Absolutely Live is the first live album by the American rock bandthe Doors, released on July 20, 1970 by Elektra Records. The double album features tracks recorded at concerts held between July 1969 at the Aquarius Theater in Hollywood and May 1970 at the Cobo Arena in Detroit. The album included the first full release of the performance piece "Celebration of the Lizard" and several other tracks that had not previously appeared on any official Doors release. At one point, lead singer Jim Morrison can be heard alluding to his prior arrest at a performance in Miami on March 1, 1969. The album peaked at number 8 on the Billboard 200 in September 1970. The album was first issued on CD in 1991, as part of the two-disc live compilation albumIn Concert, and was reissued as a single disc by Elektra in 1996, featuring new artwork different from the original LP. The album was reissued on 180 gram vinyl in its original double LP format and original artwork by Rhino Records in 2010, in both the U.S. and UK.
Recording
Many shows were recorded during the band's 1970 Roadhouse Blues Tour to create the Absolutely Live album. The Doors' producer and longtime collaborator Paul A. Rothchild claimed to have painstakingly edited the album from many different shows to create one cohesive concert. According to Rothchild, the best part of a song from one performance may have been spliced together with another part of the same song from another performance, in an attempt to create "the ultimate concert." Rothchild said, "I couldn't get complete takes of a lot of songs, so sometimes I'd cut from Detroit to Philadelphia in mid-song. There must be 2,000 edits on that album." However, most of the tracks were taken from the Doors' performances at the Felt Forum in New York City on January 17 and 18, 1970. In 2000, the Bright Midnight record company began releasing all of the uncut shows that had been recorded for the Absolutely Live album. Spanning from July 1969 to May 1970, these releases consisted of: Live at the Aquarius Theatre ; Live in New York ; Live in Boston 1970; Live in Philadelphia '70; Live in Pittsburgh 1970; and Live in Detroit. Absolutely Live marks the first release of the Doors' performance piece "Celebration of the Lizard" in its entirety, which had originally been attempted in the studio during the Waiting for the Sun sessions but was eventually abandoned. The album also included several new songs which had not appeared on any Doors album up to that point, namely "Love Hides," "Build Me a Woman," "Universal Mind," "Dead Rats, Dead Cats" and cover versions of Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love?" and Willie Dixon's "Close to You". The Doors' "Miami incident" is alluded to several times throughout the album, specifically with the house announcer's opening address, where he urges fans to remain seated with the threat of the fire department cancelling the performance, and in Morrison's spoken preamble to "Close to You."
Album cover
Morrison reportedly hated the album cover for Absolutely Live. He had changed his appearance dramatically since the band's early days, growing a beard and discarding his onstage leather attire in an attempt to overcome his "rock god" image, but was dismayed to find that his record label opted for an earlier photograph of him for the cover.
Release and reception
Absolutely Live sold poorly upon release, moving only 225,000 copies, half of what their previous studio albumMorrison Hotel had sold. Gloria Vanjak of Rolling Stone magazine wrote a scathing review of the album, singling out Morrison's performance in particular and referring to "Celebration of the Lizard" as "rancid". Robert Christgau of The Village Voice gave a more favorable review, praising its "strong performances and audio," but concluded that "I don't happen to be into reptiles when the music's over, much less while it's on."
Track listing
Original vinyl release
1991 CD reissue
In 1991, Absolutely Live and 1983's Alive, She Cried were repackaged and released as a two-disc set entitled In Concert, with the addition of "Roadhouse Blues," from 1978's An American Prayer, and two performances from the band's July 1968Hollywood Bowl concert: "The Unknown Soldier," which had previously appeared on 1987's Live at the Hollywood Bowl, and "The End," which was previously unreleased.
