Cheap Doors - Soundstage Performances (DVD) Price

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Customer Reviews of Doors - Soundstage Performances

Great but should have been better
This has great rare footage of the Doors I had never seen before. Jim singing "The End" "When the music's Over", "Wiskey Bar", "Back Door Man" etc.. was awesome. Lot's of close ups of Jim's intense face all while clad in black leather and a white poet shirt. Well worth buying just for the first half of this DVD. The only complant I have is that the Quality of the PBS special wasn't good, it looks like someone copied it off a old VHS tape, it's jumps in places but still enjoyed seeing the complete show as it aired with the extra footage that isn't on the Doors collector set.

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Great Live Performances.
Leave it to The Doors to release a new DVD with performances you can ALREADY get on the "Doors Collection" and "Live In Europe" DVDs but they make it tempting because there are a few "new" added songs and interviews with the band members and manager Danny Sugerman. This is still a pretty interesting document on how much of a great live band The Doors actually were. More influential than even the music is The Doors', and especially Jim Morrison's, stage presence. Morrison introduced theater into rock music, he brought the classic drama of the Greeks and writings of William Blake and Nietzsche to the rock stage. We need look no further than to their stunning performance of "The End" in this set to see that Morrison was the first rock performer to bring the elements of shamanistic ritual to the genre long before the likes of Godsmack's Sully Erna or Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder. Fans should especially get this new collection for "The End," it is a great, rare performance recorded for a television program before "Light My Fire" had even hit #1 and attained the band legendary status. Here we also find an example of how Morrison, clad in black leather, introduced darkness into the mainstream during the Summer Of Love (though the Velvet Underground is credited sometimes for bringing the darker corners of rock, it is The Doors who perfected it and made it influential and widespread). Here Morrison appears as the poet, he croons, screams and collapses. "When The Music's Over" is another moment of great effect, here the band comes alive with another of their long poetic invocations where Morrison chants "we want the world and we want it now." Ray Manzarek masterfully creates mood with his organ while Robby Krieger adds his guitar licks as energetic brushstrokes and drummer John Densmore accents it all with his expressionistic, highly influential work. Morrison again croons, invokes and chants like a shaman turned rock star come to liberate us from repetitive, popular music constraints. The most lacking segment is that of the PBS special the band did shortly after the infamous 1969 Miami concert where Morrison supposedly exposed himself. First, there is the bad video quality, it looks more blurry and shakey than in the original versions found in the "Doors Collection" DVD, where the images appeared crisp and clear. Second, well, let's be honest, "The Soft Parade" remains The Doors' weakest album and it shows here, if "The End" and "When The Music's Over" grab us, then "Tell All The People" and "Wishful, Sinful" play more like easy, digestable candy for the ears. The only noteworthy part is when the band breaks into their classic live medley of "Alabama Song" and "Backdoor Man" where they masterfully perform the selection from the classic German opera and a midnight blues crawler by Willie Dixon. "The Soundstage Performances" therefore is a nice addition to a Doors'fan collection, that is, the Doors fan who is willing to buy a new tape or DVD with performances he/she may already own for the sake of a few new additions such as the insightful interviews with the band members and manager found before the performances. Still, this is a good set that displays the live power of the greatest American rock band of all time.

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More! More!!
What there is of this is great--really fasinating--wish there was more footage of the European tour. The Denmark footage is spell-binding. These guys were good..really good. Its been said a million X's--million and one now--but the 60's were a magical time (musically speaking-can't say that for anything else going on at the time). If you like the Doors--get this!!