Young Band With Fire

always a treat to see/hear archival footage of great bands when they were deep into their new craft and ever changing. there is tons of this on you tube and it lets us forget the impending boredom that destroys most popular acts. the europe footage is especially great as they were playing at 6:00am. (how good is this version without the lame string section?) The Doors Soundstage Performances ; It starts off with a 1967 Toronto performance of one of their classic epic songs, The End, continues with five numbers filmed in a Danish television station in 1968, and concludes with a final appearance on a 1969 PBS television special in the States, complete with interview. The 1967 and 1969 material is in colour. The 1969 video material is in very poor condition; probably as good as could be found today, but with sub-standard image and sound. The highlight is the set from Danish television. This is filmed in stark black-and-white, without audience, and with the Doors having to hype themselves up at a recording time of around 6 am, after a concert the night before. They do so brilliantly. Jim Morrison is mad, poetic and obsessed to perfection; Ray Manzarek is focused with jewel-like precision on his music. This is great, though short, footage. That footage comprises about a quarter of the disc's running time of two hours. The other performances are only useful in tracing the group's fast collapse as Jim Morrison falls victim to his alcoholism. The 1969 footage shows him at the pivotal point - starting to look raddled, but not yet bloated; still in strong voice but somehow uncertain, and losing the supreme confidence of the arrogant poet. review from dvd.net