Two years after the Beatles rolled out the hits for the final time further up the West Coast at Candlestick Park -- and over a year into a Rolling Stones touring hiatus -- the Doors played a set at the Hollywood Bowl that is widely regarded to be their finest ever captured on film. Although they weren’t necessarily filling a gap on the live circuit left by their contemporaries -- with their third album, Waiting for the Sun, already in the can and under a week away from release -- it’s clear from this recording that they were keen to impress the 18,000 people who filled the Bowl on July 5, 1968. It’s a tight, musically impressive, well-paced set that falls at that sweet spot in the Doors’ career, between the laid-back hesitancy of early club performances -- such as those found on Live at the Matrix ’67 -- and the often overblown, strident, and bluesy improvisation of later gigs like the two-hour plus 1970 set released as Live in Detroit. Here, the band are well-rehearsed, locked-in, and ooze intensity with Bruce Botnick’s expert remastering giving John Densmore’s dexterous drumming a more prominent focus than it has previously been warranted. Furthermore, while 1987’s Live at the Hollywood Bowl lasted 22 minutes, here we get the entire set: over an hour of music.
STARS.........: Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, John Densmore DIRECTOR......: Ray Manzarek GENRE.........: Music, Documentary IMDB RATING...: 8.4/10 168 votes IMDB LINK.....: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2620886 RUNTIME.......: 1h 11mn SIZE..........: 4.09GB VIDEO CODEC...: HEVC (Main[email protected]) BITRATE.......: 3750 Kbps RESOLUTION....: 1920x1080 ASPECT RATIO..: 1.78:1 FRAMERATE.....: 23.976 fps AUDIO.........: English DTS-HD Master Audio SUBTITLES.....: N/A CHAPTERS......: Yes SOURCE........: Blu Ray ENCODED BY....: Sartre ENCODE DATE...: 2017-11-01
NOTE: The Blu Ray was very heavily DNR'd so I added some light grain to restore some texture.
Extras
• Echoes from the Bowl • You Had to Be There • Reworking The Doors • Wild Child (The Smothers Brothers Show) • Light My Fire (The Jonathan Winters Show) • Gloria (Music Video)