The Doors Ray Manzarek (1939-2013) & Show # 457

 

Ray Manzarek best known as a musician in The Doors passed away on May 20th, 2013 due to complications with cancer at the age of 74. Ray played keyboards in The Doors and was also a founding member of the group. The Doors never had a bass player with the exception of some tracks on their studio albums, when playing live Ray would cover the bass and keyboard parts at the same time playing bass parts on a Fender Rhoades Piano as well as providing occasional back up vocals. Ray met Jim Morrison at UCLA Film school and then met up with him later on after graduating in a chance encounter at Venice Beach in California. The two decided to form a band after Manzarek heard Morrison’s lyrics to what was to become “Moonlight Drive”. They later recruited guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore to form The Doors. Some of the bands early influences were very Garage Rock influenced most notably citing Van Morrison’s Them as an influence. The bands sound featured many characteristics of the Garage Rock genre from the 60s along with many elements of Psychedelic music. The Doors went on to release six full length albums before Jim Morrison’s death which was in 1971. The band continued as a trio before splitting up in 1973.

In addition to being a musician in The Doors, Ray played in another group called Nite City releasing two albums one in 1977, another in 1978. Ray was also a music producer, he produced the LA Punk band X’s first album entitled Los Angeles, he was also an author, film maker and solo artist. The Doors influence would become massive even inspiring The Stooges in their early days, they were initially known as The Psychedelic Stooges. Along with Jim Morrison and the other members of this band, The Doors would go on to become a highly influential and iconic band in Rock and Roll music history.

The following video is from a performance on The Smothers Brothers Show from 1968.



This Week's Play List:

1. The Orbits – My Rosa Lee
2. The Rumblers – Surf Rat
3. The New Dimensions – Bongo Shutdown
4. This Machine Kills Robots – The Seaward
5. The Driving Beats – Beach Girls
6. The Gories – On The Run
7. The Band – Helpless
8. Kurt Vile – Snowflakes Are Dancing
9. Big Surf – Stoker
10. Link Wray – Green Hornet
11. The Doors – Wild Child
12. Iggy & The Stooges – Job
13. The Obits – The City Is Dead
14. Decades – Tonight Again
15. Pluto – Thirsty
16. Active Dog – Rat Race
17. Bureaucrats – Feel The Pain
18. The Exploding Hearts – Modern Kicks
19. Thee Oh Sees – Devil Again
20. Mystics – Get Away (Demo)
21 Young Rival - T-Shirt And Shorts
22. Sex Pistols – Holidays In The Sun
23. The Clash – Overpowered By Funk

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for May 21. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Show #126 Best of 2006

For my last show of 2006, I decided to do a best releases of 2006 show. I played new albums, reissues/remasters, and box sets. The order of the songs somewhat constitutes a list of the order of my favourite releases from 2006. There were some that didn't make the list, as far as overall releases which includes remasters, box sets, and new albums, this is what I thought of the music of 2006.



I just wanted to mention my favourite release of 2006 is the doors of perception box set. This set includes all of The Doors albums, as well as bonus tracks and videos. I played "Twentieth Century Fox" which is a song originally from The Doors first self titled album. According to the box sets linear notes, the first Doors album is not the correct speed. It is down a few steps, as a result of something that happened during the mastering process when copying from the master tapes. The box set includes a mix of the album at the correct speed (as well as the other way it has always been), and I played from the corrected speed version. It may be hard to notice, but if you were to listen to both versions of the album you can tell the difference, one is a little bit slower, and one is a little bit faster.

My second favourite release was the singles box set from The Clash. Since I've already posted about this box set, I will not discuss it any further. "I Fought The Law" was played from it though. My third favourite releases was the self titled Pearl Jam album. Pearl Jam was released in May of 2006. The album shows that Pearl Jam still can rock, even though they've made so many albums, and that they show no signs of stopping. "Unemployable" was played, it is a track that was written by drummer Matt Cameron and sounds very much like Pearl Jam doing a Black Sabbath song, in my opinion. If I were to choose albums that are composed of completely new material, this would be my top pick of 2006.

Unfortunately the Godfather of Soul, James Brown passed away on December 25th, 2006. James Brown has left behind a legacy of music that has influenced millions. A good majority of his songs have been sampled in various rap songs, he has also influenced bands such as The Clash, who have cited him as an influence for their funky songs. James Brown was a great musician, and his music will forever stand the test of time. I played "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" from the album Soul On Top. It is one of my favourite James Brown tracks, the version from Soul On Top, is a live version.

Here's: what was played:

1. Mudhoney – empty shells
2. Pointed Sticks – somebody’s mom
3. Albert Hammond Jr. – call me an ambulance
4. Neil Young – after the garden
5. Sublime – paddle out
6. Sex Pistols – Liar (spunk version)
7. Wire – three girl rhumba
8. The Jam – the place I love
9. Red Hot Chili Peppers – make you feel better
10. Talking Heads – stay hungry
11. Johnny Cash – further on up the road
12. Bob Dylan – someday baby
13. Incubus – rogues
14. Arctic Monkeys – red light indicates the doors are secure
15. Rapture – pieces of the people that we love
16. Radio 4 – enemies like this
17. Audioslave – nothing left to say but goodbye
18. Dirty Pretty Things – enemy
19. Sloan – something’s wrong
20. Sloan – another way I could do it
21. Raconteurs – level
22. The Strokes – red light
23. Pearl Jam – unemployable
24. The Clash – I fought the law
25. The Doors – twentieth century fox
26. James Brown - papa's got a brand new bag