The Doors - From The Outside

A decent enough take on the much-told tale

As one of the most eulogised bands of all time, any new documentary about The Doors has to boast a new angle on the beach-meeting-to-booze storyline, especially with the band’s own version now looming. This 139-minute opus follows the traditional route with respected writers and three rarely-heard eye-witnesses, the story bolstered by popular newsreel footage and occasional video clips.

The star turns come with session guitarist Marc Benno, who provides a fascinating account of LA Woman’s recording, and former Columbia A&R man Billy James, who signed The Doors for a singles deal but couldn’t find an available producer before it expired (the snatch of demo for a barrelhouse blues called Go Insane is a too-brief highlight). Then there’s Patricia Kennealy-Morrison, a controversial figure in Doors lore, who interviewed Jim for Jazz & Pop magazine in January 1969, became his lover then, as a practicing Celtic pagan witch, “married” him in a handfasting ceremony in June 1970. Patricia, who later played the High Priestess in Oliver Stone’s biopic and published her memoirs, prefers to portray Jim as “civilised, romantic and courteous” during her Conversation With The Lizard Queen extra which, if nothing else, provides a welcome glimpse of the singer’s less-trumpeted sensitive side.

3 stars 3 stars 3 stars

Chrome Dreams/Sexy Intellectual | SIDVD 547

Reviewed by Kris Needs
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