Ray Manzarek R.I.P.

May 20, 2013

BBC News:

Doors co-founder Ray Manzarek dies at 74 in Germany 

The Doors - John Densmore, Robby Krieger, Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek - were hugely successful in their heyday

Ray Manzarek, keyboard player and founder member of the 60s rock band The Doors, has died aged 74.


He formed the band with lead singer Jim Morrison in 1965 after a chance meeting in Venice Beach, Los Angeles.

Manzarek, who had battled bile duct cancer for many years, died in a clinic in Rosenheim, Germany, with his wife and brothers at his bedside.

The Doors found fame in the 1960s with hits such as The End, Break on Through to the Other Side and Hello I Love You.

They sold more than 100 million albums worldwide and Manzarek became one of the best-known keyboardists of his era, his artistry colouring tracks like Riders on the Storm and Light my Fire.

In his latter years, Manzarek played in other bands and, in 1998, wrote a best-selling memoir, Light My Fire: My Life with The Doors.

Drummer John Densmore paid tribute to Manzarek, saying he felt "totally in sync" with his "musical brother".

"There was no keyboard player on the planet more appropriate to support Jim Morrison's words," he added.

Guitarist Robbie Krieger, who continued to play with Manzarek following Morrison's death on 3 July 1971, said he was "deeply saddened" to hear the news.

"I'm just glad to have been able to have played Doors songs with him for the last decade. Ray was a huge part of my life and I will always miss him," he said.

British rock musician Billy Idol ‏tweeted, "I was lucky to get a chance to rock out with him and the other two Doors. Cheers mate, say hi to Jim."

Bill Siddons, the band's manager in the 60s, told the BBC it was a "tremendous loss" to musical culture.

"He understood what Jim's talent was, and he put the band together to make it work," he said. "The Doors really had a huge impact, and still do, on our musical culture."

The original line-up, which included drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger, made six albums in their six years together.

The death of Morrison, who died of heart failure in a bath in Paris, effectively spelled the end for the band, although Chicago-born Manzarek took on singing duty.

Manzarek, who was of Polish descent, was born and raised in south Chicago before studying cinematography at the University of California in Los Angeles where he first met fellow film student Morrison.

They met again by chance on Venice Beach after finishing their course, where Morrison sang him an early version of Moonlight Drive, which would later feature on their second album, Strange Days.

Manzarek met Densmore and Krieger at a Transcendental Meditation lecture and the four became the house band at The London Fog on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles in 1966.

He played with a number of other bands throughout his career including Iggy Pop and punk rock band X.

Manzarek is survived by his wife Dorothy Fujikawa, who he married in 1967, his son, Pablo and three grandchildren.


The Doors - Light My Fire (Live In Europe 1968):

Classic Albums (The Making Of) / The Doors - The Doors (1967)

Classic Albums: The Doors - The Doors (1967)

The Doors is the debut album by American rock band The Doors, recorded in August 1966 and released in January 1967. It was originally released in different stereo and mono mixes, and features the breakthrough single "Light My Fire", extended with an instrumental section mostly omitted on the single release, and the lengthy song "The End" with its Oedipal spoken word section. The Doors credit the success of the album to being able to work the songs out night after night at the Whisky a Go Go and the London Fog. The Doors was ranked #42 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. It has sold over 12.5 million copies.

More info about the album: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Doors_(album)

The Doors / Jim Morrison - Feast of Friends (documentary)

Jim Morrison - Feast Of Friends (The Doors Documentary)


The full version of Feast Of Friends.

A lot of this footage is found in other Doors films, but never has been released publicly.

The Doors - Soundstage Performances, 1969

The Doors Soundstage Performances (1969)

Live on 28 - 29th April 1969, WNET-PBS TV Studios, New York.

The Doors - Soundstage New York 1969 (part 1)


Tracks:

1) Tell All The People
2) Alabama Song
3) Back Door Man
4) Wishful Sinful

The Doors - Soundstage New York 1969 (part 2)


Track:

1) Build me a woman

The Doors - The soft parade Soundstage New York 1969)

Track: 

The Soft Parade

The Doors - When You're Strange (Film, Documentary, 2009)

When You're Strange is a 2009 documentary about the life of The Doors. It is written and directed by Tom DiCillo and for the first time makes material from Jim Morrison's 1969 film fragment HWY: An American Pastoral publicly available. 

Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek has stated that "This will be the true story of the Doors," and that the film will be "the anti-Oliver Stone," referring to the 1991 film about the group that Stone directed, and which drew quite a bit of criticism from many Doors fans and Morrison intimates for certain departures from the truth in Stone's screenplay.

The documentary first screened at the Sundance Film Festival on January 17, 2009. It received somewhat favorable reviews from that showing, however the narration (by director DiCillo) was singled out by most viewers as very seriously flawed for its monotonic delivery. Due to the rash of complaints about the narration, Johnny Depp was hired to redub it. A few months later, DiCillo pronounced the film "just about locked", and announced that there would be a showing of the new "redux" version.

 It debuted at the Los Angeles Film Festival on Sunday, June 21, 2009. The completed film was also shown at the London Film Festival on October 16-18, 2009. The film was released in theaters on April 9, 2010, with a soundtrack release on April 6, 2010. It was released in Canada on April 15, 2010. PBS showed this film as part of its series American Masters on May 12, 2010. 

The film was released on DVD on June 29, 2010. In France the film, distributed by MK2, was released under its original title and received an excellent reception.

Robby Krieger believes that the film puts together a more accurate portrayal of Morrison than the 1991 biopic stating; ‘I think when you see the Oliver Stone movie – I'm amazed how good Val Kilmer did – but, you know, the problem with that movie is that the script was kind of stupid. It doesn't really capture how Jim was at all. This gives you a much better insight into how his mind worked, I think.'

Overall Krieger felt ‘really happy’ about how the film has turned out, crediting in particular the editing work. The surviving members of the band decided not to get too involved in the project to try to get the right neutral balance that an outsider would try to achieve."

The film has been nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Nonfiction Series following its airing on American Masters on PBS.  In December of 2010 the film was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long Form Video and subsequently won the award in February 2011. 

Cast:

Jim Morrison as himself (archive footage) vocalist for The Doors

Ray Manzarek as himself (archive footage) keyboardist for The Doors

John Densmore as himself (archive footage) percussionist for The Doors

Robby Krieger as himself (archive footage) guitarist for The Doors

Johnny Depp (narration)

Paul A. Rothchild as himself (archive footage) Producer (The Doors - Morrison Hotel)

Bruce Botnick as himself (archive footage) Sound Engineer and Producer for (L.A. Woman)

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Part 5:

Part 6:

Part 7 (only to see on Youtube) : http://youtu.be/5vc2PyA4rI0



Final Part:

Directed by: Tom DiCillo

Produced by: John Beug, Jeff Jampol, Peter Jankowski

Written by: Tom DiCillo

Narrated b: Johnny Depp

Music by The Doors

Cinematography: Paul Ferrara

Editing by: Micky Blythe, Kevin Krasny

Distributed b: Rhino Entertainment

Release date(s)": January 17, 2009 (Sundance), April 9, 2010 (United States)

Running time: 86 minutes

Country: United States

Language:  English

The Doors (documentary)

Interviews and music:

The Doors (without Jim) - The Story of LA Woman

The Doors: Mr. Mojo Risin - The Story of LA Woman (extras)


Here are the extras of the video "The Doors: Mr. Mojo Risin' - The Story of LA Woman", which discuss the departure of Jim, the coming together of several songs and some music by The Doors without Jim Morrison.

The Doors (documentary, 2005)

From TV "Arte" -  2005


Part 1: Only to see on YouTube: http://youtu.be/PJk-aH6WzMM



Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

The Doors Are Open (1968, documentary/film)

The Doors - The Doors Are Open:


Sex, death, reptiles, charisma and a unique variant of the electric blues gave the Doors an aura of profundity that has survived the band's demise. In September, 1968, The Doors gave a history making performance at The Roundhouse in London's Chalk Farm. They gave powerful renditions of their best songs including: "Light My Fire", "When The Music's Over", "Five To One", "Hello, I Love You", "Back Door Man", "Unknown Soldier", and "Spanish Caravan". Part of the Pioneer Artist Concert Film Series.





Actors: Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, John Densmore
Directors: John Sheppard
Producers: Jo Durden-Smith

Run Time: 56 minutes

















Track listing:

- "When the Music's Over" - 1:30
- "Five to One" - 16:30
- "Spanish Caravan" - 21:35
- "Hello, I Love You" - 27:20
- "Back Door Man" - 29:48
- "Light My Fire" - 37:12
- "The Unknown Soldier" - 49:13

"In 1968, as the Vietnam war raged and the world responded with political turbulence, the Doors made a live appearance at the Roundhouse in London. Captured here are dramatic performances of songs that convey the band's strong messages about the war, such as a powerfully effecting rendition of "Unknown Soldier." While the music plays, the presentation cuts from the live onstage action to display rows of soldiers' graves in a cemetery that looks like Arlington National. Back in the club, Jim Morrison writhes in his tight leather pants and white poet's shirt, flinging his curls and dancing to extended versions of "When the Music's Over," "Five to One," and "Spanish Caravan." The cinematography, in black and white grainy stock, takes care to spotlight each of the band members, not the audience, making this live show seem especially intimate. In a section called "The Doors talk about their music" Morrison is drifty and unable to focus his eyes while sharing thoughts about songs he'd like to make, before the film cuts back into a spirited "Hello I Love You." An intimate portrait of one of the Doors' unique live shows in England, THE DOORS ARE OPEN also highlights the political relevance of Morrison's opinionated lyrics.

In the introduction to the film, a British commentator offers a mission statement: "This film is an attempt to illustrate The Doors' report on the state of the world."

Jim Morrison's political comment in the film is, "I think, these days, especially in the States, you have to be a politician or an assassin... to be a superstar."



Source: a.o.: YouTube

ALBUM OF THE WEEK / The Doors - The Doors

The Doors - The Doors (1967)

The Doors is the debut album by the American rock band The Doors, recorded in August 1966 and released in January 1967.

Tracks:

1. Break on Through (To the Other Side)
2.  Soul Kitchen
3. The Crystal Ship
4. Twentieth Century Fox
5. Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)
6. Light My Fire
7. Back Door Man
8. I Looked at You
9. End of the Night
10. Take It as It Comes
11. The End