Getting a boot

At first glance, I can totally appreciate an effort to provide official releases of previously bootlegged material. On the other hand, this is a bit of an insult to Doors fans. This is Robbie Krieger's project, and it's telling. Krieger is famously anti-bootlegging, and even took legal action against an Italian bootlegger years ago after they released the Stockholm '68 shows.



First off, and the most insulting thing about this box, is the price. It's a bit of a joke, actually. This is equivalent to the cost of four bootlegs, more or less, and certainly close to the amount fans paid for actual bootleg Doors box sets. (The bootleg box set `Stages', released in the mid-90s by the Italian company Lizard, was in the same price range, and offered better quality in many places).



On the one hand, there's some very rare material offered, such as the last known live recording of The Doors with Jim Morrison from Dallas, 1970, which was only available on one bootleg CD release in the past. The Madison Square Garden material from 1969 was discovered in the 1990s in someone's collection. On the other hand, the atrocious sound quality of some of the other material may only attract die-hard fans who want very rare material. A few years ago, The Doors started Bright Midnight Records and began to release full, soundboard concerts through their official website. This, of course, was what fans were clamoring for years to get. In the past, and certainly around the release of Greg Shaw's amazing Doors On the Road book (which obviously reviewed Absolutely Live concert tapes that never saw the light of day) Manzarek said the tapes didn't exist(!)



The Doors' master plan is to re-release the same product over and over while trickling out new product (usually combined with old product.) Bright Midnight was a huge step forward, but Boot Yer Butt is not in the same vein.



Granted, some of the material here (particularly the shows cited above) are only available through old audience tapes. But why is it so expensive, and why don't they just release complete shows? The Garden material, the Dallas material, and the Singer Bowl can each fit on one disc, with room to spare. Most bootleg collectors insist on complete shows and source tapes. How expensive can it be to release 30-odd year old recordings you didn't even professionally record? And the doctoring is not the usual heavy-duty sonic trickery usually employed by the Doors for official live releases, since that would be damn hard to do with some of these tapes. The Long Beach show, I must say, is abominable, practically unlistenable on the bootleg CD I have, but it does have some very rare material.



Overall, this is a strange release. But it is definitely overpriced, way overpriced, for what you get. I would recommend this to die-hards who don't have the corresponding boots. Finally, we have the only live recordings of LA Woman, Love Her Madly, and the Changling. Tell All the People, Who Scared You?, Touch Me, Wild Child--rare live recordings of these tracks are all present. Those who collect bootlegs will likely have many of these or will simply prefer the bootlegs (as is common) but it's nice to see The Doors putting out more than just another Greatest Hits.

headphones,low lights, an active imagination

i took the advice of a previous reviewer to listen with my headphones. yes the overall sound quality is weak but sit back relax and imagine yourself at the london fog the whisky or pauls scene in new york. you're sort of towards the back the place is really smoky and packed with people ready to bust out of their skins. onto the stage comes a band that doesn't look like all the rest. they start to play and they sure don't sound like all the rest. the singer comes out and you know you're about to be taken to another place another plane of reality.
sit back relax and experience the wonderment that was the doors live.

one star for sound; five stars for performance

We have histories of the Doors written by John Densmore and Ray Manzarek, and each presents his own point of view about the band. I doubt we'll ever have a similar book from Robby Krieger; he doesn't appear to have as much of a need to vent, and he's more comfortable expressing himself through music.

So Boot Yer Butt is essentially Robby's history of the band (he decided what to include). Much of the music is as hazy as Robby's own memories of the events, but BYB provides a good overview of the band's concerts for someone like me who has neither the time nor inclination to collect boots. The performances are generally outstanding, and I find that the poor sound quality doesn't interfere much with my enjoyment of them. BYB works very well as a recorded history, with key events and concerts represented. Almost nothing from the Absolutely Live tour is included, so if you plug in that album or the Bright Midnight sampler at the right point, you have a very good 5-cd concert history of the band. Everyone will have favorites from BYB, but I'm personally delighted to have another live version of Soft Parade and the LA Woman tunes.

As much as people talk about the poor sound quality of BYB, I wish they would also focus on the outstanding sound quality of the Absolutely Live tour concerts as documented on the other Bright Midnight releases. Because they weren't at Monterey or Woodstock, the Doors have not gotten credit for being one of the best concert bands of the sixties.