The Doors Box Set [Box set]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Unlike many a box-set retrospective, this 1997 four-CD collection is clearly tailored for Doors aficionados rather than those curious but not overly familiar with the legendary '60s band's career and oeuvre. The first three discs are filled with previously unreleased live tracks and other rarities, such as the band's early demos, which found them slowly building a foundation stemming from each member's clear strengths and influences: Manzarek's classical background, Densmore's jazz, Krieger's rock, and Morrison's blues. Disc 4 features "band favorites" rather than hits, per se, and thus continues the insider tone taken by the compilation. Once you're inside, though, the rewards are many. --Billy Altman

Tracks:

Five To One
Queen Of The Highway
Hyacinth House
My Eyes Have Seen You
Who Scared You
Black Train Song
End Of The Night
Whiskey, Mystics And Men
I Will Never Be Untrue
Moonlight Drive (Demo)
Moonlight Drive (Sunset Sound)
Rock Is Dead
Albinoni's Adagio In G Minor

Tracks:

Roadhouse Blues
Ship Of Fools
Peace Frog
Blue Sunday
The Celebration Of The Lizard
Gloria
Crawling King Snake
Money
Poontang Blues/Build Me A Woman/Sunday Trucker
The End

Tracks:

Hello To The Cities
Break On Through
Rock Me
Money
Someday Soon
Go Insane
Mental Floss
Summer's Almost Gone
Adolph Hitler
Hello, I Love You
The Crystal Ship
I Can't See Your Face In My Mind
The Soft Parade
Tightrope Ride
Orange County Suite

Tracks:

Light My Fire
Peace Frog
Wishful Sinful
Take It As It Comes
L.A. Woman
I Can't See Your Face In My Mind
Land Ho!
Yes, The River Knows
Shaman's Blues
You're Lost Little Girl
Love Me Two Times
When The Music's Over
The Unknown Soldier
Wild Child
Riders On The Storm

Amazon.com

Unlike many a box-set retrospective, this 1997 four-CD collection is clearly tailored for Doors aficionados rather than those curious but not overly familiar with the legendary '60s band's career and oeuvre. The first three discs are filled with previously unreleased live tracks and other rarities, such as the band's early demos, which found them slowly building a foundation stemming from each member's clear strengths and influences: Manzarek's classical background, Densmore's jazz, Krieger's rock, and Morrison's blues. Disc 4 features "band favorites" rather than hits, per se, and thus continues the insider tone taken by the compilation. Once you're inside, though, the rewards are many. --Billy Altman

Customer Reviews:

Subconsious Mind-Fushion better known as the culture that is THE DOORS.......2007-03-16

There is a raw fever that exists below of the skin of a man, in the corners of the mind hidden past all sense, its the subconsious. We know this is the legacy of THE DOORS to slip ever so softly ever so violently into the relm seldom found by the dying masses and that is exactly why this box set is perfect, every other box set has that same old shiney packaging and remastered same olds and dont get me wrong that is phenom in itself but for those cats scratching below the surface of a culture that calming; excessive fusion of minds own creative energy and if ever you wished just to pick apart and dive deep inside the cornerstones of the creative world lingering behind the eyes of these four fragile members better known as The Doors then just just listen to these sounds. All the b-side warped out fixings, all the hidden scraps of infinite creation, all the reject gems, and all the raw power of a man facing down a sea of freaks........in other words little monkeys BUY THIS BOX SET!!!

The only thing you'll need from this box is:.......2006-09-17

Live in new york,that's an amazing live-cd! That one gets 5 stars..the rest is just like any of the greatest hits...to answer the previous review,Smokie is a lot worse than the doors on releasing Greatest Hits!! i've seen about 20 greatest hits with smokie and some of them are even 3 discs! Yuck!

Perfect imperfections! A worthy look at The Doors........2005-12-08

Dont let the negative reviews keep you from getting this box set from The Doors. Sure the sound quality does vary but its everything that made the group appealing. The live disc is the BEST DOORS live set regardless of where its from and has great renditions of Celebration of the Lizzard and The End. The third disc has a great overall feel of some of the Doors best songs with superb live cuts like Crystal Ship from The Matrix and a nice cheerful song about death called Someday Soon. The first disc has the infamous Five to One from the notorious Miami performance and great renditions of Queen of the Highway and Who Scared you. Sure this set isnt perfect. Rock is dead sounds nothing more than a disjointed mess of recording space and Mental Floss is Jim's poetic muses at its worst but overall there is much to like about this set. Is it perfect? Nope, its everything that was great and pompous, chilling and dysfuntional. In short this Box Set is The Doors as personal as a fingerprint warts and all for those who wish to hear.

I think you'll dig it. I sure do. Excellent listening!.......2005-12-07

I read these reviews to try and get a better idea of whether or not I'll like something and usually through all the reviews I can gleen the information I'm looking for. It does get a little old listening to people whine for apparently no real reason. They just negative people trying to make you as miserable as they are. They're nit-picky in the face of greatness.

Take for example someone below getting upset that something is listed as live when in fact it's a sound check. Well, it's either studio or it's live. A sound check isn't studio. So, it's live. Period.

I just listened to all 4 discs again and loved the whole set minus the very first song on disc 1, which is the very poor quality version of Five To One. If you make a copy for the car (so if it gets stolen you're not out too much) you'll do well to leave that song off. The rest of the disc flows quite well in my humble opinion. In fact, the whole set is quite amazing.

I have both box sets. And I have a few live albums in addition to that. I also have Legacy - The Absolute Best. I get very tired of reading reviews where people say the greatest hits albums are ONLY for the casual or "new" fan. For me, a box set is TOO MUCH for the car, so I opt to have a nice 2 disc set for most of my favorite bands. 1 disc just isn't enough. Sometimes I start out with 1 disc and that's enough. The way I see it, I like to have a good variety in the car. Not too much, not too little. If I'm at home, I can listen to the albums and the box sets. If I'm in the car I'm usually listening to a best of or compilation that I've created myself from my own albums.

You have two major kinds of box sets: 1. The most popular - What I call a hodgepodge. It has demos, live versions, alternate versions, unreleased versions and original studio or singles. This is a wonderful type of box set to have because usually you get the warts and all. The variety is what makes this type of box set. And The Doors Box Set is just exactly that type of set except that they've seperated it disc by disc. Most box sets of this type do not seperate the material quite the same way this box set does. 2. The other type of box set is exactly what the other Doors box set (7 disc) and that's original studio albums released in a bunch. I like those too. I bought the "other" Doors Box Set the week after I put my original Doors cd's up for sale. All 6 of them sold that week. And the following week I bought that box set.

Both Doors box sets compliment each other. If you're a casual fan I suggest Legacy - The Absolute Best. It's way better than the original Best of the Doors (19 songs on 2 discs) and it has alot more songs. (34 instead of 19) If that's all the doors you need, the remastering is incredible. Really, the remastering is incredible on almost every remastered Doors album or compilation I've heard so far. Most people I've talked to don't have a clear concept or understanding of the difference between first generation cd's and remastered ones. And by all means, if you can't tell the difference and therefore have no reason to upgrade, then I say stay right where you are with your original cd releases. You either know the difference or you don't. And if you don't I see no reason for you to spend money replacing your collection when what you have is way better than the radio in most cases.

Let me just say that the demos were a nice treat. The live tracks were amazing. The obscure stuff and alternate versions were great. And even the original songs are always necessary on a disc of this type. But they're usually all mixed together, not seperated disc by disc. So my only possible complaints on this box set are the first song from disc 1 wasn't necessary at all. And things could've been divided evenly like most of the "hodgepodge" box sets that I have.

Also, I'm not fool enough to believe that any group of live songs are all from one performance unless there's a specific date given for the show and even then it could be the best of the early and later sets. That's just a common thing. Look at The Allman Brothers - Live at The Fillmore East. Hodgepodge! But great! Also, a few edits here and there that sound great on the box don't bother me at all. I'm more interested in what it sounds like.

So again, the sound quality is top notch on this set and this is a nice compliment to your Doors albums just like the SRV box set is a nice compliment to his albums. It's not an either or thing for me. It's a graduation present! I've never had a single disc greatest hits by The Doors because I wanted as much as I could get to begin with. I just liked them that much. And so for a long time The Best of the Doors was my set. Then I got the albums and live albums. And finally both box sets complete my Doors collection. There's always the perfect amount of a band no matter where you are. I went through years of taking WAY TOO MANY cd's with me on a road trip only to listen to 10 of them the whole trip. So I've learned what works well in the car. I can always bring an album (CD) specifically to the car. But usually I just want some of their best stuff for an hour or two. At home I have alot more time for listening to whatever I want.

Excellent Music ; Ugly Price Tag.......2005-07-28

Before I purchased this box set by The Doors, I was aware that it was getting a number of mixed reviews on AMAZON, and rightfully so. This box set captures some essential, creative and sensational unreleased material by The Doors, and ultimately was completely worth my money. However, it is more than likely it won't be worth yours. I picked this up at a used CD store for a fairly generous price of $39.99(Canadian), and upon doing so have discovered some incredible live excerpts, innovative jazzy material, and long epic tracks, exceeding my expectations. Now, on to my real review of this box set, going disc by disc.

The first disc to this collection entitled Without A Safety Net, comes across as the most laid-back, stylistic, jazzy, gorgeous CD of the group. Although misleadingly opening with a fierce, ugly rocking Five To One, featuring Morrison blatantly yelling at his audience viciously, this disc features very soothing, casual songs, with highlights coming from a jazzy version of Queen Of The Highway, a live performance of Black Train Song, a strong rocking "Rock Is Dead", and a great demo version of Moonlight Drive.

Disc #2 would be in my opinion, the best CD in this set, entitled Live In New York and featuring some of the best Doors live material existing. Morrison's voice is in a familiar, pleasant voice as the band begins performing some classic material on their latest album release, Morrison Hotel. The real keepers on here is the epic-ifying 17 minute journey of The Celebration Of The Lizard, the heavy opener Roadhouse Blues, the superp guitar riffs of Gloria, and The End, concluding the disc exceptionally well.

Musically, the 3rd disc comes off as the weakest in this set, but that doesn't mean that it isn't still great. It features some less memorable music, but also contributes some classics including Rock Me, a fabulous live excerpt of The Soft Parade, Break On Through, and a good take of Hello, I Love You.

As many have pointed out, to most buyers the 4th disc will be redundant, because the people who will be interested in this set will be diehard Doors fans. That is most likely the case, however I am very happy that this disc features music that I am not familiar with, as I only own 2 Doors albums outside of this box set, and decided to take a chance with this purchase. Therefore, the music on this disc generally comes across for me as sensational.

Overall, I would only recommend this box set to fans who have an opportunity to either purchase this at a very cheap price(something on $40), or can buy the set without the 4th disc being completely worthless to them. In all honesty, I think the music here is all great, and worth listens for any Doors fan, however each of these CDs should've been released seperately.

Average customer rating:

The Doors
The Better Half
Buy this one!
Better half of the Doors Box Set

The Doors Box Set, Vol. 1
The Doors
Manufacturer: Wea International
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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The Doors Box Set, Vol. 2
Live at the Matrix, San Francisco, March 10, 1967
Live at the Aquarius Theatre: The First Performance
Live in Detroit (Cobo Hall, 05/08/1970)
Last Flight

ASIN: B00000GBHF
Release Date: 2002-01-01

Tracks:

Five to One [Live]
Queen of the Highway [Alternative Version][Alternate Take]
Hyacinth House [Demo Version]
My Eyes Have Seen You [Demo Version]
Who Scared You?
Black Train Song [Live]
End of the Night [Demo Version]
Whiskey, Mystics and Men
I Will Never Be Untrue [Live]
Moonlight Drive [Demo Version]
Moonlight Drive [Sunset Sound]
Rock Is Dead
Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor

Tracks:

Roadhouse Blues
Ship of Fools
Peace Frog
Blue Sunday
Celebration of the Lizard
Gloria
Crawling King Snake
Money
Poontang Blues/Build Me a Woman/Sunday Trucker
End

Album Description

Import only collection at a super low price. A 2 cd set consisting of the first & second cd of the four cd box set issued domestically that lists for over $60. 23 tracks in total spread over the two cd's. The first cd includes 13 tracks of demos, unreleased and rare tracks whilst the second cd is a collection of 10 previously unreleased live tracks. 1998 release. Standard double jewel case.

Album Details

1997 Box Set Split Into Two Separate Double Disc Sets.

Customer Reviews:

The Doors.......2003-10-07

What ca you say about the doors? Im not a hardcore doors fan but i do like them. I always like peace frog the best.

The Better Half.......2003-07-07

The Doors Box Set is a great collection of music, but the 4th disc is sadly a waste of money for most hardcore Doors fans. Part 1 on the other hand is the import which only contains the first two discs which were the best parts of the box sets. Featuring rare studio out takes and odd live performences on disc one and a great compilation of songs from the Doors four shows at the Felt forum in NYC on disc two this set is a must have for Doors fans. Be warned that Disc two is not all songs from the Felt Forum, "Gloria" is an amazingly dirty version that was done at a sound check in LA, but really it is a nitpick as the song is great as it is. This is an uncensored presentation of the Doors and new fans may be surprised to hear Jim Morrison like this, we all knew the stories but when you hear him cursing at the fans from the Miami performence for the first time it is a new experience.

Buy this one!.......2002-12-21

This half of the Doors box set is the only part worth having.
The first disc includes some interesting songs: "Five To One"
is a Doors' staple at concerts but the sound quality here
is terrible. The only reason it was included (this is
just my guess) is that it was from the "Miami concert".
Next is a jazz rendition of "Queen Of the Highway" which
may be as good as the original, but it wouldn't take much
effort to better that one. Then comes "Hyacinth House", one
of the better demos on the whole set, as it sounds like
they actually wanted to sing this one.

"My Eyes Have Seen You" is pretty bad but it has a decent
excuse to stink, it was one of the original '65 demos, but
the sound is terrible as is the preformance. "Who Scared You"
we all owned allready since it was released on "Weird Scenes
Inside the Gold Mine" in '72. The next song, "Black Train Song",
a combination of "Mystery Train" and "Away In India" is the
best song on the first disc and is almost worth the price
of admission in itself. "End Of the Night" was another '65
demo that the Doors' should have saved for their own personal
nostalgia or given to their kids. It is, however better than
"My Eyes Have Seen You".

"Whiskey,Mystics,and Men" is one of this disc's highlights and
would have been a good adition to "Morrison Hotel/Hard Rock
Cafe". "I Will Never Be Untrue" was o.k. but not a classic.
The first "Moonlight Drive" is another one of those annoying
'65 demos. The next one wasn't too bad since it had Robby
Kreiger playing guitar. "Rock Is Dead" would be better
if they had edited it down to about 3 or 4 minutes, because
the same thing for 17 minutes is really boring. The last
cut on the first disc is not too bad, but it's instrumental
however, "Albinoni's Adagio In G Minor" is an interesting
take on classical music.

Disc 2 is really the best part of the whole box set. However,
contrary to popular assumption it isn't a complete concert,
it's the highlights of four concerts played at Madison
Square Garden. The opening number "Roadhouse Blues" was
included on "The Very Best of the Doors" except that version
was edited. "Ship Of Fools", a concert rarity is really
a good inclusion.

Then is a live version of "Peace Frog" which has the lyrics
with it. Following that is "Blue Sunday", which is well,
you know, "Blue Sunday". The next cut "Celebration Of the
Lizard" is the best song on the whole set. It even surpasses
the version on "In Concert". The next track, the un-edited
version of "Gloria" actually wasn't from any NY concert,but
was actually recorded at a concert in Hollywood. "Crawling
King Snake" should have just stayed on the shelf but,it's
an interesting addition. "Money" is allright too but not
the Doors' best.

For the sake of getting my review published I'll call the
next cut "Build Me A Woman",and let you read the actual
title on the track listing. This song was also included
on "In Concert" but was called simply "Build Me A Woman" and,
thankfully, the "Sunday Trucker" part was taken out, however
it is included here. The last cut "The End" is probably the
best live version of this song, or at least the most similar
to the studio version.

This set is definatly better than the second half of the set
so just get this one and forget about the other half!

Better half of the Doors Box Set.......2000-09-13

In the US, the Doors Box Set was released as a 4 CD set in one of those standard 4 x 8 inch boxes. Each CD comes in it's own jewel case with a small booklet. In addition, there is a nice 50 page booklet with details about each of the songs and a history of the band.

The European version of the box set was broken up into two volumes and released in the standard double CD jewel cases. I don't know how complete the booklets are.

This volume 1 set contains the best two CD's. The first CD is a mixture of absolutely fantastic live material and demos and outtakes. Not all of it is perfect, the sound quality on one of the live tracks is horrible, and some of the outtakes aren't worth listening to more than once. Black Train Song is almost worth the price of the whole set, and although Rock Is Dead is very sloppy, it is also a must have. The second CD is a complete concert from New York. It came just after the release of Morrison Hotel. The performance is excellent, and the sound quality is good.

Volume II has some good material on the first CD, but it isn't as strong as Volume I. The second CD in Volume II is all previously released material, and of no value to anyone who already has the complete Doors collection.

Tracks:

Hello to the Cities [Live]
Break on Through (To the Other Side) [Live]
Rock Me [Live]
Money [Live]
Someday Soon [Live]
Go Insane [Demo Version]
Mental Floss [Live]
Summer's Almost Gone [Demo Version]
Adolph Hitler [Live]
Hello, I Love You [Demo Version]
Crystal Ship [Live]
I Can't See Your Face in My Mind [Live]
Soft Parade [Live]
Tightrope Ride
Orange County Suite

Tracks:

Light My Fire
Peace Frog
Wishful Sinful
Take It as It Comes
L.A. Woman
I Can't See Your Face in My Mind
Land Ho!
Yes, the River Knows
Shaman's Blues
You're Lost Little Girl
Love Me Two Times
When the Music's Over
Unknown Soldier
Wild Child
Riders on the Storm

Album Description

Import only collection at a super low price. A 2 cd set consisting of the third & fourth cd of the four cd box set issued domestically that lists for over $60. The first cd is a collection of rare, live and previously unreleased tracks while the second cd has 15 studio tracks chosen by the former bandmates as their section of the 'best' Doors tracks. 30 tracks in all. 1998 release. Standard double jewel case.

Customer Reviews:

Weak link in the Doors' catalog........2002-12-21

No it isn't horrible, but it's the worse half of this set.
The first disc of this set (third disc overall) isn't
as strong as the first disc of the other set because
they compiled some of the Doors' not-so-good songs
on it. You wouldn' believe the terrible sound quality
on some of the songs. Many have garbled lyrics or there
is too much white noise caused by the tape recorder they
used.

So if you wanted this set well, don't waste any[money]! Just get
the first half. I say this partially because the 3rd disc was
bad and partially because the 2nd disc (4th overall) is of
no use to Doors fans buying this set because it is simply
another greatest hits collection, only this time it was
assembled by the band instead of Elektra.

Overall not hideous, but not worth the money.

Lesser volume of the Doors Box Set.......2000-09-13

The European version of the box set was broken up into two volumes and released in the standard double CD jewel cases. I don't know how complete the booklets are.

This Volume II is the second two CD's of the Box Set. The third CD is a fairly good collection of live and studio material, but it isn't as good as the material on Volume I. The sound quality on some of the tracks is amazingly bad. There is the only live version of Soft Parade, which is fairly good. There is also the studio version of Orange County Suite, that never made it to an album. Listen to it and you will understand why. The fourth CD is a collection of previously released material, chosen by the three living band members. It is of absolutely no value to any Doors fan, because a Doors fan would already have this material on the original albums.

If you think it is necessary to get the third CD, than you should get the US release of the complete Box Set.

The Doors, Box Set of 4 Cd's
Average customer rating:
The Doors, Box Set of 4 Cd's
Doors
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000OTFPHK

Product Description

Disk 1, Without A Safety Net (l3 songs); Disk 2, Live in New York (13 songs); Disk 3: The Future Ain't What It Used To Be (15 songs); Disk 4: Band Favorites (15 songs).

Average customer rating:

Bartok: Solo Piano Works (Box Set)

Manufacturer: Eroica Classical
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Dances | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

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Rondos | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B000228DYQ
Release Date: 2004-04-27

Average customer rating:

Box Set 1
Doors
Manufacturer: Musicrama/Koch
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Supergroups | Classic Rock | Styles | Music

General | Classic Rock | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0000DENHF
Release Date: 2000-04-18

Average customer rating:

Box Set 2
Doors
Manufacturer: Musicrama/Koch
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Supergroups | Classic Rock | Styles | Music

General | Classic Rock | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0000DENHG
Release Date: 2000-04-18

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