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(More customer reviews)"Strange Days" was The Doors' sophomore effort, the attempt at bringing back for another round the kind of feverish, poetic magic attained in their classic debut. Few follow-ups have achieved the kind of artistic, sonic accomplishments The Doors got here which is why many consider "Strange Days" their best effort, second only to their first album. Now in light of the 40th anniversary of the band's introduction to the world, Doors engineer Bruce Botnick has taken all their albums and remixed them from the original master tapes, what he achieves here, as with the remastered debut, is a complete resurrection of a classic recording. The album now breathes and screams with fierce energy and detail. The opening title track is now a true gothic opus as the effect of the first synthesizers is better appreciated in Jim Morrison's menacing delivery of a world gone insane. John Densmore's drums are heavy and intense while Ray Manzarek's organ is more defined. "Love Me Two Times" is a ferocious blues rocker with a killer bass now more audible while the creepiness of "Horse Latitudes," a spoken-word piece Morrison wrote in high school, is more striking this time as many of the layered effects are clearer. "Moonlight Drive" has better piano/organ parts. Some purists have been scoffing at the remixing, claiming these are not the same albums. This is a wrong analysis, what Botnick has done is create a more clear, defined piece considering the older recordings suffered from the original technological setbacks of the 60s and in the case of the first album even the speed was off. Solos and instrumentals are easier to hear now and the sound quality is superior to anything previously released. This is the same debate that was sparked in 2002 when "Elvis: 30 #1 Hits" was released and was also bashed for taking the original masters and remixing them. These are the same songs, same vocals, same instrumentals, simply put back together to sound as they were originally intended to sound. "My Eyes Have Seen You For Example" has a sharper bass and piano section. Morrison's voice never plowed under, it is even more ferocious in this mix. The great epic "When The Music's Over" is a glorious powerhouse of musical expression and poetics mixed with rock. Morrison's frantic screams are brought up and Robby Krieger's masterful solo is also more detailed here. The song is a timeless work that is fitting for our current, uncertain times. In it Morrison speaks for a world caught in a war and a youth culture waiting to explode. If only he had known that in the Bush/Iraq era, his words would still be perfect for the times. "Strange Days" itself was originally released in 1968, right when Vietnam was starting to heat-up and more and more young Americans were returning in bodybags as others took to the streets. And yet what sets The Doors apart from other bands of the era is that their music is fitting for all times, all moods, because darkness is an ever present reality. Morrison was ahead of his time, this is more clear now than ever. His black leather-clad image of a wild, poetic frontman has been emulated countless times over, even his stage attitude was a precedent for Iggy Pop and Punk, listen to "Horse Latitudes" and you can see where Patti Smith was spawned. "Strange Days" is one of those great rock n' roll albums that will live on as long as there is music in the world, Jim Morrison will remain an icon for generations of rebels and the sound the Doors produced is set in stone. Now remixed and remastered, this album lives again, more potent, more dangerous than ever.
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STRANGE DAYS, first out in October '67, went to #3 andintroduced the Doors classics "People Are Strange," "Love Me Two Times" and "Strange Days." In-depth liner notes by BarneyHoskyns, co-founder of online rock library Rock's Backpages. Two bonus extras include previously unreleasedversions of "People Are Strange" and "Love Me Two Times."--This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.
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