IS EVERYBODY IN ?
THE CEREMONY IS ABOUT TO BEGIN
Absolutely Live
is the first
live album by
the American rock band
released on
July 20, 1970,
by Elektra Records.
The double album
features songs recorded
at concerts held in
1969 and 1970
in several U.S. cities.
It includes the first
full release of
the performance piece
"Celebration of the Lizard"
and several other tracks
that had not
previously appeared on
any official
Doors release.
The album peaked at
number eight
on the
Billboard 200
in September 1970.
Recording
Many shows were recorded
during the band's
1970 Roadhouse Blues Tour
to create
the Absolutely Live album.
The Doors' producer
and longtime collaborator
Paul A. Rothchild
claimed to have
painstakingly edited the album
from many different shows
to create one cohesive concert.
According to Rothchild,
the best part of a song
from one performance
may have been spliced together
with another part
of the same song
from another performance,
in an attempt to create
"the ultimate concert".
Rothchild said,
"I couldn't get complete takes
of a lot of songs,
so sometimes I'd cut from
Detroit to Philadelphia
in mid-song.
There must be
2,000 edits on that album."
However,
most of the tracks
were taken from
the Doors' performances
at the Felt Forum
in New York City
on
January 17 and 18, 1970.
Absolutely Live
marks the first release
of the Doors'
performance piece
"Celebration of the Lizard"
in its entirety,
which had originally been
attempted in the studio
during the
Waiting for the Sun sessions
but was eventually abandoned.
The album also included
several new songs:
"Love Hides",
"Build Me a Woman",
"Universal Mind",
"Dead Rats, Dead Cats"
(performed as a preamble to "Break on Through")
and cover versions of
Bo Diddley's
"Who Do You Love?"
and Willie Dixon's
"Close to You"
the latter featuring
lead vocals
by
keyboardist
Ray Manzarek
Reflecting on the live album
in an interview,
Jim Morrison remarked,
"I think [Absolutely Live is]
a fairly true document of
what the band sounds like
on fairly good night.
It's not the best we can do
and it's certainly
not the worst.
It's a true document of an
above average evening."
In his autobiography,
Manzarek explained the
group's intentions
with the album:
"We wanted to get the
Doors experience on tape.
Live.
One time.
For the ages.
And in doing so,
perhaps we could capture
the moment of escape.
Live."
Album cover
According to the biography
No One Here Gets Out Alive,
Morrison hated the album cover
for
Absolutely Live.
He had changed his appearance
dramatically since the
band's early days,
growing a beard
and discarding his
onstage leather attire
in an attempt to
overcome his
"rock god"
image,
but was dismayed to find that
his record label
opted for an
earlier photograph of him
for the cover.
In his book
Krautrocksampler,
the British rock musician
and writer
Julian Cope
described the photo of
Morrison as one of his
"two favorite all-time images
of rock 'n' roll singers"
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