Chris Salewicz 27 Jim Morrison (retail) (epub

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.There was no stopping him.’In an interview to promote the new record, Robby Krieger remarked: ‘There was a lot of Jim getting drunk and bringing drunken friends into the studio and Paul throwing them out.Scenes, heavy pill-taking and stuff.That was rock ’n’ roll to its fullest.’56By early March 1968, however, the studio sessions had been put to one side as The Doors headed for the East Coast and an epochal set of shows, including their performances at the Fillmore East.This was the period when, to the annoyance of Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison stumbled onto the stage at the Scene club in Manhattan as Jimi Hendrix played with The Young Rascals.By the time they returned to the recording studio in Los Angeles, the idea of recording ‘The Celebration of the Lizard’ had been scrapped – although the ‘Not to Touch the Earth’ section was retained.The group had agreed to fund the Feast of Friends documentary.This documentary was an opening salvo in a bid for independence by The Doors.In April, with an advance from Elektra, they bought out their management team, who were replaced by Bill Siddons, their nineteen-year-old tour manager.They opened an office in West Hollywood at 8512 Santa Monica Boulevard, near the junction with La Cienega.Not long after this, Jim walked into the new offices and announced to Ray Manzarek, ‘I wanna quit.’57 He told Ray he thought he was having a nervous breakdown.The keyboard player suggested this frame of mind might have something to do with being drunk all the time.And Ray persuaded him to hang on for another six months.The recording process for what became known as Waiting for the Sun was arduous and painful – at times like tooth extraction, Paul Rothchild obsessing over every possible sound glitch.(John Densmore felt this may have had something to do with a jar labelled ‘KD’ that Rothchild kept behind his console: ‘KD’ stood for ‘Killer Dope’.)By the end of April, the new album was finally ready for release.Although it was named after the tune ‘Waiting for the Sun’, that song would not appear until 1970’s Morrison Hotel.In March the first 45 was issued, the controversial ‘The Unknown Soldier’ with its critical references to the Vietnam war.Considering the political climate in the United States, it was amazing the song received any airplay whatsoever.However, it managed to scrape into the Top 40, peaking at 39.Early in June, the second single was released from the new album: ‘Hello, I Love You’, coupled with ‘Love Street’.The release of ‘Hello, I Love You’, one of the songs on The Doors’ original demo, also met with considerable controversy, but of another kind altogether.The Doors were criticized for the release of what was condemned as an outright commercial song, possibly stolen from The Kinks’ ‘Tired of Waiting’, and clearly aimed at the hit parade.Which, of course, it was: why on earth else would a song be chosen as a single? But it was simultaneously a perfect piece of garage band punk, driven by Manzarek’s thrusting keyboards and the singer’s powerful liquid baritone, and climaxing in Morrison’s war whoops.And it achieved the desired effect: ‘Hello, I Love You’ stealthily crept up the charts until, on 3 August, it was the number one single in the United States, staying in this chart position for two weeks.(Also in the US Top 5 at that time was José Feliciano’s version of ‘Light My Fire’.Paradoxically, it was the success of their own version of ‘Light My Fire’ that had polarized their audience.Were The Doors a Top 40 hit act or proselytizers for the revolution – whatever that revolution was?)After the release of Waiting for the Sun on 12 July 1968, album sales were bolstered by the success of ‘Hello, I Love You’ and it went to number one in the US album charts the same week that the single hit the top slot.(The Doors had now become internationally successful – both ‘Hello, I Love You’ and Waiting for the Sun made the UK Top 20s.)A string of major North American dates in arena-sized venues promoted the new album.On 5 July 1968, The Doors topped the bill at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, selling out all 18,000 seats.The show was recorded for the Feast of Friends film.The group were joined by Mick Jagger and music producer Jimmy Miller for a pre-show dinner at Mu Ling’s Chinese restaurant.Whether or not he was weighted down by his extensive helping of food, Jim Morrison gave a distinctly underwhelming performance.His vocals were impeccable, but he stood static by the microphone, with none of the stage movements by now expected by The Doors’ audience.‘They (The Doors) were nice chaps, but they played a bit too long,’ said Mick Jagger following the show.These dates were followed up by The Doors’ first trip to Europe, for shows in England, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Holland.The London concerts, at underground temple the Roundhouse, on Friday 6 and 7 September, were great triumphs, some of their best ever performances.There were two shows each day: on night one, they supported Jefferson Airplane; on night two, it was the other way around.‘The audience was one of the best we’ve ever had,’ said the singer.‘Everyone seemed to take it so easy.It’s probably the most informed, receptive audience I’ve ever seen in my life.’In Amsterdam Jim Morrison was indisposed.That morning while they had been in Germany he had eaten a lump of Lebanese hash given to him by Bob ‘the Bear’ Hite of Canned Heat.Arriving in Amsterdam, Jim had danced on stage during the Airplane set.But then the hash kicked in and he was unable to perform his role as The Doors’ singer during their own set.After the European tour, Jim Morrison and Pamela Courson rented a flat in London’s Belgravia and remained there for a month.There they were visited by Michael McClure, the Beat poet and writer.He wanted Jim to play the part of Billy the Kid in a movie to be made of his play The Beard.While at their London lodgings, McClure came across a copy of Jim’s poetry.He was impressed and suggested Jim Morrison publish a private edition, entitled The Lords and the New Creatures.Jim paid a visit to Abbey Road studios, where the Beatles were recording ‘Happiness is a Warm Gun’ for their The Beatles album.On returning to Los Angeles on 20 October 1968, it was yet again time to enter the recording studio to make another album.This set of sessions saw The Doors working at Elektra’s new recording studio on La Cienega, ‘the house that The Doors built’, as it became known.The four musicians were not at all pleased, however, to learn they would pay almost standard rates – they were given a ten per cent discount.Jim turned his back on Jac Holzman so he wouldn’t see the fury etched into his face.58In early November 1968, The Doors played seven dates, mainly in the American Midwest [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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