The Doors may have emerged from the mid-60s Californian flower power scene, but at the heart of their free love facade was the brooding origins of revolutionary rock. When Life journalist Fred Powledge decided to profile the band, and their enigmatic frontman Jim Morrison, he summed up this duality perfectly, writing: “Once you see him perform, you realise that he also seems dangerous, which, for a poet, may be a contradiction in terms.”
Powledge wasn’t a music journalist, instead, he was focused on covering the civil rights movement from a political perspective, meaning his choice to even write about the band strengthens his point.
“Morrison is a very good actor and a very good poet, one who speaks in short, beautiful bursts, like the Roman Catullus,” Powledge continued. “His lyrics often seem obscure, but their obscurity, instead of making you hurry off to play a Pete Seeger record that you can understand, challenges you to try to interpret. You sense that Morrison is writing about weird scenes he’s been privy to, about which he would rather not be too explicit.”
The clip below stands to further prove Powledge’s assessment as we see the band channel that seismic energy into their studio recordings, as enthusiastically as they would in front of a packed stadium crowd. We’re offered a priceless record of the legendary band capturing that visceral wildness on tape as they lay down the anthemic Wild Child from their 1969 album, The Soft Parade. Watch below!
The Doors Recording ‘Wild Child’ in 1968
The Doors are clearly in peak form here, conjuring historic rock alchemy on the spot. Perhaps Morrison summed it up best when he said, “I’m interested in anything about revolt, disorder, chaos, especially activity that appears to have no meaning. It seems to me to be the road toward freedom.”
To commemorate the 50-year anniversary of The Doors' final album, L.A. Woman, a 3-CD/1-LP deluxe set was released in December last year. L.A. Woman: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition includes the original album newly remastered by The Doors’ longtime engineer and mixer Bruce Botnick, two bonus discs of unreleased studio outtakes, and the stereo mix of the original album on 180-gram virgin vinyl, plus many more awesome extras. Check it out, here.
GET THE DOORS ALBUMS, HERE.
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