DO YOUR PARENTS GET YOUR MUSIC OBSESSION-THE DOORS/BIEBER COMPARISON-BY JOHN EMMS

Sometimes a certain album will trigger memories. Recently I watched  the L.A. Woman 40th Anniversary doc/ blu-ray and The Doors debut classic album series back to back and it brought back memories of my mom and dad who have now passed away.

I remember buying The Doors first album on vinyl (that’s all we had folks) and listening to it cranked on this tiny record player in my bedroom. I’m pretty sure I was one of the few who had the album in our tiny town.

It was after school, and I think  my mom was preparing supper. We had a small house on Front Street in South Porcupine. My dad worked long hours at the Big Dome Mine and was pretty much a straight shooter.

I would say Beatle albums and American pop (The Turtles, Beach Boys)  were for the first 3 or 4 years safe to play. However, when I brought home The Doors debut and had played it about 3 or 4 times my mom asked me straight up what is that man singing about?

The man in question was of course Jim Morrison. I had just finished playing the album and of course the album concludes with the 11 minute plus song titled The End.

As plain as day, even through a bedroom door you could hear the lines “The killer awoke before dawn, he got his boots on” and later the lyric “Father, yes son? I want to kill you, Mother i want to …aaaaarrrrrrrh..screaming and moaning.

I don’t think your father is going to approve of this music, my mom said. I shrugged my shoulders and said they are just like the other bands I play.

I don’t know who I was kidding.

I had never, ever heard music as intense, counter culture, sexual or thought provoking 

Now kids grow up with Justin Bieber’s debut cd wrapped up in Auto tune. 

Bieber seems like a really well balanced young man. I’m kind of glad Jim Morrison was not.

My mom hid a lot of  things I did from my dad. Thanks mom.

JOHN EMMS  is a long time music journalist and has found time to make his own music www.johnemms.com and host his own radio show http://emms.podbean.com/

THE DOORS-MR MOJO RISIN-BLU-RAY REVIEW-THE STORY OF L.A. WOMAN-BY JOHN EMMS

The longer The Doors are in the public eye, the more you realize just how special their music was.

With this in mind, readers should check out Ray Manzareks’ new album with slide guitarist Roy Rogers titled Transclucent Blues. It is killer. In fact, I picked that disc as one of my top ten blues albums of 2011.

Okay, the first 15 minutes of this blu-ray is a recap of the band’s history. In fact most of these clips at the start you have seen many many times. That is going to irritate some, but not all people.

But hold on! Despite the lack of actual perfomance footage, fans will have to have this in their collection.

The reason.

Getting the low down on what went into making songs like  Riders on The Storm, the title track and Love Her Madly  just to name three tracks is an insightful journey.

Let’s put it this way. If you heard The Beatles discuss the White Album or The Stones discuss Sticky Fingers you are going to dive in. Ditto for this classic.

Some of my fave parts are actually interviews with manager Bill Siddons, recording engineer Bruce Botnick and producer Paul Rothschild. These interviews provide space and some clarity to what actually happened during the time of the album’s release.

More on the technical side, the surviving members demonstrate techniques, how the songs came to be, and various insights on Jim Morrison’s gift for poetry, prose, and lyrical content . Morrison’s death in Paris and how it affected the bandmembers is also discussed in some detail

Excepting for the overview recap at the start, this blu-ray with some very hip extras is going to fascinate fans of the band.  

JOHN EMMS is a veteran music journalist, international radio host  http://emms.podbean.com/ and musician www.johnemms.com