The Doors
Absolutely Live

Without wanting to use a vivid language and necessarily talk about paintings, the Doors concerts can be defined as shows outlined by colors as vibrant as they are clear. The live music of the band reflects what is able to generate a narration with dark tones and shades aiming at the unknown. An intensity that moves alongside the tracks of emotion and turmoil at the edge of excitement, indicating the only liberating path to take until reaching true catharsis. This is the intent of the Doors when the live act becomes the transformation into a mythological theater where evocative music, song lyrics, and Jim Morrison dressed as the euphoric spiritual master, rise to the role of indisputable cosmic guide in a context capable of evoking a true Living Theatre.  

"Absolutely Live" is the successful reproduction of an ideal set where individual concerts (between the Madison Square Garden in New York, the Aquarius Theatre in Los Angeles, the Spectrum in Philadelphia, and other places) between 1969 and 1970, in a single performance rendered sublime by the meticulous perfection of the producer Paul Rothchild, protagonist of such a detailed editing work, aimed at achieving the closest possible perfection for each song. The sound engineer Bruce Botnick, would later recall that for the occasion, stereo microphones and recording techniques not yet definitively tested were used, refusing to make overdubs during the assembly stage.

The introduction of the presenter is taken from the show at the Spectrum in Philadelphia and the audience is invited to take their seats if they want the Doors to start playing. To immediately enter the right atmosphere, "Who Do You Love" from the pen of Ellas McDaniel (better known as Bo Diddley) plays, which represented one of the executive peaks in the live act at the London Frog and the natural conjunction to that wonderful triplet represented by "Alabama Song", " Back Door Man" and the unreleased "Love Hides", a true prelude to the vigor of "Five To One". The natural inclination towards Chicago blues finds full expression in the forbidden divertissement of "Build Me A Woman", while a river version of "When The Music’s Over" performed at the Felt Forum on January 17, 1970, allows us to appreciate the famous scream ("Shut Up!")  by Morrison destined to go down in history and the amusing lecture that the singer himself addresses to the audience calling them to silence ("Is this the way to behave at a rock’n’roll concert"?). Amidst applause, the love for Dixon is proposed with "Close To You" where Ray Manzarek energetically lends his voice, while another unreleased piece "Universal Mind" with a somber mood, part of the sessions of "Morrison Hotel" leads directly to "Petition The Lord With Prayer" - which although being a prologue to a different and successful version of "Break On Through" -, where the mocking rhymes of "Dead Cats Dead Rats" are artfully improvised.

The disc, far from being a party album, seamlessly guides the listening also due to that sense of unique narrative in which the 20 main tracks converge, conveying the essence of a band capable of caressing and scratching in the expression of their art while not towering for technical proficiency.

Yet another unreleased piece, but this time we are facing that brilliant illustration of the highlights of the rise of The Lizard King and his kin, between autobiographical quotes and ecstatic settings, which takes the name "Celebration Of The Lizard". A series of poems between bells, rattles, and a surreal narration where sudden drum breaks, nervous guitar blitzes, and an irritable yet yielding organ peek through. The unique poetic composition contributes to resurrect the declamation of the absurd of "A Little Game", present on the 1965 demo under the title of "Go Insane", buried until then in the archives of Aura Records, a division of Pacific World Records. The irresistible encore is entrusted to the compelling "Soul Kitchen" which, besides offering an over-the-top performance, in hindsight will also prove prophetic for its introductory verses ("Well, the clock says it's time to close now - I guess I'd better go now - I'd really like to stay here  all night").

Over eighty minutes in which it is possible to detect both timing hiccups and off-key notes, but all done in the name of an art called music, where the shaman leads a medianic experiment with the villagers, intent on favoring the liberating bewilderment in which they become protagonists. The album portrays four young musicians in the prime of their artistic vitality, creators of an innovative sound classified as psychedelic rock (from the Greek psyché: soul, and diloun: to show) capable of fostering the expansion of consciousness and the exploration of inner perception. A complete and ingenious photograph whose color variations can be perceived this time with ears and mind rather than with eyes.