On November 25th the Doors will issue a new Record Store Day release titled Paris Blues. The blues-themes set features the official premiere of the band's last unheard unreleased song — “Paris Blues.”
According to the announcement:
“Paris Blues” traveled a long and winding path to its release, taking on a mythic quality among Doors’ fans along the way. An original blues song written by the band; the track was recorded during one of the band’s recording sessions for either The Soft Parade or L.A. Woman (no one seems to remember). The master tape of the song was lost and the only surviving copy was given to Doors' keyboardist Ray Manzarek. Sadly, this copy was partially damaged by his son Pablo (a toddler at the time), who recorded over a few short parts. Now, through some creative editing, the song has been rescued from obscurity for the new album.
Paris Blues also contains a pair of outtakes recorded during the band’s sessions for 1969’s The Soft Parade — “(You Need Meat) Don’t Go No Further” and “I’m Your Doctor.” Both feature Manzarek on vocals backed by Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. In 2019, bass by Robert DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots was added to the songs, which were included on Rhino’s 50th anniversary edition of the album.
Also featured on the set are a pair of previously unreleased live recordings of Jim Morrison and Robby Krieger performing as a duo at a benefit for Norman Mailer‘s mayoral campaign on May 31st, 1969 in West Hollywood. The first song is “I Will Never Be Untrue,” a Doors original written for, but left off of, 1970’s Morrison Hotel. The other is a cover of Robert Johnson‘s “Me And The Devil Blues.”
The album is filled out by a trio of tracks first issued on the 2010 archival release Live in Vancouver 1970. These live tracks feature the band with legendary bluesman Albert King, who joined the Doors onstage during its June 6th, 1970 show at Vancouver's Pacific Coliseum. Jim Morrison’s introduction of King is included along with live versions of “Little Red Rooster,” “Rock Me Baby,” and “Who Do You Love?”
When discussing the Doors in their prime, the late-Ray Manzarek told us that whether they liked it or not, the Doors ended up being spokesmen for their generation: “There was a war in Vietnam and, y'know, that had to be stopped, and we were gonna try to clean up the environment, and do all those good things that hippies were trying to do. And everyone was angry, man, so, y'know, we tried to make the music as hard and as powerful and as exciting as possible. And when you got Jim Morrison as your lead singer, well, y'know, that's an extra plus. So that's what it was all about.”