Quad LP/Tape Poll Doors, The: Best Of The Doors [CD-4/Q8/Q4]

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Rate "Best Of The Doors"

  • 6

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 5: So-so

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 4

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 3

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 2

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 1: Bad Mix, Bad Sound, Bad Content

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    44

EMB

2K Club - QQ Super Nova
Since 2002/2003
Joined
Feb 8, 2004
Messages
4,101
Location
The Top 40 Radio of My Mind
Needless to say, a key reference Quad, and one of only two titles that I remember(the other being Elvis' ALOHA FROM HAWAII)that was issued in Quad-only, no conventional stereo counterpart, the idea being to push the format to the 'regular' consumer(which leaves all of us out, right? :D:rolleyes:)

This Quad also has the unique distinction--unless I missed something--of being the only Quad title to remain in print well into the 1980's....it still seems amazing to me that you could buy a later pressing and it was still Quad, that carrier signal light coming on, etc. Sweet! Now, if only the surviving Doors will unleash the multis to the other albums in some format so we can enjoy them, finally...cause this album was and remains a teaser, what one would have hoped would be 'coming attractions' rather than 'all we were gonna get'(until the L.A. WOMAN DVD-A)....

Side 1:

1. Who Do You Love
2. Soul Kitchen
3. Hello, I Love You
4. People Are Strange
5. Riders On The Storm

Side 2:

1. Touch Me
2. Love Her Madly
3. Love Me Two Times
4. Take It As It Comes
5. Moonlight Drive
6. Light My Fire
 

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I love the discreteness of this one. One of my favorite "vintage" quad mixes, actually. Okay, so maybe it wasn't terribly imaginative, but it breaks the band up and allows you to appreciate the individual elements. For me, it works amazingly well.
 
I finally got a chance to dig this one out, haven't listened to it in a while. Nice to hear it again. Good music, and good quad mix, a 9. :)
 
I'm still thinkin' we should lobby for the rest of those Doors DVD-A's...I'm fairly certain all the 5.1 mixes were done, they just haven't been issued..and as this Quad Lp is a wonderful exemplar of the potential, it's almost painful to play it knowing what we're still missing....:(


ED :)
 
Great album. Hate the first live song but the rest is great. One of my favorite Quads along with CCR Gold. 9 overall because of the live song.
 
Funny, I think that's one of their better performances....unlike, say, the Woolies' garage version, the Doors understood the inherent menace and almost cosmic weirdness of Bo Diddley's original--that is, they captured the spirit of the original while expanding it into more rocking terms. Special kudos to Robbie Krieger for some impressive guitar work that is the heart of the performance...

ED
 
Another one (on LP) with sonics that jump out of the speakers at you. The organ has a richness and bite to it (Love Her Madly) not found on the stereo version.

Yet, the DTS conversion from QR sound flat, dull and hissy. I always wondered if the QRs released of this title were a pale shade of the CD-4s. But never got a fully satisfactory answer. Nobody wanted to knock the DTS conversion of the QR, as it was all there was, and you don't kick a gift horse in the mouth.

But what happened? Is the QR a dull hissy mess, or is the high end just missing from the common DTS mastering?

The LP shows that somewhere there is a problem with either the QR or the DTS masering.
 
I have the Q4, and I recorded it at 24/96, and made a quick DVD-A of it. (I think I sent a copy to Bob Romano, I forget, actually). Anyway, I was not happy with it, for the reasons that you mention above. I thought maybe it was my reel, but maybe they are all like that. Other reels I have done have come out quite well, but for some reason, this one seems flat and dull, exactly as you mention. I, however, held back and resisted "smiling" it! :D
 

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God bless you, Jon Urban....:D

I prefer the 'it is what it is' approach, as opposed to any radical attempt to 'fix' the sound..more often than not, that just makes it worse, not better, and anyway, better to Eq at home than have someone impose their will upon you after the fact....

ED
 
The 'Who Do You Love' track is a definitive moment for live Doors and the Robby Kreiger slide guitar soloing in particular, is proof of life on other planets.

Always a treat...
 
I have the Q8, the CD-4 Album and the CD-4 conversion. I prefer the Q8 for it's discreteness. I would have mixed "Light My Fire" a little differently and would have replaced "Who Do you Love" with "Break on Through" and maybe found room for "L.A. Woman" but all in all a really good album. I especially enjoy "Touch Me" and "Love her Madly".

Maybe I'll get ambitious and make my own Best Of including the two Songs that can be pulled from the DVD-A boxed set.

Side 1:

1. Break on Through
2. Soul Kitchen
3. Hello, I Love You
4. People Are Strange
5. Riders On The Storm

Side 2:

1. Touch Me
2. Love Her Madly
3. Love Me Two Times
4. L.A. Woman
5. Moonlight Drive
6. Light My Fire

That would have been an awesome track listing!
 
How come "Break on Through" wasn't on this album?

Well, although this is a "Best of" and not "Greatest Hts", everything except one track was a genuine Top 40 Hit. Break on Through was not really a hit, but it "bubbled under" in 1967, making it all the way up to . . . #126.

Who Do You Love didn't chart at all, so arguably it has even less reason to be included.

"Best of" disks usually meant one of three things:
1) Songs we (the band) still like
2) Biggest chart hits
3) Tracks, years later, most popular (excluding bigger, but forgotten, hits)

WDYL might fall into #1 or #3, or they might have wanted to include one live track. Who knows. I'll ask Bruce, next time I see him. :)

In any case, this is unquestionably one of the top quad releases of all time.
Excellent sound quality, very discrete, very faithful (more so than later 5.1 releases!). I actually like every track. Love Her Madly doesn't have the sonic upgrade of the DVD-Audio version, but it also doesn't have that awful wreck of the intro. Riders on the Storm is fantastic, with Morrison whispering in the rear loud enough to creep you out, unlike the more conservative 5.1 mix.
 
I too prefer the orignal Quad mixes. I'm working on making my own "Best of" replacing two tracks with my own remixes of LA Woman and Break on Thru. It'll probably be one of those discs that never leaves my car.

(Yes, I have Surround Sound in my Tiburon) :phones
 
The Q8 is great! One favorite moment is the break in 'Hello, I Love You', when it spins clockwise, then counter-clocwise.
Love the 'Riders' mix.
 
Back in the day, if I'd been trying to sell quad to rock fans, this one and DSOTM, in particular, would have been two key showcases for what quad could do. In spite of the problematic "Light My Fire," this is overall a very fine collection of mixes, of which "Riders" and "Hello" were obvious highlights. It isn't perfect, but as a quad-only release (except for the record club issue) we can only lament that there were not more like it.


ED :)
 
I have to agree: this is an exemplary set of mixes.
Not a single one disappoints in quality, discreteness, or faithfulness.
Anyone familiar with the hits will be pleasantly startled.

I agree the left/right swirling break in Hello I Love You is one of best-executed, most appropriate uses of this otherwise tired surround cliche.

Which poses the question: which among you -- after careful listening -- prefer the newer mixes? The sheer sound quality is dramatically better, no doubt. But are they a better listen?

As for perfection -- well, considering the technology of the day (limited) and the average care taken with quad mixes (appalling), "near perfect" is a pretty fair description.
 
I like the newer mixes, which have much to recommend. For one thing, even if more than what was on BEST OF had been issued in quad, we likely would not have gotten the uncensored "The End" or "Break On Through," let alone a longer "L.A. Woman" or "Love Her Madly." Let's face it, BEST OF is a great listen, but it's really a teaser for more, since no attempt was made to be really comprehensive(for that, a quad version of WEIRD SCENES INSIDE THE GOLD MINE would have made more sense).

And of course some lament the L/C/R limitations of the debut album in its recent MC form...and that's understandable once you hear the songs as mixed on BEST OF. Imperfect, perhaps, but proof that four-channel mixes could have been made.

ED :)
 
Was it not Bruce Botnick who did the Quad mixes? Wasn't he in charge of the original stereo mixes? That would explain why the mixes are as good as they are.

Not many stereo engineers got to do the Quad remixes.
 
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