The Doors Live At The Bowl '68 Blu Ray

[elmer]

This may be of interest;

Eagle Rock Entertainment have officially announced that they will release on Blu-ray The Doors: Live At The Bowl '68. The band's historic performance has been restored from the original camera negatives and remixed and mastered using original multi-track tapes. Street date is October 23rd.

The Doors supplied plenty of post-Independence Day fireworks on July 5, 1968 when the legendary quartet played the Hollywood Bowl, a concert that is considered to be the band's finest on film. For the first time, the film from the historic performance has been painstakingly restored using the original camera negatives and the audio has been remixed and mastered from original multi-tracks by the group's engineer Bruce Botnick. This new restoration offers a stunning visual upgrade from earlier versions and will give fans the closest experience to being there live along side Jim Morrison, John Densmore, Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek, who opined, "You can hear it as if you were at the Hollywood Bowl, on stage with us."

Live At The Bowl '68 will include three previously unreleased tracks from the performance. Technical issues with the recording of "Hello, I Love You," "The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat)," and "Spanish Caravan" prevented them from being released in the past. Now, through meticulous restoration of the audio, all three will be included, marking the first time the concert has been available in its entirety.

The Blu-ray will feature a 16x9 high-definition digital transfer with both a stereo and 5.1 audio soundtrack as well as over an hour of bonus material. Included in the additional content are "Echoes From The Bowl," The Doors' route to the Hollywood Bowl; "You Had To Be There," memories of The Doors' performance at the Bowl; "Reworking The Doors," an in-depth look at how the film was restored; and three bonus performances: "Wild Child" from The Smothers Brothers Show in 1968, "Light My Fire" from The Jonathan Winters Show in December 1967 and a version of Van Morrison's "Gloria" with specially created visuals.

Tracklising:

1. Show Start/Intro
2. "When The Music's Over"
3. "Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)"
4. "Back Door Man"
5. "Five To One"
6. "Back Door Man" (Reprise)
7. "The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat)"
8. "Hello, I Love You"
9. "Moonlight Drive"
10. "Horse Latitudes"
11. "A Little Game"
12. "The Hill Dwellers"
13. "Spanish Caravan"
14. Hey, What Would You Guys Like To Hear?
15. "Wake Up!"
16. Light My Fire (Segue)
17. "Light My Fire"
18. "The Unknown Soldier"
19. The End (Segue)
20. "The End"

 

[Quad Linda]

I have a DVD and a CD of this and it's a great show. Can't wait!!

 

[cupboy]

I'd rather have the March 1, 1969 concert (Miami).

 

[elmer]

I'd rather have the March 1, 1969 concert (Miami).

Then you should probably not get this one.

 

[Quadwreck]

I'd rather have the March 1, 1969 concert (Miami).

There was a problem with how an organ got played. Or maybe it was how Jim introduced a member.

 

[EMB]

Did someone actually film Little Jimmy waving hi to everyone?

ED

 

[Dave Horn]

I already have the earlier DVD release (and short CD) and am putting the blu ray on pre-order. I think the old DVD was only in stereo so an HD MA 5.1 surround mix should be excellent, not to mention the extra tracks and other extras.

 

[quattroatl]

This blu-ray sounds great in 5.1 DTS-HD Master. One minor annoyance is that it's plainly obvious that they overdubbed a few spots. The dubbing seems not so subtle. I guess if I didn't have the visuals, it would not be so obvious. An excellent disc at any rate.

I have to give Eagle Rock kudos for their continued support of blu-ray concerts. I have yet to be disappointed with any of their fine releases.

 

[elmer]

Expectations need to be tempered for a live '68 concert. Great job on the PQ, and the sound is crisp and clear - although anyone looking for a discrete surround concert event will be disappointed - strictly audience (and the occassional firework) and ambience in the rears. Either way, this has never sounded better. Yes, due to some anomalies with the original tracks, there are a few "dubbed" portions extracted from other shows but it's more of an ant fart than anything else. The Doors for all of their live notoriety were a fairly straightforward performing unit with not alot of stage histrionics (at least at this stage in their career). So, it's all about the music - faithfully performed - Morrsion still had a charismatic presence but compared to some latter day performers his antics would be considered mild at best. Still, at $16.98 for a 24/96 5.1 DTS HD MA Blu Ray, this is a bargain at twice the price.

 

[wolfyboy359]

I can attest the SQ on this is really good. I didn't care for the performance. PQ is excellent as well.

 

[timbre4]

Terrific show, watched it last night. PQ is amazingly good for the most part, the DTS-MA is exceptionally clear allowing one to hear every musical nuance especially Robbie's guitar work on the RH side. The surround factor is largely the interactive audience who were clearly part of the event.

This release clearly has a modern feel in terms of audio quality and some of the visual effects; this only enhances the experience and never felt out of place to me. Being completely aware of the audio surgery required to get this into shape, I didn't hear anything objectionable or odd on this first pass. Funny how many times that Jim's hands hide his mouth, surely a helpful thing to ease any sync concerns. Once I thought I'd heard a vocal phrase from In Concert (aka Absolutely Live) but that's about it. Twas smoothly done, if that was indeed the case.

The truth about Doors performances is somewhere in the middle, with the Hollywood Bowl show still on their career ascent. I submit they proved they were neither static straight up pop hit product machines; this was demonstrated when Jim asked the crowd what they wanted to hear and after a couple of minutes launched into the quite opposite Celebration Of The Lizard before letting them have Light My Fire. It was mentioned that Jim was on acid but keeps it together here unlike later performances that were marred by excess.

This disc succeeds because it gives the clearest presentation of a band at the height of it's powers. It's not tame and brings the right amount of 'danger' to compliment music that was both adventurous and widely popular in a manner rarely achieved by rock bands. Hats off to Bruce Botnick for being a key player in capturing and presenting The Doors then and now. Recommended.

 

[keenly]

Great sound. Worth buying