Stoned Immaculate: The Music of the Doors [Enhanced]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
More fun than any tribute album has a right to be, Stoned Immaculate is clearly a labor of love that manages to embrace the spirit of the Doors without regressing into parading a line of Jim Morrison impersonators through the studio. Much credit goes to producer Ralph Sall, who--in addition to setting up collaborations between the surviving Doors and an array of artists from John Lee Hooker to Days of the New--also breaks out the beats and samples to create a few "new" Doors tracks. While Sall is no Fatboy Slim (despite the winking nod to "Bird of Prey" during the fadeout of "Under Waterfall"), his reconstructions add texture and variety, especially when the late William Burroughs steps up to the mic. But the true highlights here are the more organic collaborations: the three remaining Doors backing Bo Diddley and Ian Astbury; an unexpectedly great "Love Me Two Times" from Aerosmith; and Stone Temple Pilots helping Kreiger and Manzarek "Break on Through" even harder on a track that threatens to transcend the original. Hell, even the weaker contributions beat out Jose Feliciano. Come to think of it, if the Doors are still auditioning Morrison replacements (Kevin Coyne and Howard Werth no longer being available), STP's Weiland, Creed's Stapp, or the Cult's Astbury all acquit themselves well enough here to warrant an offer. -- Bill Forman

Tracks:

Break On Through - Stone Temple Pilots
Riders On The Storm - Creed
Light My Fire - Train
Peace Frog - Smash Mouth
L.A. Woman - Days Of The New
Love Me Two Times - Aerosmith
Under Waterfall - The Doors
Wild Child - The Cult
Roadhouse Rap - Jim Morrison
Roadhouse Blues - John Lee Hooker/Jim Morrison
Is Everybody In? - William S. Burroughs
Hello I Love You - Oleander
Touch Me - Ian Astbury
Children Of Night - Perry Farrell/Exene
Love Her Madly - Bo Diddley
The Cosmic Movie - The Doors
The End - Days Of The New

Amazon.com

More fun than any tribute album has a right to be, Stoned Immaculate is clearly a labor of love that manages to embrace the spirit of the Doors without regressing into parading a line of Jim Morrison impersonators through the studio. Much credit goes to producer Ralph Sall, who--in addition to setting up collaborations between the surviving Doors and an array of artists from John Lee Hooker to Days of the New--also breaks out the beats and samples to create a few "new" Doors tracks. While Sall is no Fatboy Slim (despite the winking nod to "Bird of Prey" during the fadeout of "Under Waterfall"), his reconstructions add texture and variety, especially when the late William Burroughs steps up to the mic. But the true highlights here are the more organic collaborations: the three remaining Doors backing Bo Diddley and Ian Astbury; an unexpectedly great "Love Me Two Times" from Aerosmith; and Stone Temple Pilots helping Kreiger and Manzarek "Break on Through" even harder on a track that threatens to transcend the original. Hell, even the weaker contributions beat out Jose Feliciano. Come to think of it, if the Doors are still auditioning Morrison replacements (Kevin Coyne and Howard Werth no longer being available), STP's Weiland, Creed's Stapp, or the Cult's Astbury all acquit themselves well enough here to warrant an offer. -- Bill Forman

Customer Reviews:

one of the best rock tribute albums ever.......2007-03-03

I enjoy this more than any other artist tribute album I've ever heard, at least in the rock genre. Superb performances by all artists concerned, couple with excellent production values. Love the way clips of Morrison's poetry or between-song patter are mixed in here and there.

Morrison lives.......2007-02-17

STONED IMMACULATE brings the DOORS nicely into the 21st Century with creative covers performed by obvious DOORS fans of considerable talent. Highlights include Smash Mouth's searing "Peace Frog," Morrison/Hooker's "Rock House Blues" duet, the "Cosmic Movie" DOORS collage, Oleander's juiced-up "Hello I Love You," and Ian Astbury's desyrupized "Touch Me."

This collection is certain to please lovers of late 60's rock as well as all DOORS fans.

TOTAL PLAYING TIME -- 71:38

Pleasantly Surprising.......2006-10-27

Tribute albums suck and everyone knows it. Usually, although not in all cases, a tribute album is a CD compiled of musical has-beens who ineffectively cover an artists songs. The first thing that makes Stoned Immaculate better than that average tribute album is the fact that Ray Manzarek, Robbie Krieger, and John Densmore all perform on the album and have given their blessing to the project. The 2nd is that (at the time) none of these bands were has-beens and some of them are actually great bands. Not all the performances are great and some artists were mis-matched, but some artists who people would hold little faith in prevail (Creed anybody?). There's also an unreleased Doors track called Under Waterfall, which is a beautiful song. The best covers on here are Stone Temple Pilots 'Break on Through,' Creed 'Riders on the Storm,' and The Cult 'Wild Child.' That's not to say the other ones aren't good, but these are the best. Scott Weiland (vocalist of STP) has cited Jim Morrison as his inspiration. Him and his band don't let that go to waste here. On 'Riders on the Storm' Creed rocks out, creating an almost better song. The Cult, meanwhile, takes a song that was never amazing or anything and makes it way better. This album, while not perfect, does have a lot of great bands at the peak of their musical power paying tribute to their idols. It's wonderful to hear The Doors' legacy live on and it's cool to hear some great artists singing their songs.

1. Stone Temple Pilots "Break on Through"-5/5-This may be blasphemy. But this version could be better (or equally good) with the original. You can tell that Scott Weiland truly holds a lot of respect for Morrison. STP takes the song and pays homage to it, but also makes it their own.
2. Creed "Riders on the Storm"-5/5-I've never been a big Creed fan, but Scott Stapp does a pretty good Jim Morrison impression. Not only that though. This version rocks. They add an extra edge that wasn't there in the original version.
3. Train "Light My Fire"-4/5-This version's OK. The keyboard opening is mysteriously absent. It's not bad, but it definitely sounds like a song off a tribute album.
4. Smash Mouth "Peace Frog"-3/5-The band added some funkiness to it, but I'm not a big fan of what they did.
5. Days of the New "L.A. Woman"-5/5-This cover, although it feels rushed, isn't bad.
I've never even heard of Days of the New but this is cool.
6. Aerosmith "Love Me Two Times"-5/5-This was one I was really looking forward to hearing. Aerosmith does a great version of the song. It's heavier (not by much though) than the original and it's awesome.
7. The Doors "Under Waterfall"-5/5-I assume this is a Doors song that was left unreleased. Which is a shame, because it's actually a great song. It's lyrics are really cool (obviously) and it's actually catchy and kind of beautiful too.
8. The Cult "Wild Child"-5/5-This has never been one of my favorite Doors songs, but The Cult turn it into a better song than it ever was.
9. Jim Morrison "Roadhouse Rap"-5/5-Probably recorded as an intro to Roadhouse Blues. It's pretty cool and shows a kind of fun side of Morrison.
10. John Lee Hooker & Jim Morrison "Roadhouse Blues"-5/5-Brilliantly intercutting Morrison's vocals and John Lee Hooker's guitar and vocals; This song is great too.
11. William S. Burroughs "Is Everybody In?"-5/5-It's a poem read to the backbeat of a bunch of Doors songs. It's pretty interesting and a little bit haunting too.
12. Oleander "Hello, I Love You"-4/5-This song holds a special place in my heart and I was kind of disappointed with this version. It's not bad, but the guy's voice is kind of lame.
13. Ian Astbury "Touch Me"-5/5-I saw Ian perform this song live with Riders on the Storm; This has never been one of my favorite Doors song, but both his performance of it and the way he performs it makes it better.
14. Perry Farrell & Exene "Children of the Night"-3/5-I don't like Perry Farrell or Jane's Addiction and I guess I don't like Exene that much either. This is probably my least favorite track.
15. Bo Diddley "Love Her Madly"-3/5-This is less-than-spectacular. He makes the song his own, it bares almost no resemblance to the original. Problem is...That's the problem.
16. The Doors "The Cosmic Movie"-5/5-This is essentially a bunch of stray poems and excerpts from Doors song thrown into a juxtaposed mess with a "Five to One" backbeat. Hate to admit it, though. It's kind of interesting.
17. Days of the New "The End"-4/5-It grew on me for sure. It's extremely faithful to the original version, but they could've picked a much better band to do the cover.

GRADE: B

Worth it just for the Burroughs track.......2006-07-01

Awesome track. I'd happily buy the album just for the Burroughs track. It's music mixed together with William S. Burroughs' famous voice as he rambles on quoting Morrison ("Blood on the streets") and then breaks into a discussion of Morrison ("Died in a bathtub in Paris...seems like a g**amn strange thing to happen.")

At the end it blends together with Jim's voice. It's a really bizarre but fascinating track.

Loved It Only One Time.......2006-06-12

This is not a great album, but it does have its highs and lows. The album starts with a couple of well known acts covering popular Doors tracks. These two covers sold the album for me. What I didn't know were the gems hidden here. A couple of "new" Doors songs, Under Waterfall and The Cosmic Movie, the latter being a must listen for all Morrison lovers, as Jim speaks of death being the ultimate end, and to make sure you fill your life with excitement so you're not bored watching it when you die... truly poignant considered the circumstances that followed. Also noteworthy are Aerosmith's cover of Love Me Two Times (although a bit lackluster), and Bo Diddley fronting the Doors on Love Her Madly. Now for the negative... if you want to save yourself some grief, skip Roadhouse Blues with John Lee Hooker... it's Blasphemy! capital B! Hearing the classic "redone" with JLH talking over the instrumental breaks is torturous. Also Days of the New are unimpressive and must be proteges of the record label or something. Worth the money for the few highlights and its "eclectiveness".

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