Notes

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Fans of the Doors waited many years for The Doors Box Set to be released, and when it finally arrived in the fall of 1997, it was a bit of a mixed blessing. The classic conundrum for box sets is how much rare and unreleased material to showcase, and in this case, the producers opted for three discs of rarities, devoting the last disc to "band favorites," instead of hits. This means, of course, that the casual fan is not going to be well-served by the box, since it not only doesn't contain studio versions of such staples as "Five to One," but it doesn't even have versions of "People Are Strange" and "Touch Me." Furthermore, die-hards might very well be frustrated by the quality of the rarities. The first disc and third disc are peppered with live cuts, outtakes and the legendary 1965 demos for Columbia Records. The quality of the music is uneven — the demos are interesting but mainly from a historical standpoint, the live cuts vascillate in sonic and performance quality, and outtakes like the plodding, 17-minute "Rock Is Dead" encapsulate much of what was wrong with the band — but much of it is worth hearing once, unlike the second disc, "Live in New York," which is startlingly similar to Alive She Cried. In the end, the sheer abundance of rare material makes the set of interest to diehard fans, but they might find that the collection falls short of their expectations. Listeners that have a passing interest in the Doors are advised to stick to the double disc set, The Best of the Doors.