New South Books
The Doors, foreword by Krist Novoselic
9781905662890
May 2025
AUD$115.00
No, like the Ozzy Osbourne memoir, it’s not precisely Halloween but we all know that there were some dark and mystic times associated with the Doors and, in particular, Jim Morrison – the Lizard King himself. This anthology is a welcome treasury of all things related to the band, its members and its history.
I was first introduced to these legends by my (then new) step-brother who was a few months older than me with very different tastes in music. One day after we first found ourselves sharing a home, he was playing the L.A. Woman album and I was ‘WHAT…WHO is that?’ and from then on, I was hooked. What’s your favourite Doors track? I find it hard to say. Of course, I love Riders on the Storm and Light My Fire – but I also have a real attachment to Crawling King Snake and Back Door Man.
Anyone who is a fan, or even just a music buff, will revel in this. I know it’s taken me a long time to get to the review but this is such a behemoth account of the band’s genesis, career, personalities, triumphs and trials that I have very deliberately taken my time over it perusing the pages of photos, ephemera, newspaper clippings, essays, recollections and memories. In fact, it has been perched by my little couch so that whenever I had a few spare minutes I could pick it up and stroll through a few more pages.
It is a testament to this band’s greatness that foreword writer, Krist Novoselic [you might have heard of him 😉 – he co-founded Nirvana with Kurt Cobain and played bass on every one of their albums], like many others did not even become a fan until eight years after the band had pretty much ended. I still see young people wearing Doors t-shirts or hear them playing the music. It truly is one of those bands that defies generational relegation.
And any of you with even the slightest interest will revel in the meander through the memories – let’s face it, for a lot of us the 60s and 70s seem a very, VERY long time ago and often, the chance to wallow in some nostalgia is so welcome.
It’s difficult to say what I love most about this one but definitely the insights from the band members themselves taken from past interviews, or in the present with contributions from Robby Krieger and John Densmore are of immense interest for me, as is the memorabilia or ephemera from the band’s own archives. It’s a veritable treasure hoard of all things Doors.
The extensive backmatter includes discography of albums and singles, tour dates/places, intel on the contributors (many of whose names are well known e.g. Van (the Man) Morrison, Patti Smith, Alice Cooper, Grace Slick, Slash, Nancy Sinatra to name a few) and TV appearances. The abundance of photographics makes this a perfect coffee table book with which to impress your friends – but be warned, some visitors might abandon polite conversation as they become more and more engrossed, and I will also say this – want to impress someone for Xmas? is there someone special you’ve been trying to lure to your side? You can’t possibly go past this for a simply superlative gift – so in that sense, my timing for this review is pretty good I’d say!
Of course, you can guess that I’m listening to The Doors as I write this [Love Me Two Times right now] and it’s a hands-down 5 🚪 🎼🎶🎵🦎 from me.
RIP Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek.
Just So Stories 
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