| Review by reelsacd October 14, 2011 (12 of 13 found this review helpful)
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| If you like the Doors, then this SACD is a must have! I am reviewing the Stereo Channel only. Overall the presence is amazing. It is one of those recordings that make me feel like I am in the studio with the group. I have never heard Morrison's vocals so clear. The organ sounds are so life like I can hardly believe it. Same goes for guitar. When there is bass, it is very deep and solid, but not overpowering. The balance of drums, guitar, organ, vocal is also excellent. This recording is unlike the limited Japanese SACDs in that it is a Hybrid and has a higher high frequency content. Even when i had the recording low it still sounds great. Great price also, relative to what some are going for. I give it 4.5 stars overall.
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| Review by Venomous January 22, 2012 (3 of 20 found this review helpful)
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| Not sure why this is labelled multi channel. I heard nothing coming out of the rears. Plenty disappointed with this sacd
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| Review by pvcmusiclover April 11, 2012 (5 of 8 found this review helpful)
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The original master tape of this album sounded just bad - particularly the muddy tone the rolled off treble.
This disc goes back to the original session tapes (which sound much much better) and remixes them, taking the liberty of adding some reverb and a bit of limiting.
However I'm willing to put up with that in order to hear the Doors like never before.
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| Review by goldear April 14, 2012 (6 of 7 found this review helpful)
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I'm not a big doors fan overall, but I have been very happy with the rest of the Warner Japan SACDs and decided to take a chance on this one. I'm glad that I did, even though one review here almost stopped me from buying it.
I totally disagree with the assessment that this SACD has no surround-sound. It's just not mixed as a quad recoding like many have come to expect from many of the other Warner-Japan SACDs. The instrumental tracks are from the FL and FR channels and the vocals are from the center channel. From the rear channels you get ambience. This really adds a lot of depth to a recording which was never truly stereo and but is subtle enough that I had to put my ear up to the rear channel to be certain about what I was hearing. What you don't get is instruments circling the room ALA Quad. It's more of an enhanced stereo effect, which is more likely to appeal to purists.
The stereo mix sounds quite good too, considering the age of the master tape and the somewhat less-than spectacular sound of the original tapes. But the 5.1 mix sounds slightly better IMO due to the added ambient info from the rear channels which really helps to offset a recording which some argue deserves to be mono.
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| Review by Electrical Radio November 22, 2012 (2 of 2 found this review helpful)
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I find this SACD (a reissue from Warner Music, Japan) very lively and direct sounding, no doubt due to the technology that Bruce Botnick used when it was recorded back in 1966 (the recording console was a vacuum tube unit). The liner notes are well done (still more info on the Doors' recording sessions is easy to find online), giving info on the band, the original sessions, and the remix for DVD Audio, which was the original format used when this disc was sold as part of a box set.
The staging is very front and center, with the familiar, awkward instrument placement of that era. John Densmore's drums are not in stereo, but the mic placement was well done and they jump out with a lot of clarity from their designated speaker. Jim's vocals have plenty of power, as they do on my stereo LP copy, but I prefer this multi-channel (well, really 3-channel) SACD over the stereo version. The overall sound is very realistic and begs to be played loudly.
If you love being surrounded by sound, this SACD has its limits, since it came from a 4 track master tape. Occasionally, a recording of this vintage can be enhanced by combining the basic tracks with other elements (e.g. extra voice tracks in the case of Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" and instrumental layering tracks on the 5.1 remixes of early King Crimson), but it appears that no treasures of that sort were available to fill in the extra channels.
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