Live At The Matrix 1967: The Original Masters

This collection starts off with a long- almost 8 ¾ minutes – laid-back long instrumental. You can hear elements of their past, present and future tracks in this over-long meandering keyboard dominated opener. You can’t help wondering what Jim lad was doing with himself during this long introduction.Most of the songs here are ones from their first two albums, that would appear later in many of their live shows, but there are others that are unique to here and hence are of particular interest to any ‘completists’ out there, or in fact to anyone interested to hear the development of the band.Jimmy seems to be more laidback and singing more straight-forwardly than he would later do. Here he doesn’t seem to have the self-assurance and swager that he would later portray and seems grateful for the meagre applause that he receives after each song. Though he appears to be experimenting as to how hoarse he should in parts sound on ‘The End’ for example. At this stage Jim was still working out how best to present each song live. He also sounds quite different on ‘Crawling King Snake’ then he would on later shows after they had become famous. Clearly at that time The Doors were no big deal even in California, given their tepid reception at these shows.Naturally over the three discs certain songs are repeated as these are recordings over several nights. So, for instance on CD 1 tracks 10 & 11 are ‘I Can’t See Your Face In My Mind’ and ‘People Are Strange’ also appear on the exact same numbered tracks on CD 2. Though each differ slightly in length being live recordings. Likewise, there are two versions of ‘Moonlight Drive’, ‘Summers Almost Gone’, ‘Backdoor Man’, ‘When The Music’s Over’, ‘Alabama Whiskey Song’, ‘Break On Through’ and ‘The End’.While some people have drawn attention to the overall sound quality, I can’t say that impaired my overall listening experience – thought as Syd in the USA pointed out you don’t really appreciate the depth, or lack of it when listening to these discs on a computer, as I am.Interestingly, Syd comments about the better sound quality on ‘Strange Day’ (should that be ‘Strange Days’?) and ‘London Fog’, which don’t appear on these CDs. Though looking through the vinyl track lists I can’t see them there either.BTW, the order of the track listing is totally different on the 5 LPs and single as compared to the CDs.If you like The Doors, then I can’t see any reason why this would not be a good buy for you.You get a lot of music for your money as the first CD is 68 ¾ mins, the second is 72 ¾ mins and the third is at 52 mins.

a great insight to one those early doors performances at the matrix. great to hear the crowd. sounds like around 30 people were watching them before they became famous.

Two months after The Doors had released their eponymous debut album on 4th January of '67 they travelled to SF for a 5 day residency at The Matrix. It was a small club, 150 seats. The group were mainly unknown in the city and played there to very small audiences, paying their dues as it were. The co-owner, Peter Abram, had installed his tape recorder on the mixing desk. The Doors took advantage and had some of their sets recorded.Since then there have been numerous bootlegs of these tapes, and two tracks appeared on the Doors Box. I purchased a 4CD Italian Complete Matrix Club Tapes in 1994 which almost mirrors this 3 CD release. I also bought the previous 2CD Rhino Matrix release in 2008. Although I feel a little out of pocket now, this 2023 release is the best sound quality and has extra tracks as detailed in the description. OK, now you know I am one of those completists mentioned in other reviews.The tape noise is hardly noticeable but one wonders what Peter Jackson could do to the mix. Oh No, I can see a 2030 re-re-release coming.I have to say, this is not Absolutely Live, and why would you expect it to be. It is an enjoyable document of an early Doors gig two months before Light My Fire hit the airways and their world changed.I can't understand some of cover notation though. Tracks are either unticked, have * (previously unreleased), or ** (first time releases from original master tape). As this release is an update from 3rd generation to Ist generation masters I wonder why all tracks aren't given **. It doesn't make any sense to me.

Absolutely love this CD. They had just released their first album but were still relatively unknown and developing their music and live performances when they did this gig. The power they put into the songs really comes through and there are some great versions of songs from their first 2 albums and a variety of other songs.There are some blues/jazz instrumentals which I can leave, and they eventually did too, but with a long run time there is so much valuable content here.I would suggest that this is mainly for out and out fans of The Doors, more casual fans would benefit more from their mainstream live album however versions of The End and When The Music's Over are great to hear on this CD. Decent notes for context also, top marks for this.

Every true doors fan should have this in they collection....🦎 Yes it's a bit raw ,but this 1 of they first live gigs & Jim is reserved & striped back..not quite got his mojo on,,,that said it's a trip😎

A must have for any Doors fan, its a very mellow listen with tight music and vocals very glad a snapped it up at knockdown price was £105 when first out, got it for £63 what a steal

This is "THE BEST" Live Recording's of the Door's "EVER" Released.Complete and in the correct running order of the song's performed."Top Notch" first generation soundboard recording.Taken from the master tape's, from the complete show's at a L.A. Club Gig.Jim and the boy's are in great form, from the early day's....before it all went a bit crazy!Excellent Sound Quality, over 3:CD's, in a very nice foldout package.If you like early Acid Rock....BUY...BUY...BUY...

It is a great release. 3 CDS which show how the band grew into greatness. I have all the latest ve recordings I can find and this set s a wonderful addition to what I have. Don't expect the smoothest vocals, but that is part F why Itis worth having.