gerrythedon

The Doors were a few months away from stardom in March 1967 when they played five sparsely attended shows at a small club in San Francisco called The Matrix. These uninhibited performances would have been fleeting if not for Peter Abram, who co-owned the pizza parlor-turned-nightclub with Jefferson Airplane founder Marty Balin. An avid recordist, Abram taped concerts at The Matrix regularly and his recordings of The Doors, made between March 7-11, 1967, spawned one of the band’s most storied bootlegs. At long last, all known Matrix recordings, sourced entirely from Abram’s original master recordings, will be released on September 8.

LIVE AT THE MATRIX 1967: THE ORIGINAL MASTERS will be available on September 8 as 3-CD ($29.98) and 5-LP ($124.98) sets. Production of the vinyl version is limited to 14,000 numbered (CD 21,000) copies worldwide. The band’s March 7 performance of the jazz instrumental “Bag’s Groove” is exclusive to the vinyl set and comes on a 7” single. “Bag’s Groove” is one of two never-before-heard recordings. Pre-order both versions HERE.

Bootlegs of The Matrix shows have circulated among fans for years and were popular despite the poor audio quality of most copies. The sound began improving in 1997 when the first two songs from The Matrix shows were officially released on The Doors: Box Set. Even more performances followed in 2008 on Live at the Matrix 1967; regrettably, it was discovered soon after that all the recordings were sourced from third-generation tapes, not the originals.

Today, Abram’s original recordings have been remastered by Bruce Botnick, The Doors’ longtime engineer/mixer, for official release. The vinyl version of LIVE AT THE MATRIX 1967: THE ORIGINAL MASTERS includes all 37 songs from the shows sourced from the master tapes. Except for 15 songs released in 2017 and 2018 as Record Store Day exclusives, most of the newly upgraded live recordings are making their debut in the collection, including eight that have never been featured on any of the previous Matrix releases.
3-CD Set Limited to 21,000 Copies worldwide.



5-LP Boxed set limited to 14,000 numbered copies worldwide.

Complete and original recordings sourced from the first-generation 7” reels. Includes 2 never before heard recordings “All Blues” and “Bag’s Groove”

The original recordings have been remastered by Bruce Botnick, The Doors’ longtime engineer/mixer, for official release. The vinyl version of LIVE AT THE MATRIX 1967: THE ORIGINAL MASTERS includes all 37 songs from the shows sourced from the master tapes.




Track Listing

LP One: Side One

(March 7, 1967) First Set

1. “Back Door Man”
2. “My Eyes Have Seen You” *
3. “Soul Kitchen”
4. “All Blues” – Instrumental *

Side Two

1. “Get Out Of My Life Woman” **
2. “When The Music’s Over” *

LP Two: Side One

(March 7, 1967) Second Set

1. “Close To You” **
2. “Crawling King Snake” **
3. “I Can’t See Your Face In My Mind”
4. “People Are Strange”
5. “Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)”

Side Two

1. “Crystal Ship”
2. “Twentieth Century Fox”

Third Set

1. “Moonlight Drive”
2. “Summer’s Almost Gone” *
3. “Unhappy Girl”

LP Three: Side One

(March 7, 1967) Third Set

1. “Woman Is A Devil/Rock Me Baby” **
2. “Break On Through (To The Other Side)” **
3. “Light My Fire”

Side Two

1. “The End”
2. “The End” (Partial) / Let’s Feed Ice Cream To The Rats (from March 8 or 9, 1967)

LP Four: Side One

(March 10, 1967) First Set

1. “My Eyes Have Seen You”
2. “Soul Kitchen” **
3. “I Can’t See Your Face In My Mind” **
4. “People Are Strange” **

Side Two

1. “When The Music’s Over”

Second Set

1. “Money” **
2. “Who Do You Love” **

LP Five: Side One

(March 10, 1967) Second Set

1. “Moonlight Drive” *
2. “Summer’s Almost Gone”
3. “I’m A King Bee” **
4. “Gloria” **

Side Two

1. “Break On Through (To The Other Side)” *

Third Set

1. “Summertime” – Instrumental **
2. “Back Door Man “**
3. “Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)” *

7” Single

March 7, 1967 (First Set)

“Bag’s Groove” – Instrumental *

*Previously Unreleased
**First Time Released From Original Master Tapes

Spiderbite

I will likely pick up the CD version of the set. Looks and sounds awesome from the description. Fair price too.

Is Rhino going to be the only place to be able to get it?

gerrythedon

I preordered from Amazon

$29.98

Spiderbite

Thanks. I looked for it the other day but just found a bootleg version on Amazon.

Toby Dramit

The vinyl set has piqued my interest ...

gerrythedon

$124.98

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Toby Dramit

^ $124.98 + $12.83 shipping & handling + $6.43 import fees deposit = $144.24 USD for Canadian orders.

It's $152.52 (+ 5% GST) CAD (with free shipping) at Amazon.ca for the preorder right now. May just go ahead and hope that the price drops a bit before release day.

PhantomStranger

You can all thank me - having held out purchasing the first Doors album's Deluxe edition from a few years ago containing a few of the Matrix recordings, I broke down just last week and bought it. This was announced literally two days after I got that set in the mail.

I have no idea why the Doors held on to this release for so long. They've owned the tapes for over a decade at this point.

Toby Dramit

Because they were waiting for one more person to buy the Deluxe edition ...

gerrythedon

$26.95
https://www.deepdiscount.com/live-at...x/603497835911

$28.97
https://www.bullmoose.com/p/36420572...-at-the-matrix

rw2516

Unless professional multi-track recording equipment is used the original source tapes won't be acceptable quality to be sourced for release. Now we have the technology to go back and clean up inferior recordings, separating into multi tracks and properly balancing the mix. This takes a lot of time and a lot of money. Lots of artists have lots of soundboard recordings of their shows. Some will spend the time and money to do one, maybe two shows, and mass release them. Some will sell them as is with no clean up as "official bootlegs" because they don't have the time or money to do it proper. Grateful Dead were smart about it. They had their own multi track recording equipment they took with them everywhere and recorded every show in pristine 8 or 16 multi-track quality. Every show exists on tape equal to tapes for well known live album releases.
What bugs me is the shows that were multi-track recorded for purposes other than a live album (radio, tv, video, etc.) yet they won't put out on CD.

jpcamb

I wanted to go with Bull moose but the "we will try to get it for you" message and fact that this is limited edition world wide made me go with Amazon. I will probably not break the package open as I would guess it will be streaming but I love to see old recordings get new life. Been a Doors fan for over 40 years now.

jpcamb

not going to create a thread for this and I will pass on it but the Japanese-only golden album is available with 5K copies WW.

https://store.thedoors.com/?mc_cid=3...eid=5b6820b511

For the very first time, this 1968 Japanese compilation is available worldwide. This is an authentic re-creation now pressed on red vinyl and includes a 6-track 7” also on red vinyl. This record will not be available in any stores and is exclusively available here. Limited to 5,000 copies worldwide so place your order today before they are all gone.

Toby Dramit

^ Ordered ...

For my Canadian compatriots, it's approx. $10.00 USD less to order through Rhino.com instead of The Doors store once the shipping costs are factored in.

gerrythedon

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Toby Dramit

This will be a nice companion piece to the Matrix set ...

Nesbit

Might need to pick that up. When the Musics Over is my favorite song of theirs.

stvn1974

I really dig the Matrix CD set. The sound quality is a lot better than I was expecting. I will try to pick up the Bakersfield CD.

Spiderbite

So, just so I understand, the Live At Bakersfield CD will have a normal release, it is just releasing first exclusively to records shops for Record shop Day, correct?

PhantomStranger

I hope.

gerrythedon

Both versions are RSD exclusive.

The Cow

According to the RSD list, the CD is not exclusive to that release, just first release on RSD.
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gerrythedon

bought for shipment last night

https://www.bullmoose.com/p/36718962

Spiderbite

I listened to my copy of Live At The Matrix the other day and it is amazing sound quality for what it is.

It also sounds like maybe just a handful of people in the audience. Oh, to be a fly on the wall...

emanon

Vinyl is currently $94.56 at Amazon.