. Jim Morrison's mesmerizing vocals, Robbie Krieger's "bottle neck" guitar, Ray Manzarek's keyboards and John Densmore's drums combined to create a unique sound, later imitated, but never duplicated by anyone else since. The songs included on this two-disc album open the doors that lead you into the ethereal, sometimes spiritual world of Morrison's poetry. His use of imagery and metaphor is remarkable, especially on such cuts as "Light My Fire," "The Crystal Ship," "People Are Strange," the impassioned "When The Music's Over," the subtly disquieting "Riders On The Storm,"
and the quintessential Door's song, the spellbinding "The End." Then there's the hard-driving "Roadhouse Blues," and "L.A. Woman;" the admonishing "Five To One;" and the stoic "The Unknown Soldier." There's a lyrical, almost mystic, quality to the music here; a substance that is rare in rock music, and delivered with a pulsating force that is transporting. Morrison's magnetism prevails throughout, and the more you listen to it, the more you realize how good this music really is. I got into The Doors kind of late into my long musical appreciation life. It may have something to do with the fact that, while in college, I was next-door to a guy who was Morrison-nuts...the kind of guy that insisted that Jim Morrison had faked his death and was just waiting for the right moment to come out of hiding. As such, he blasted The Doors' albums incessantly for the school year 1981, and I was over the whole thing pretty much by the time I'd graduated.

However, time has unburdened me of this irrational Doors-disgust. Which means that I was really happy to see this CD reissued as a precursor to the massive Doors campaign of 2007. A new box set, all the individual albums remastered, etc. But as a casual fan, "The Best of The Doors" is all I really need. It covers all the obvious radio hits along with some choice album tracks. (And just as obviously, ignores the postmortem Morrison records, 1971's Other Voices and 1972's Full Circle.) It also re-established Morrison's shamanistic personality. There was a deep, deep charisma about the man and it comes through on all the songs here. The other 3/4 of The Doors were just as unique.

Jim Morrison's ghost and the subsequent collapse of the band after his death - not to forget the incessant squabbling since - tends to cloud the surviving members' contributions. Ray Manzarek's keyboards are one of the reasons The Doors never needed a bass player. Those psychedelic swirls and heavy foundations provided The Doors with their pulse. Guitarist Robbie Krieger added classical fills next to Manzarek's keyboards and also wrote many of The Doors' biggest hits (including "Light My Fire"). John Densmore was a jazz drummer who brought that influence to the band, and he remains the member most opposed to the "reunion" projects. The Doors were always greater than the sum of their parts, and once the cloaking charisma of Morrison was gone, the atoms just blew apart.

The band, as members to a whole, mixed all those influences up. From the pop sense of "Light My Fire" to the Oedipal weirdness that fueled "The End," they were totally fearless about following their collective muse. They responded to accusations of pop-sellout by going to the deep blues of "LA Woman" and by nailing a cabaret number like Brecht/Weill's "The Alabama Song." They even managed one of the most paranoid mellow songs ever in "Riders On The Storm."

That is what makes "The Best Of The Doors" worth it. You may find yourself tempted to get some of the singular CD's later (I'd suggest the debut and "LA Woman"), but for a load into the MP3 player, this double CD set fills the gap. Jim Morrison remains a mystery, a loaded question that exited the world before the answers had time to form. (Or he got old enough to be boring.) ”

Track Listing
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CD1

[01].Break On Through
[02].Light My Fire
[03].The Crystal Ship
[04].People Are Strange
[05].Strange Days
[06].Love Me Two Times
[07].Alabama Song
[08].Five To One
[09].Waiting For The Sun
[10].Spanish Caravan
[11].When The Music's Over

CD2

[01].Hello, I Love You
[02].Roadhouse Blues
[03].L.A. Woman
[04].Riders On The Storm
[05].Touch Me
[06].Love Her Madly
[07].The Unknown Soldier
[08].The End
[09].Moonlight Drive [Bonus]
[10].Backdoor Man [Bonus]





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