A special 50th anniversary edition of the Doors’ album L.A Women is out today. This is the band’s sixth and final album to feature frontman Jim Morrison.
This album has three CDs and one LP. It also includes the original L.A Women record which was remastered by the band’s long time engineer Bruce Botnick.
It will also contain two bonus discs which include more than two hours of unreleased sessions. A stereo mix of this album on a 180 gram virgin vinyl also features on this package.
Originally released in April 1979, L.A Women reached number nine in the Billboard top 200, selling more than two million copies.
It also included hits such as “Love Her Madly” and “Riders on the Storm”.
The album’s 50th anniversary edition tracklist includes the following:
Disc One: Original Stereo Mix Remastered
1. “The Changeling”
2. “Love Her Madly”
3. “Been Down So Long”
4. “Cars Hiss By My Window”
5. “L.A. Woman”
6. “L’America”
7. “Hyacinth House”
8. “Crawling King Snake”
9. “The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat)”
10. “Riders On The Storm”
Bonus Tracks
11. “Hyacinth House” – Demo
12. “Riders On The Storm” – Sunset Sound Version – Original Demo*
Disc Two: ‘L.A. Woman’ Sessions, Part 1
1. “The Changeling” *
2. “Love Her Madly” *
3. “Riders On The Storm” *
4. “L.A. Woman” (Part 1) *
Disc Three: ‘L.A. Woman’ Sessions, Part 2
1. “L.A. Woman” (Part 2) *
2. “She Smells So Nice” *
3. “Rock Me Baby” *
4. “Mr. Mojo Risin’” *
5. “Baby Please Don’t Go” *
6. “L.A. Woman” (Part 3) *
7. “Been Down So Long” *
8. “Get Out Of My Life Woman” *
9. “Crawling King Snake” *
10. “The Bastard Son Of Jimmy & Mama Reed (Cars Hiss By My Window)” *
11. “Been Down So Long” *
12. “Mystery Train” *
13. “The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat)” *
“Riders on the Storm” – The Doors
The band first announced this news back in September.
They were previewing this L.A Women 50th Anniversary deluxe edition with the original demo for the Doors “Riders on the Storm”. This was firstly discovered as an unmarked tape reel in the Doors’ vault, having been assumed lost for decades.
“Riders on the Storm” was cut with the producer Paul A Rothchild in the early days of the Doors sessions at Sunset Sound Studios.
Rothchild was far from a fan of the demo, calling it “cocktail music”. He eventually abandoned the demo, leaving the Doors to co produce it with Bruce Botnick.
On the demo, the Doors keyboardist Ray Manzerak had this to say.
“We were giving Paul a preview and he was bored. We played the songs very badly – with Jim – but there was no chi, no energy”.
Manzerak also added, “We didn’t want to be back in [Sunset Sound], and Paul couldn’t bring us back to life. In that instant he was right. As soon as he left the room, that’s when L.A. Woman started”.
Manzerak also said of the album, “We were going for a much rawer sound – the spontaneous Zen moment. Two weeks, man”.
“The songs were all together. L.A. Woman just fucking exploded in the recording studio, with (bassist) Jerry Scheff and [guitarist] Marc Benno. God, did we capture it! We smoked a joint and locked in”.
This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Doors’ frontman Jim Morrison. Fans paid tribute to the star earlier this year.
