:: Stoned Immaculate

The Doors

“Oh no!” I hear you moan. “Not another tribute record . . . and to the Doors no less”. Well that‘s what I said anyway, but this is surprisingly good-its success hinging perilously on the various artists’ abilities to do these classic songs justice, as well as keep up with the various surviving Doors members who sat in and played with them. Bands such as the Stone Temple Pilots, Creed, Days of the New, Aerosmith and The Cult are all fully qualified to pull off fairly convincing Doors impersonations - both musically and vocally. This is basically what they do here - you catch yourself forgetting it‘s not Jim singing on several occasions - but for the rest of the artists appearing. It's obviously their curio value that got them the gig. John Lee Hooker, William S. Burroughs and Bo Diddley are fairly self explanatory and totally fabulous, but the quirkiest inclusion which caught my eye was Perry Farrell teaming up with Exene Cervenka who chop up a tripped out 'Children of Night’. The Doors and Jim Morrison themselves appear in various remixed or rejigged forms and on the whole it reads like a fairly convincing re-recorded “Best of . . .” apart from perhaps Train‘s middle-of-the-road stab at 'Light My Fire’. Days of the New‘s amazing version of 'The End’; Aerosmiths‘ 'Love Me Two Times’ and Stone Temple Pilots‘ 'Break on through’ more than make up for it though.