Do not buy this CD "Absolutely Live" by the Doors. Pay the extra few dollars more & get the double CD, "In Concert" instead. The reason, the "In Concert" double disk has the live albums "Absolutely Live," "Alive She Cried" & "Live At The Hollywood Bowl" all in one package with one exception: an unreleased live version of 'The End'(the main reason to get that double disk just for that song alone!). Get it & it'll be money worth spent.

"Absolutely Live" well chronicles The Doors ability as a live band through some of their most blues based songs, as well as long epics displaying Morrison's poetry and the crews overall instrumental talent. Although in some ways misrepresenting the group's efforts in the studio, there is no question that this is an exceptional set of live songs, all performed very well.

The opening track entitled "House Announcer", although obviously not a song, very effectively produces crowd energy, and that energy continues through "Who Do You Love?", a great Doors rocker. To follow this, The Doors compile a great medley of tracks beginning with Alabama Song. Although the performance lacks contrast to the original recording, it does segue perfectly into the very heavy, bluesy feel of "Backdoor Man", with Morrison in his loudest lyrical form. "Love Hides" is a slower paced track, with a great vibe to it. In my opinion, this specific recording of "Five To One" in many ways totally defeats the studio recording. The guitar solo is performed very cleanly by Krieger. In fact, his guitar sounds very clear throughout this album.

Reaching "When The Music's Over", we get a sensational performance of one of The Doors "epic" songs. Manzarek's organ is sounding as beautiful as ever, as are Densmore's drums, and Morrison delivers the perfect vocal. "Close To You" is a nice taste of blues with Ray Manzarek giving a very impressive vocal. "Universal Mind" seems to be the only song that lacks energy on the track listing, however it is a great soft song, with a deep bluesy feel. Following that up is the introduction to "The Soft Parade", however the crew doesn't perform the actual song. "Dead Cats, Dead Rats" is a rather obscure lead-in to "Break On Through(To The Otherside)", but it works fairly well. As for "Break On Through", the song rocks out relatively well, however Morrison's vocal is on the lower end. "The Celebration Of The Lizard" comes next, broken up into short segments, which divide the many different phases of this epic song, which unfortunately The Doors never recorded in the studio. "Wake Up" is a solid surge of energy, however there are better recordings of this particular section of this song(i.e. "Live In New York" found in The Doors Box Set). "A Little Game" is a strong dynamic segment to the epic song, with its continuing building energy in the instruments and Morrison's vocal. "Not To Touch The Earth" will be the favourite for most fans, myself included. Morrison's poetry ends the song well too in "The Palace Of Exile". "Soul Kitchen" is a fantastic closer, with a great all around performance from the group.

Overall, in summary this is a great buy for any fan of The Doors, as it definitely gives a good taste of the band as a live act. The performances are all great, with the sound quality and overall edits making it a great listen. Highly recommended to any Doors fan, along with basically any of their studio albums or Greatest Hits compilations.

This is a awesome Doors CD. It has many great songs such as Alabama Song, Backdoor Man, When the Musics over, Five To One, Soul Kitchen, and many many more. Robby Krieger is amazing in this CD with extended solo's that are amazing. Ray has many great talents and shows them in songs like Soul Kitchen and When the Musics over. Jims voice is pretty good and says pretty much all the right lyrics. Except in When the Musics over, but I dont mind it. And John as usual is on beat. So I think if you are a true Dooors fan or just like the ma little, this is the right CD for you