The Doors - London Fog, May 1966

Rating: 3/5

Review:
Fine performances but poor sound and overpriced

I can't quite agree with the rave reviews of this box.  It's good to have this early Doors material available, but the quality of the recording isn't all that good and marketing a short recording of this quality as a high-priced box-set looks to me like pretty cynical exploitation of genuine fans.

The performances are, of course, terrific.  Morrison gives his usual electrifying, menacing vocal delivery and the band are tight and inventive so you really wish you could have been there.  It's a straight, unedited recording of the gig with tune-ups and general hubbub - and applause which makes you realise that it was a very small audience in a bar. 

All that is OK if not ideal (personally, I don't need lengthy pauses and tuning sounds) but the sound quality is a problem.  The overall quality is lo-fi; the instrumental sound could be a lot worse, but the vocals are a bit fuzzy and muffled and the balance is poor – and pretty terrible at times.  The drums are so inappropriately dominant that it sounds as though the mic was in the middle of the drumkit while Morrison was outside the room trying to make himself heard through the door.  As a listening experience it's a struggle for me and not one I want to repeat regularly.

Fans like me who still have and play our original LPs bought in the late 60s and early 70s will almost certainly want this for interest – which is exactly what Rhino are counting on.  Frankly, I think this is a bit of a rip-off and it's not something I'll play very often…but, hell - it's The Doors from 1966 and there's no way I wouldn't have it in my collection.  As an album, though, I'd say it was one for pretty hard-core fans only.