THE DOORS L.A. WOMAN
50th ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION DUE December 3rd
By Harvey Kubernik Copyright 2021
Photo by Heather Harris
The Doors in November 1970 recorded L.A. Woman over six days at the Workshop, the band’s rehearsal space on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. A success both critically and commercially, the album was certified double-platinum and contains some of the band’s most enduring music, including the Top 20 hit “Love Her Madly,” “Riders On The Storm,” and the title track.
To commemorate the album’s 50-year anniversary, Rhino will be issuing a 3-CD/1-LP set available on December 3 for $79.98. L.A. WOMAN: 50TH ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION includes the original album newly remastered by the Doors’ longtime engineer and mixer Bruce Botnick, two bonus discs of unreleased studio outtakes, and the stereo mix of the original album on 180-gram virgin vinyl. The music will also be available from digital and streaming services the same day, as will a new Dolby Atmos mix of the original album by Botnick.
The collection houses a previously unheard original demo of “Riders On The Storm” from the early recording sessions for the album at Sunset Sound studios. The demo was recently discovered on an unmarked tape reel in the band’s vault after being assumed lost for decades. The recording was done with producer Paul A. Rothchild, who famously referred to the demo as “cocktail music.” This led to Rothchild departing the project, with the band opting to co-produce the album with Botnick.
For this new compilation, the original album has been expanded with more than two hours of unreleased recordings taken from the sessions for L.A. Woman, allowing the listener to experience the progression of each song as it developed in the studio. An early demo for “Hyacinth House” recorded at Robby Krieger’s home studio in 1969 is also included.
The outtakes feature Jim Morrison, John Densmore, Robby Krieger, and Ray Manzarek working in the studio with two additional musicians. The first was rhythm guitarist Marc Benno, who worked with Leon Russell in the Asylum Choir. The other was bassist Jerry Scheff, who was a member of Elvis Presley’s TCB band.
Botnick says the band in the studio took a more organic approach to recording instead of starting and stopping repeatedly to achieve technical perfection.
“The previously unreleased reels here – serial takes of ‘The Changeling,’ ‘Love Her Madly,’ ‘Riders On The Storm,’ and ‘L.A. Woman’ – depict a band obsessed with groove while executing turns and flourishes with the precision of a well-drilled soul combo…The idea was to go from song to song, to let it flow.”
Among the outtakes of album tracks, you can also hear the band ripping through classic blues songs that Morrison once described as “original blues.” There are takes of Junior Parker’s “Mystery Train,” John Lee Hooker’s “Crawling King Snake,” Big Joe Williams’ “Baby Please Don’t Go,” and “Get Out Of My Life Woman,” Lee Dorsey’s funky 1966 classic, written by his producer Allen Toussaint.
Album covers Courtesy of Rhino Records.
Bruce Botnick is acclaimed for engineering the entire Doors’ recording catalogue as well as engineering Love’s first two albums. He also produced their epic Forever Changes LP. Bruce engineered and co-produced the Doors’ L.A. Woman.
In a 2009 interview I asked Botnick about the Sunset Sound recording studio.
“It was built by a man named Alan Emig, who came from Columbia Records. He was a well-known mixer there, and designed a custom-built, fourteen-input console for Sunset Sound.
“Tooti Camarata, a trumpet player and an arranger [who] did big band stuff in the forties and fifties, had a friendship with Disney, and he decided to build a studio to handle the Disney records and all the movies, like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
“The room was very unique. Tooti Camarata did something that nobody had done in this country—he built an isolation booth for the vocals. Later on, I convinced him to take the mono disc mastering system and move it into the back, behind what became Studio 2. We turned that into a very large isolation booth, which we used to put stings in.
“With the strings being in the large isolation booth, the drums didn’t suffer, so we were able to make tighter and punchier rhythm tracks than any of the other studios in town. ’Cause everybody did everything live in those days. You did your vocals live. You did your strings and your brass live, and the rhythm section. This was a big deal. Then add to it the amazing echo chamber that Alan Emig designed. It’s still phenomenal, having survived a fire. That chamber was like the chamber at Capitol Studios and Gold Star Studios.
“The recording consoles. It was all tube. At one point, Alan had worked with Bill Putnam, who had helped design the two preamps in all the Universal Audio consoles. So when he came to Sunset Sound, he took it a step further and built this custom board with some of that circuitry and the two preamps. So it really sounded great.
United Recording Studios, Western Recorders, Gold Star, Sunset Sound, RCA . . . they were terrific rooms. There was a commonality between them. They all had the same loud speakers, which were Altec Lansing 604s. So you could walk from studio to studio and know what the hell you were hearing. Some rooms had more bottoms than others, but still, the general, overall sound was the same. So you could take your tape, and go to another room.”
In our dialogue, I asked Bruce about L.A. Woman.
“I brought Jerry Scheff in because I had just done an album him playing on Marc Benno’s solo album.
“So, I thought, ‘Gee guys. How ‘bout if I bring in Jerry Scheff. Oh, by the way, he’s Elvis Presley’s bass player.’ And Jim thought, ‘Wow. That’s cool. I like that. I love Elvis.’ Then I suggested to Robby, ‘what would you think about bringing in a rhythm guitar into some of the songs so you’d be free and not have to do any overdubbing. He said, ‘I like that a lot.’ ‘Cause he always had to do his rhythm part and then play his solos separately.
“It was done at the Doors’ rehearsal space, not Sunset Sound or Elektra. We just wanted to get it on tape. Going again for performance and not trying to be too perfect. Go for a little bit more raw approach.”
David Chatfield, a talent manager, label owner and producer has been involved in music production — both live and recorded — since the 70’s. During the 80’s he managed one of the most successful remixers, Taavi Mote.
“As former musicians, one thing that we were always trying to do was to bring some of the live feeling into the final produced mixes,” offered Chatfield, who is also an attorney. “When I listened to music well produced in discrete and other quad formats in the late 70’s I enjoyed being surrounded by the music. It was closer to listening to the artist or band from the first row at the Forum or the original Universal Amphitheater, or on the stage at the Greek Theater. Music was to be experienced. After I read about Dolby Atmos music, I played it at home on my simple Sonos Arc system with subwoofer. I was blown away by Bruce Botnick’s Atmos mix of ‘Riders On the Storm.’ I found that music was bigger, clearer and more powerful than the original mix...the music sounds more like the Doors sounded when I heard them play live. I like the idea of spacial audio...if it is done right. And Bruce was with the band in the studio then and knows what they intended.
“I’m a 30+year member of the Recording Academy, and member of the Producers and Engineers Wing. From a creative and legal standpoint, I think that the artist or an original production team member (if alive) should be involved in the remixes. In my humble opinion, the original intent of the artist must be the driving force behind the surround remix or any remix.”
L.A. WOMAN: 50TH ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION
CD Track Listing
Album covers Courtesy of Rhino Records.
Disc One: Original Stereo Mix Remastered
1. “The Changeling”
2. “Love Her Madly”
3. “Been Down So Long”
4. “Cars Hiss By My Window”
5. “L.A. Woman”
6. “L’America”
7. “Hyacinth House”
8. “Crawling King Snake”
9. “The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat)”
10. “Riders On The Storm”
Bonus Tracks
11. “Hyacinth House” – Demo
12. “Riders On The Storm” – Sunset Sound Version - Original Demo*
Disc Two: L.A. Woman Sessions, Part 1
1. “The Changeling” *
2. “Love Her Madly” *
3. “Riders On The Storm” *
4. “L.A. Woman” (Part 1) *
Disc Three: L.A. Woman Sessions, Part 2
1. “L.A. Woman” (Part 2) *
2. “She Smells So Nice” *
3. “Rock Me Baby” *
4. “Mr. Mojo Risin’” *
5. “Baby Please Don’t Go” *
6. “L.A. Woman” (Part 3) *
7. “Been Down So Long” *
8. “Get Out Of My Life Woman” *
9. “Crawling King Snake” *
10. “The Bastard Son Of Jimmy & Mama Reed (Cars Hiss By My Window)” *
11. “Been Down So Long” *
12. “Mystery Train” *
13. “The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat)” *
L.A. WOMAN (ORIGINAL STEREO MIX REMASTERED)
LP Track Listing
Side One
1. “The Changeling”
2. “Love Her Madly”
3. “Been Down So Long”
4. “Cars Hiss By My Window”
5. “L.A. Woman”
Side Two
1. “L’America”
2. “Hyacinth House”
3. “Crawling King Snake”
4. “The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat)”
5. “Riders On The Storm”
In a 2021 correspondence with John Densmore I asked him about L.A. Woman.
“By the time we started working with Bruce Botnick at the Doors’ Workshop and in 15-20 minutes, ‘Great. Let’s go. You’ve made a lot of records and you know what a good drum sound is. I don’t have to flog you like Paul used to do.’ We did L.A. Woman there and it was more live. And Jim was in the bathroom which was our vocal booth. We did no more than a couple of takes on everything. Just pure passion and no perfection. Strip it down to the bare raw roots.
“The concept of L.A. Woman was like the first punk album. Just a few takes, go for the feeling, fuck the mistakes. During the sessions I told Ray that Miles's engineer said there was a trumpet mistake on the opening of ‘So What’ on Miles Davis Live at Carnegie Hall, and Miles said, ‘leave it in... It feels good!’"
Earlier this century I interviewed Ray Manzarek. We discussed L.A. Woman.
“We played the songs in the studio so Paul [Rothchild] could hear what the songs were. First at the rehearsal studio and then over to Elektra. I think we went back to Sunset Sound, too. We were bored. He was bored. We played badly. And Paul said, ‘you know what guys? There’s nothing here I can do. I’m done. You’re are gonna have to do it yourselves.’ And he walked out the door. We looked at each other and said, ‘Shit. Bummer.’ And Bruce (Botnick) said, ‘Hey, I’ll do it! I’ll be the producer.’ John said, ‘We’ll co-produce with you.’ Bruce said, ‘That’s a deal. Let’s all do it together.’ And then Jim said, ‘Can we record at our rehearsal studio?’ And we all said, ‘Hey, we play great at our rehearsal studio. Let’s do it. Can it be done?’ And Bruce said, ‘Of course I can do it there. I’ll set the board up and a studio upstairs. You guys record downstairs. That’s where we make the album and it will be virtually live. ‘Yea!’ And we got excited like that Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland ‘Let’s put on a show!’
“Botnick brings in Jerry Scheff as the bass player. A guy who is going to be playing with Elvis Presley. ‘I got Elvis Presley’s bass player.’ ‘Shit, man.’ He came in. A very cool guy who is playing with Elvis Presley.
“L.A. Woman is the same Doors but a continual growth, continual evolution of the Doors and continual revolution of The Doors.
“The song ‘L.A. Woman’ is just a fast L.A. kick arse freeway driving song in the key of A with barely any chord changes at all. And it just goes. It’s like Neal Cassady, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg heading from L.A. up to Bakersfield on the 5 Freeway. Let’s go, man.
“It’s the final classic, man. Interestingly, Robby and Jim come in and were working on ‘Riders On The Storm.’ And then they start to play it and it sounded like ‘An old cow poke riding out one dark and misty day.’ It was like ‘Ghost Riders in The Sky.’ No. We don’t do anything like ‘Ghost Riders In The Sky’ as much as I like it by Vaughn Monroe. And Jim likes it. What’s next? A version of Frankie Laine’s ‘Mule Train?’ Doors don’t do that. Let’s make this hip. The idea is good. We’re going to go out on the desert. ‘There’s a killer on the road.’ This has got to be dark, strange and moody. Let me see what I can do here. It was like ‘Light My Fire.’ It just came to me. I got it. The bass line. It became this dark, moody Sunset Strip 1948 jazz joint. That highway and freeway chase.
“The storm is an unresolved psyche. We are moving into the Jungian collective unconscious. And those motivations in the collective unconscious are the same in 1976, 1968, 1969 as they are in 1994, 1995. There are needs that we all have on the human planet, and we must satisfy those needs and come to grips with the darkness and the interior of the human psyche.
“We never tried to be of the moment. We always tried to make pictures in your mind. You hear pictures with the music itself,” underscored Manzarek, a former UCLA School of Film student.
During 2014 I interviewed Tony Funches, who was Jim Morrison’s bodyguard/confident.
“At the L.A. Woman sessions they were having fun. It was a whole different vibe than the informal formality of being at the Elektra Studio or Sunset Sound because they were so at home there downstairs, which was essentially their rehearsal room.
“When they decided to do the album there, Vince Traynor [Doors’ road manager] wasn’t really elated to have them record there because nobody knows where Vince got the knowledge.
“Vince Traynor who did the Doors’ equipment, he built it and took it all apart and you’ll never see the likes of again. Amps, speakers, more than the task of driving crystal clear studio sound through the biggest venues they played and Jim with his sense of humor, knowing how idiosyncratic Vince was about that equipment.
“Jim quite often would tape his vocal microphone and stick it in the PA so the defect was cracking windows and people’s ear drums just to watch Vince get demonized of daggers because Vince was fucking with his talents. How glamourous is it to have an article about a tech freak mad scientist that built a sound system the likes of which no one will ever see again. And nobody knew how it worked! How he’d do it? He didn’t tell nobody what he did.
Photo by Heather Harris