THE DOORS LIVE IN STONY BROOK (SEPTEMBER 1967): BOOTLEG ANALYSIS

 

On 23 September 1967, two days before the release of their second LP, "Strange Days", The Doors performed in front of a large crowd of college students. The massive surge of young fans packed the area in front of the stage, pushing the venue far beyond its safety limits.

With “Light My Fire” still echoing deeply across American youth, the band reached the pinnacle of its creative power on stage.

The surviving bootleg captures only a few segments of the concert held in Stony Brook (State of New York), totaling just 15 minutes in length.

Although the audio quality is degraded, it is still acceptable for an amateur audience recording made nearly sixty years ago.

The recording's brief duration, abrupt cuts, and damaged tape sections should not mislead the listener, as this is a document of considerable historical and musical value.

The fall of 1967 is, in fact, a poorly documented period in The Doors’ live performances, despite being one of the most inspired moments in the quartet’s career.

Following a fifty-second intro of stage announcements and instrument tuning, the Californian band opened the show with the first number of the evening: "Soul Kitchen".

Taken from the band’s debut album ("The Doors", January 1967), this vibrant rock song instantly grabs the audience's attention.

Interestingly, singer Jim Morrison replaces the song’s first verse with the opening lines of “When The Music’s Over”, a track included on “Strange Days” (the LP that would be unveiled to the public forty-eight hours later).

As the only known example of this crossover, this striking rarity highlights the artistic liberty and improvisational flair that characterized The Doors during the fall of 1967.

The second available tune is "Break On Through (To The Other Side)", also taken from the band’s debut album and here cut down to its thrilling opening seconds.

Next is “People Are Strange”, performed faithfully to the studio recording and presented here in its entirety. The song was released as a 45-rpm single nineteen days before this concert. However, it would be permanently dropped from the band’s live setlists within a few months.

The final segment of this bootleg captures part of the sequence commonly known as “Wake Up” / ”Light My Fire”. The Doors devised it in early summer 1967 and it would appear regularly in their shows in the years to come.

On the Stony Brook stage, this medley is played in an extremely fascinating way, showcasing its full expressive power and boldly fusing three art forms: avant-garde music, poetry and theatre.

Only six minutes of this magnificent experiment have survived, beginning at the end of the poem “Wake Up”.

Morrison bitterly shouts the final lines of this poetic composition, which are immersed in the swirling notes of Manzarek’s electric organ like desperate cries swept away by a surreal wind.

This results in an exceptional and inventive sonic pairing, matching an unusual form with brilliant substance.

The sudden arrival of “Light My Fire” introductory theme pulls the audience back from the depths of the unsettling dream they had been plunged into by “Wake Up”.

After two verse-chorus sequences, the first solo begins, unfolding over two and a half minutes of remarkable musical brilliance.

It is performed on Manzarek’s electric organ. He plays a Gibson K101, which he adopted just two weeks earlier as a replacement for the Vox Continental he had been using up until then.

The Doors’ keyboardist divides his solo into two distinct phases.

In the first phase, a delightful irregular pattern emerges, built on throbbing, closely spaced notes and the repetition of compelling melodic figures typical of Jazz-Soul.

The second, longer part of the solo sees Manzarek return to a fully rock-oriented style, characterized by a more open sound and an assertive attitude.

Worth noting is the final crescendo of the solo, where the electric organ is pursued by the relentless rhythm provided by John Densmore’s drums.

Krieger then delivers a captivating and dynamic electric guitar solo. The latter is well-crafted and draws its stylistic influences from Hard Bop Jazz.

Unfortunately, the tape cuts off at the end of Krieger's solo, depriving us of the song's final section.

This precious unofficial recording from September ’67 also stands out for the use Jim Morrison makes of his voice.

The singing of The Doors’ frontman takes on an enthralling intensity, a sort of rapture with deep, melancholic tones, that proves particularly moving in the verses of “Soul Kitchen”.

Yet, there’s no shortage of the biting outbursts that are typical of Morrison’s enchanting vocal style.

Overall, the Stony Brook bootleg deserves to be considered a listening experience of high musical level. It captures one of the greatest bands in history exploring its immense potential.

One final curiosity: The Doors were preceded on stage by Tim Buckley’s psychedelic folk rock. The songwriter was promoting his second album (“Goodbye And Hello”), released just a few weeks earlier.

Here’s the link to The Doors’ Stony Brook bootleg.

My book "The Doors Through Strange Days"- The most comprehensive journey ever made through The Doors' second LP, is available on Amazon.com, .uk, .it, .mx, .ca, etc.

Here’s a link:

Amazon – “The Doors Through Strange Days”