R.I.P. Ray Manzarek dead at 74

[Andreas]

Here's a nice interview with the good man: http://www.shindig-magazine.com/ray-manzarek.html

 

[bosshoss]

To my ears the early version sounds like the Seeds

That alternate version is probably my favourite thing by the Doors. It would rate a solid 5 on the garage-o-meter.

 

[Frantic]

That alternate version is probably my favourite thing by the Doors. It would rate a solid 5 on the garage-o-meter.

The rinky dink piano ruins it for me.

 

[Lee de Parade]

I always suspected that Ray was a smug ol' man who loved making love to his organ. Just like Jimbo, he could make or break a song.
My fave Door man is Densmore.

The other night - actually the night before Ray died - I just happened to listened to Waiting For The Sun, the whole album. I was planning to skip tracks as soon as I got bored, but that never happened.
And I'm no sucker for the Doors, nor do I hate them.
But they were fuckin entertaining.

The darkness that Doors summoned should not be underestimated. Where the Velvets had a cooler, more cynical approach to this unchartered territories, the Doors really explored it. And when you reeaally explore something, you sometime looks stupid. Just look at GG Allin (a guy who in fact owes a lot to Jim).

Back to Ray. You wanna hit the dude because he keeps playing that Vox Continental like a motherfucker.
But that is to give Jim and Robbie a canvas to paint their stuff on.

I won't miss Ray, but big up to him and his work. The Doors made some fantastic music. Especially the first three, but the last three is fascinating too. But they were kinda crappy at rockin out.

 

[Lee de Parade]

Go Insane woulda fit nicely on Pebbles #3 between the Driving Stupid and Calico Wall.

 

[bosshoss]

The rinky dink piano ruins it for me.

Would you believe a hollow 5?

 

[axel]

Here's a nice interview with the good man: http://www.shindig-magazine.com/ray-manzarek.html

That's a good inteview indeed. Thanks!

I walked into a bookstore the other day to buy "They Mayor of MacDougal Street" by Dave Van Ronk, the source for the next Coen brothers movie (I like the Coen brothers as well as the early 60s Greenwich Village folk scene). They didn't have it so I looked for something else and found a book about the Doors by Greil Marcus that came out in 2011. I never read anything by Marcus, because his style and thoughts always seemed too pretentious and pseudo-intellectual to me.
But skipping through his Doors book I thought it's quite down-to-earth and back to dedicated music journalism like Greg Shaw's. In fact Greg is even quoted at the beginning of one chapter, from an interview he did with Jim Morrison in 1967.
I listened a lot to the Doors the last few days, I really dig them a lot again, so this will be a good read, I think.

This is my favorite song at the moment. I found these two versions on youtube. The first one seems to be mono and sounds very appealing, it's more lively, has more punch and tambourine. The other one is the one you usually hear, very polished and somewhat artificial. Makes me want to have he first two albums in mono!

 

[Hicksville Hogwash]

To my ears the early version sounds like the Seeds

I've been trying to say this to Doors fans for years. They were to me The Seeds with better schooled musicians and, after all they were The Seeds support band.

 

[axel]

Half through the Greil Marcus book and I have no idea what he wants to say. I'm afraid that at the end his conclusion will be that the Doors were the most important rock band of the 60s and pop history in general. And that Jim Morrison was the wildest rebel of all times or something. Only some side notes and footnotes provide some kind of insight. Well, fortunately it doesn't take away any of the quality or fascination of the music.
Maybe I should read John Densmore's book instead...

 

[howlin' hoosier]

WTF???
the Ray Manzarek tribute thread has somehow turned into an 'I love The Beatles' thread...

I must be in The Twilight Zone...

 

[beccabear67]

Axel, if you want insight into Ray M's playing you have to get the Classic Albums DVD on their first LP. The one with massive extras with all the surviving guys (at that time) showing how and why they played like/what they did. Greil Marcus wrote something interesting about Elvis once but I find him too ponderous and academic at book length.

 

[depravedskippy66]

Half through the Greil Marcus book and I have no idea what he wants to say. I'm afraid that at the end his conclusion will be that the Doors were the most important rock band of the 60s and pop history in general. And that Jim Morrison was the wildest rebel of all times or something. Only some side notes and footnotes provide some kind of insight. Well, fortunately it doesn't take away any of the quality or fascination of the music.
Maybe I should read John Densmore's book instead...

There's no such thing as readable Greil Marcus; I learned that the hard way.