Ray Manzarek: 1939-2013

I admit it. I was a huge fan of the Doors as a squeaky-voiced teen. A lot of it had to do with listening to an old LP of LA Woman my Dad owned. I still think it's probably one of their best albums and my personal favorite. It was bluesier than any of their previous albums and less of the Lizard King-eque dark psychedelic sound of any of their previous albums.

And I have to admit. It WASN'T Jim Morrison I was a fan of. It was their keyboardist Ray Manzarek I was a fan of.

Some of it might had to do with the fact he wore glasses like me. I even tried to grow my hair like his my Freshman and Sophmore years of  High School. I probably have the pictures somewhere. However, I also really liked the way he played keyboards. His style and sound added a unique element that made them stand out from other bands. Some of it had to do with the fact that they did not have a bass player in those early albums. Manzarek would play the bass parts on a Fender Rhodes Piano along with the Vox Continental Combo Organ which gave the band their signature sound. He would later switch to a Gibson G 101 Kalamazoo Combo Organ because the keys on the Vox Continental would frequently break.

Manzarek along with his fellow band-mates unfortunately got overshadowed by the larger than life on stage antics of their lead singer. And even got unfairly labelled as either Morrison's back up band or Morrison's hired hand. But honestly and to give credit where credit is due, I don't think Jim Morrison would be nearly as successful without THAT particular arrangement of musicians.

Especially Ray Manzarek's keyboard and piano playing.

He was very understated in his stage presence. Most of the time his head would be down swaying back and forth as though he was in some trance. Caught up in the groove he was creating. Leaving the theatrics to his lead singer while he and his band-mates would create the instrumental punctuation to the lyrics Jim Morrison would be signing.

I don't think Ray Manzarek ever got the praise he deserved or even the success that some musicians had as a solo artists. I think that was a shame considering how talented he was. But I can think of so many artists like that. People like Leon Russell, Mick Ronson, Harry Nilsson and even Frank Zappa. They created such great music yet they never really got the praise they deserved.

And I think Ray Manzarek is in that group. Who knows why. But it didn't stop him from continuing to create music after the Doors and continuing to tour. Both with former band-mates and on his own projects. He even recorded a rock version of Carmina Burana. Which I confess I have not heard. But being a fan of Carl Orff's original, I would love to hear it.

But I can say I was a fan of Ray Manzarek. And I was very sorry to hear about his death recently. It came as a surprise to me because I had not realized he was so sick. But it's understandable his family would not say much about it because of the need for privacy.

Here's to you Ray!! And thank you for shaping my early teen years!!

The Doors "Other Voices"... after Jim Morrison

I suppose you can catagorize the Doors with the Grateful Dead. You either love 'em or ya can't stand 'em. While I am not a fan of the Grateful Dead, I do enjoy the Doors. Actually, I was quite obsessed with them in High School. And this was long before that atrocious Oliver Stone movie came out.

A lot of my appreciation for the band came from my Dad. While he was not a hippy, he enjoyed some of the music that came out of the 1960's and 1970's. It was because of him and playing these records when I was very young I really appreciated Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, Leon Russell's Will O' The Wisp and The Doors LA Woman.

To this day Hyacinth House off LA Woman is one of my favorite Doors songs.

LA Woman itself was considered the Doors "comeback album". However, that comeback was short-lived due to the death of singer Jim Morrison.

But the band moved forward recording two albums after Morrison's death. The first of which was Other Voices. Which was released three months after the singer died.

I had bought the album on vinyl my first year down in college in Savannah from an overpriced record store. Although, I was no longer as fanatical about the Doors as I had been in High School. This was an album I had long since wanted to listen to.

The album itself was never officially released on CD due. The surviving members of the Doors disregard the two albums they recorded after Morrison's death.

To be honest, very few bands have been able to soldier on after the loss of their lead singer. Bands like Pink Floyd, Van Halen and AC/DC come to mind as acts that seemed to survive the change. Two of those band I honestly couldn't care less about.

I don't fault the Doors for wanting to carry on and work internally from within the band to split the vocal duties between keyboardist Ray Manzarek and guitarist Robbie Krieger.

I gave the album a listen recently for the first time since... well... I bought it in Savannah Georgia. To be honest, I didn't think it was horrible. Was it good as LA Woman. Of course not. Are the vocals as good. Of course not. Is it a bad album? Absolutely not! It's actually not half bad to listen to.

However, after listening to both sides of the record I was left with the feeling that the band itself would have been better if they just scrapped the idea of trying to replace Jim Morrison as a singer and continued on as an instrumental act.

Honestly, the most interesting bits of the album wasn't the lyrics. It was the musical arrangements.

I always thought Manzarek, Krieger and drummer John Densmore were more than just Jim Morrison's lackey's. They were the right musicians for Jim Morrison's lyrical style. I don't think Morrison would have been half as successful without those three guys style of music.

Maybe they wouldn't have had the same success as the albums they made with Morrison. However, I would have loved to hear other Doors albums if they decided to go instrumental.

Both Other Voices and their final studio album as a band Full Circle are now available as downloads through Amazon.com and iTunes. Definitely worth a listen for those who are fans of the band. Like I said, not as good as their earlier stuff. But not nearly as bad as you might think.