"Running Jumping Standing Still" by "SPIDER" JOHN KOERNER and WILLIE MURPHY (1993 Red House Records '25th Anniversary Edition' Expanded CD Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Good Times Don't Go To Waste..." 

"...Do you feel like an outcast...well the Red Palace is the name of the place...good times don't go to waste..." - John Koerner sings on the barrelhouse opener "Red Palace" where his six-piece ensemble of late 60ts Folk outcasts feel like The Band have hit a bar and hijacked the upright piano in the corner - drunk and fearless...

Taking its album-name from the Richard Lester Goons Film of 1960 (Directed by Lester and Peter Sellers) - Folky and Bluesman "Spider" John Koerner got together with Blues keyboardist Willie Murphy to make an album of all sorts. It's hard to describe this LP - part Folk-Rock, part Americana - it could easily be The Band album between 1968's "Music From Big Pink" and 1969's "The Band".

"Running Jumping Standing Still" is pictured and critiqued on Page 50 of the truly gorgeous hardback book that accompanies the November 2006 "Forever Changing: The Golden Age Of Elektra Records 1963-1973" 5CD Deluxe Edition Box Set - given a sort of 'overlooked' pride of place. And this gorgeous-sounding Red House Records ‘25^th Anniversary Edition’ Expanded CD Reissue and Remaster brings it to audio life big time. Here are the mixed-up details...

USA released February 1993 - "Running Jumping Standing Still" by "SPIDER" JOHN KOERNER and WILLIE MURPHY on Red House Records RHR CD 63 (Barcode 033651006329) is a '25th Anniversary Edition' CD Reissue and Remaster and plays out as follows (49:43 minutes):

1. Red Palace

2. I Ain't Blue

3. Bill & Annie

4. Old Brown Dog

5. Running, Jumping, Standing Still

6. Sidestep [Side 2]

7. Magazine Lady

8. Friends And Lovers

9. Sometimes I Can't Help Myself

10. Goodnight

Tracks 1 to 10 are the album "Running Jumping Standing Still" - released June 1969 in the USA on Elektra Records EKS 74041 and in the UK on Elektra EKL 4041 (Mono) and Elektra EKS 74041 (Stereo) – reissued in the UK in 1971 on Elektra Records K 42026. Produced by FRAZIER MOHAWK and recorded at Elektra's Paxton Lodge on the Feather Rover, Keddie, California - all songs by John Koerner and Willie Murphy. The STEREO MIX was used for this CD.

BONUS TRACK (Previously Unreleased):

11. Some Sweet Nancy

Musicians:

JOHN KOERNER - Guitar and Vocals

WILLIE MURPHY - Piano, Electric Bass and Vocals

KEN JENKINS - Trombone, Tenor Saxophone, Cello and Acoustic Bass

TOD ANDERSON - Horns

JOHN WILCE - Banjo and Mandolin

SANDY KONIKOFF - Drums

The gatefold slip of paper that is the inlay has brief but informative liner notes by ERIC PELTONIEMI about the 'might have been' album and its gestation, reissue credits and so forth - it even offers a potted Koerner/Murphy discography - but no photos and a distinct lack of wow. The same can not be said of the fantastic Remaster by ROGER SIEBEL from original tapes - this Red House Records CD sounds amazing - a tiny bit hissy in places but never dampened down or pro-tooled out of existence. There's warmth to these recordings that bring in my mind of the neutrality Link Wray achieved on his Link Wray and Mordecai Jones album in the early 70ts on Polydor (see review for "3-Way Shack").

"Spider" John Koerner and his eclectic voice/guitar tunings went way back with Elektra Records to 1963 and the legendary "Blues, Rags & Hollers" LP (followed in 1964 with "More Blues, Rags & Hollers"). Both records were Rag Mama Rag albums Koerner did with the duo of Tony "Snaker" Glover" and Dave "Liitle Sun" Ray. Those LPs shook up the Folk-Blues scene at the time and are hard to find (Rhino remastered both in 2004 onto 1CD when they began reissuing Elektra Records Folk artists in earnest). Koerner also had three songs featured on the equally legendary and wonderful "The Blues Project" LP on Elektra in 1964 - see my review of that inside February 2015 "The GREENWICH VILLAGE Folk Scene" 5CD Box Set in Rhino's "Original Album Series". Minneapolis kid Willie Murphy was a Keyboard and Bassist who would later go on to produce Bonnie Raitt's debut LP and ply his trade as Willie And The Bees following his departure from Koerner after their lone collaboration flopped.

Riding the shirt tales of November 1968’s "Music From Big Pink" by THE BAND - the Folk/Blues/Jazz/Vaudeville mash-up that is "Running Jumping Standing Still" LP hit the shops in June 1969 in the USA in a blizzard of Elektra publicity - but no one took any notice. But since its commercial failure on release – it’s gained a sort of hallowed reputation amongst Americana collectors as the illegitimate but deserving child of The Band’s musical legacy.

Actually “Running Jumping Standing Still” is a difficult record to describe. Never is this more apparent on the near eight-minute "Old Brown Dog" which is a Band amble on piano and acoustic guitar that despite its length doesn't overstay itself. And just when you think you've got a measure of its Americana folksiness - it launches into piano soloing that feels like Herbie Hancock let loose on a Steinway with a few brandies - and he don't care. It's quite brilliant really. "It Ain't Blue" has beautiful musicality in its 'lonesome' moan while "Running Jumping Standing Still" is fast and furious - like The Doors gone hillbilly. "Sidestep" is a Rock song at its guitar core while the excellent "Magazine Lady" even has slightly Psych brass sections that sound like Mungo Jerry popped a few mushrooms and turned on a microphone (it was picked as the track to represent the album on the "Forever Changing" 5CD Box Set). "Friends And Lovers" is a pretty piano ballad where they sound like Emitt Rhodes on Probe Records. "Goodnight" ends the record with Koerner 'putting to bed my tired head'. The Previously Unreleased song "Some Sweet Nancy" was meant for the record apparently but left off due to vinyl's limitations - it's excellent and similar to "Sometimes I Can't Help Myself".

A mad record - a great album - a cocktail of so many styles – "Running Jumping Standing Still" by "SPIDER" JOHN KOERNER and WILLIE MURPHY is all of these disparate things and worse. I dig it man. This is one orphaned son of The Band that deserves your cuddles...

"Dr. Feelgood And The Interns" by DR. FEELGOOD and THE INTERNS [feat Piano Red] (1962 Stereo LP inside the 1993 Bear Family CD Box Set "The Doctor's In!") - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Bald-Headed Lena...She's Alright With Me...”

Like Amos Milburn, Smiley Lewis and Nellie Lutcher – Georgia's Willie L. Perryman (PIANO RED to you and I) was a Rhythm 'n' Blues giant and a wonder on the old Johanna. The albino boogie-woogie player even boasted that he was filled with the 'Spirit of the Universe' and that his rollicking music was 'medicine' for the great unwashed – leaving them 'feeling good for weeks after I'm gone'. And on the evidence of this rather fabulous but completely forgotten 1962 R 'n' B album on Okeh Records – who am I to disagree.

PIANO RED adopted the moniker DOCTOR FEELGOOD and THE INTERNS for his 2nd LP proper with the US label Okeh Records. Their self-titled debut "Dr. Feelgood And The Interns" was released June 1962 in the USA on Okeh Records OKM 12101 (Mono) and Okeh OKS 14101 (Stereo).

Best place in my books to locate the CD variant is inside "The Doctor's in!" by PIANO RED – a 4CD LP-Sized Box Set released December 1993 on Bear Family BCD 15685 DI (Barcode 4000127156853). 

The first twelve-tracks on Disc 4 feature the STEREO mix of the album and play out as follows (66:22 minutes):

Side 1:

1. Doctor Feel-good

2. I'll Give You Anything

3. The Swabble

4. I'll Be Home One Day

5. I Ain't Gonna Be A Low Down Dog No More

6. Bald-Headed Lena

Side 2:

1. What's Up, Doc

2. Mister Moonlight

3. Sea Breeze

4. Right String But The Wrong Yo-Yo

5. Love Is Amazing

6. Don't Let Me Catch You Wrong

Wilko Johnson's British pub-rock band DR. FEELGOOD took their name from this LP and band (via a Johnny Kidd & The Pirates 45 B-side cover on HMV Records) - and you can hear why. "Doctor Feel-good" is great fun - immediately chugging its way into your heart all the way down to your feet. Piano Red tells how he likes 'big women' - 400 pounds or better - and girlies had better pour on the pounds when the Doctor is in the house. "I'll Give Anything" doesn't quite work but the "The Swabble" is great.

It's here you catch the Remaster. WALTER DeVENNE and BOB JONES – both highly experienced Audio Engineers – did the Discs transfers and Mastering (Bob Jones was sadly lost to us a few years back). The Stereo on these cuts is fantastic. Other boogie treats include the witty "I Ain't Gonna Be Your Low Down Dog No More" recorded at the same 31 May 1961 session that gave us the brill "Right String But The Wrong Yo-Yo". While ballad covers of "Mister Moonlight" and "Sea Breeze" feel a little out of place amidst all the boppers ("Mr. Moonlight" was famously covered by The Beatles on their December 1964 UK LP "The Beatles For Sale") - I'm a goner for "Bald-Headed Lena" where Willie name-checks women's names and their rhyming merits. The whole album feels like a long lost R&B dancer with a couple of slowies in-between to give proceedings a bit of balance.

Bear Family Box Sets are the stuff of legend and I suppose it's a costly way of acquiring one album from 1962 - but "Doctor Feelgood And The Interns" is an overlooked boogie-woogie LP worth seeking out. And after all that hip-shaking mama - it's time for a lie down...

"Genuine Houserocking Music" by HOUND DOG TAYLOR & THE HOUSEROCKERS (1993 Alligator CD Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...The Sun Is Shining..."

Before his sad passing in December 1975 - Mississippi's Theodore Roosevelt Taylor (aka 'Hound Dog') dragged his cheap Japanese guitar around clubs with his pals and fellow musical cohorts Brewer Phillips (Second Guitar) and Ted Harvey on Drums and made a ballsy slide-guitar racket akin to Elmore James without the finesse but with all the gutbucket passion. Think Seasick Steve circa the early 70ts and you're there. They'd play two or three hours a night - six nights a week for $45 a night - because they loved it. And man can you tell...

With his band 'The Houserockers' - they cut three albums on the newly formed US independent label Alligator Records in the Seventies - "Hound Dog Taylor And The Houserockers" (October 1971 on Alligator AL 4701), "Natural Boogie" (April 1974 on Alligator AL 4704) and "Beware Of The Dog!" (April 1976 on Alligator AL 4707). And that's where this album comes in.

Culled from those June 1971 and September 1973 sessions for the first two LPs (recorded at Sound Studios in Chicago) - Alligator put together this posthumous album of unreleased tracks "Genuine Houserocking Music" and released it as a vinyl LP in May 1982 on Alligator AL 4727. This October 1993 CD Remaster on Alligator ALCD 4727 (Barcode 045395472728) is a straightforward transfer of that 10-track album - Remastered by TOM COYNE at DMS in New York (35:25 minutes): It plays out as follows...

1. Ain't Got Nobody

2. Gonna Send You Back To Georgia

3. Fender Bender

4. My Baby's Coming Home

5. Blue Guitar

6. The Sun Is Shining

7. Phillips Goes Bananas

8. What'd I Say

9. Kansas City

10. Crossroads

For someone who claimed he 'couldn't play for shit' - Hound Dog Taylor raced up and down those frets with his fingers and slide like he believed he was Stevie Ray Vaughan. I beg to differ with his own humble analysis - this hep cat could play - and wasn't too fussy about delivery neither. The results are raw and real. This is gutsy low-down Mississippi Blues - slashing slide - instrumentals that seem to have made up on the spot - along with covers of perennials like Elmore James' "The Sun Is Shining", Ray Charles' "What I'd Say", the Traditional Blues of "Crossroads" and Leiber/Stoller's 1959 hit for Wilbert Harrison - "Kansas City". The boogie instrumental "Fender Bender" is credited to second guitarist Brewer Phillips, "My Baby’s Coming Home" is co-written by Taylor with Narvel Eatmon (the song was released by Taylor as a US 45 in 1980 on Rooster Records) while the others are Taylor originals. You'd have to say that the slashing slide of "Ain't Got Nobody" and the same on the brilliant "My Baby's Coming Home" are exciting and grungy for all the right reasons. "Blue Guitar" is hard-hitting slow Blues with the second axe of Brewer Phillips distorted while Hound Dog digs into those licks for this cool instrumental (some stunning playing on this cut). And it goes like that...so good.

This was their rejects remember so it's hardly a masterpiece - but I love it. There's just something about the raw rocking nature of this ragbag LP that I dig so much (so Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac in places - Jeremy Spencer's fixation with Elmore James).

Forgotten and overlooked - check out this joyful Bluesman with his House Rocking buddies. And tell Seasick Steve fans the good news...

"Wonderful World, Beautiful People" (USA LP title) aka "Jimmy Cliff" (UK LP title) by JIMMY CLIFF (Part of Hip-O Select's 2005 4CD Remastered Book Set 'Better Days Are Coming: The A&M Years 1969-1971') - A Review by Mark Barry...

USA LP ARTWORK and TITLE

UK LP ARTWORK and TITLE

USA CD Remaster Version of The Album within this 4CD Book Set

Rear Sleeve of the Hip-O Select 4CD Book Set

"…I've Got Many Rivers To Cross...Until I Get Over…"

In the late 60ts and early 70ts - Reggae superstar JIMMY CLIFF was released on A&M Records in the USA and Island and Trojan Records in the UK – with an awful lot of crossover on the tracks between the two countries.

But if you want the best audio for his socially smart and Reggae-Soulful “Wonderful World, Beautiful People”/"Jimmy Cliff" LP (1970 in the USA, 1969 in the UK) – this gorgeous Hip-O Select 4CD Book Set out of the States is the place to locate it (and so much more). Here are the details and the many rivers to cross...

USA released October 2005 - "Better Days Are Coming: The A&M Years 1969-1971" by JIMMY CLIFF on Hip-O Select B0005362-02 (Barcode 602498322994) is a 4CD Book Set - and Disc 1 features the "Wonderful World, Beautiful People" LP (known as "Jimmy Cliff" in the UK) with one Bonus Track and plays out as follows (36:47 minutes):

Side 1:

1. Time Will Tell

2. Many Rivers To Cross

3. Viet Nam

4. I’m Gonna Use What I Got (To Get What I Need)

5. Hard Road To Travel

Side 2:

6. Wonderful World, Beautiful People

7. Sufferin’ In The Land

8. Hello Sunshine

9. My Ancestors

10. That’s The Way Life Goes

11. Come Into My Life

Tracks 1 to 11 are the album "Wonderful World, Beautiful People" released January 1970 in the USA on A&M Records SP-4251 and November 1969 in the UK as “Jimmy Cliff” on Trojan TRLS-16 with the same tracks.

BONUS TRACK:

12. Waterfall

US and UK 7" SINGLES around the album:

“Waterfall” was the non-album B-side of the 7" single "Wonderful World, Beautiful People" released in November 1969 on A&M Records 1146 in the USA. The song “Waterfall” had been released as the A-side of a UK 45 on Island WIP-6039 in late 1969 with “The Reward” as its B-side (no featured on this set).

A&M also issued "Viet Nam" from the album as a 45 in the USA on A&M Records AM 1167 in February 1970 with "Come Into My Life" as its B-side. Trojan Records in the UK issued "Come Into My Life" as the A-side in March 1970 on Trojan TR-7745 with the album cut "Sufferin' In The Land" as its B-side (some European territories like Germany and Italy even gave this release a picture sleeve – as they did the release that preceded it - "Viet Nam").

PACKAGING and AUDIO: 

The packaging is exceptional - a long hardback book with embossed sleeve in what feels like recycled card and paper, pictured and themed CDs, superb US and UK discographies, detailed liner notes - it's beautiful to hold and look at. But the real goods as ever lie in the sound...

GAVIN LURSSEN has remastered the original master tapes at the Mastering Lab and the sound/audio is gorgeous. One of the complaints about reggae CD reissues is that they always sound muffled and compressed compared to the whack of their original vinyl counterparts - and as a lover of old records - that's actually true. One of the reasons for this is that some small independent reggae labels had to reuse tapes for economy, so the originals don't exist - and their reissues use a copy of a copy. But this is A&M/Island Records - so the tapes are still in tact and as evidenced here - in tip-top shape. Lurssen has restored life into these songs and brought out the lovely musicianship on them, excessive hiss levels are kept to a minimum without loss of feel and track after track is a joy to listen to. The clarity of the bass, piano, drums, backing vocals and strings on "Wonderful World, Beautiful People" is just one of many examples - an absolute revelation.

An impressive nine of the eleven tracks are Jimmy Cliff originals – including some stone cold classics as “Wonderful World, Beautiful People”, “Come Into My Life” and the magisterial “Many Rivers To Cross” – bizarrely only ever a B-side on 45 to “The Harder They Come” on Island WIP 6139 in October 1972. The two covers have interesting histories – both being Soul songs from 1968. “I’m Gonna Use What I Got (To Get What I Need)” is a Jimmy Holiday A-side from his days at Minit Records (October 1968 USA 7” single on Minit 32053). Cliff takes a mid-tempo number and ratchets up the tempo with added strings and trombones and those reggae big drums. It cleverly feels like a Reggae message song. With a wickedly good organ groove and backbeat - the pride of roots come shining through in the other cover – “My Ancestors”. It’s a Bob Tubert and Demetriss Tapp song picked up by Lou Rawls in February 1968 on Capitol Records CL 15533 - a song about the singer’s son being as ‘mighty’ as his ‘ancestors’ through bloodline. He kind of rocks it up for "That's The Way It Goes" (not great really) and its easy to see why the chipper and upbeat "Come Into My Life" was picked as a 45 - the kind of crossover Reggae-Soul 7” single radio loved.

To sum up - sure it's expensive and it could have been sequenced to feature more of what we want - but "Better Days Are Coming" is still a peach - a thing of beauty to behold and more importantly to listen too. A lot of it isn’t even Reggae in the traditional sense of the word – more Reggae-Soul – with a positive vibe and message for all to hear.

If you want a cheaper CD variant of "Wonderful World, Beautiful People"/"Jimmy Cliff" - Caroline Records of the UK have issued a November 2015 ‘Expanded Edition’ of "Jimmy Cliff" (the UK title) on Caroline CAROLR026CD (Barcode 600753634790) which has the 11-track LP and a generous 13 extras – rarities – even some foreign language versions.

But for me there’s something about Lurssen’s mastering on the 2005 Hip-O Select 4CD reissue that sends me every time.

Either way - frankly - cross as many rivers as you can to get this set into your life… 

"Morrison Hotel/Hard Rock Cafe" LP by THE DOORS (Remastered and Inside Rhino's 1999 'Complete Studio Recordings' 7CD Box Set) - A Review by Mark Barry...

or 

"...Spy In The House Of Love..." 

Back when Rhino were amongst the best reissue labels in the world (with access to unlimited primo material from the prestigious WEA umbrella of labels) – they regularly produced fabulous Box Sets like “The Complete Studio Recordings” by THE DOORS. Their six studio albums from 1966 to 1971 plus one filled-out disc of 'Essential Rarities' – all of them in meticulously reproduced Mini LP Sleeves.

But while the explosive and hugely influential self-titled debut album "The Doors" along with winners like October 1967's "Strange Days" and July 1969's "Soft Parade" have always gathered the plaudits – for me – my poison has always been their cool Seventies output - especially the first two of the decade – February 1970's "Morrison Hotel/Hard Rock Café" and April 1971's "L.A. Woman". 

Often shortened to just "Morrison Hotel" – The DOORS' first LP of the new Hard Rock decade was an accomplished blast – a band renewed and ready to take on all-comers. Opening with the fantastic Rock-Blues of "Roadhouse Blues" and working its way to the hooky "Peace Frog" and on the very-Doors sound of "Maggie McGill" – I've always felt it's been overlooked in favour of their more famous predecessors. Let's get to 'the spies in the house of love'…

You can buy the "Morrison/Hard Rock Cafe" album as a March 2007 Rhino single-disc 'Expanded Edition' with 10 Bonus Tracks fro less than six quid – but my preferred tipple is part of a pricier box set that keeps it simple. USA released November 1999 – "Morrison Hotel" the 11-track album is Disc 5 in "The Complete Studio Recordings" Box Set by THE DOORS on Rhino 62434-2 (Barcode 075596243421). This beautifully presented reissue is a 5½ x 5½-inch CUBE BOX with a flip-ribboned-lid (the artwork is a collage of Elektra records album sleeves). Inside are 8 slots – one for the sumptuous booklet and 7 albums in oversized 5½” card repro sleeves (one of which is a Rarities set). The STEREO mixes have been used for all six Studio albums and "Morrison Hotel" plays out as follows (37:24 minutes):

Side 1 'Hard Rock Café':

1. Roadhouse Blues

2. Waiting For The Sun

3. You Make Me Real

4. Peace Frog

5. Blue Sunday

6. Ship Of Fools

Side 2 'Morrison Hotel':

7. Land Ho!

8. The Spy

9. Queen Of The Highway

10. Indian Summer

11. Maggie M’Gill

Tracks 1 to 11 are their 5th studio album "Morrison Hotel/Hard Rock Café" - released 12 February 1970 in the USA on Elektra EKS 75007 (April 1970 in the UK with the same catalogue number). Produced by PAUL A. ROTHCHILD – it peaked at No. 4 in the USA and No. 12 in the UK.

This box set hits you on two fronts – and in my book – the two that matter – sound and presentation. Housed in individual slots  - the attention to detail on the Repro Card sleeves is just superb. The CDs for 1 to 3 have Brown Elektra Records labels, 4 and 5 have Red and 6 is the Butterfly variant as per the 1967 to 1971 vinyl albums. "Strange Days", "The Soft Parade" and "Morrison Hotel" have their Inner Bags repro’d with “The Doors” and “Waiting For The Sun” all with Elektra Records Label Bags (and gatefolds where applicable). And of course there’s the beautiful die-cut sleeve of “L.A. Woman” with its plastic and inner yellow bag (very tasty indeed). The Essential Rarities Disc also sports a gatefold card sleeve. The properly chunky and beautifully laid-out booklet is over 60-pages long with essays on each album (time-lined), lyrics to all at the rear and a plethora of period photos and memorabilia peppering the text throughout (liner notes by DAVE DiMARTINO). It’s a fabulous read. And with regard to "Morrison Hotel..." there’s gorgeous out-take photographs by Henry Diltz of the album cover – colour snaps both inside and outside of the 'Hard Rock Café' on East 5th Street, Los Angeles that was featured on the sleeve (the worldwide chain of restaurants filled with music memorabilia took their name from this album).

But all of this is nothing to the AUDIO… Remastered from the original analogue 2-track master tapes to 96K/24-bit digital by BRUCE BOTNIK and BERNIE GRUNDMAN at Bernie Grundman Studios in California in August 1999 – the sound quality is mindblowingly good (Bruce Botnik was the original engineer). Sure there’s been other remasters since and even fatter boxes – but for me – the audio detail presented here has never been surpassed. The only obvious shame is the absence of the rare MONO mixes on 1 to 3 – especially on the stunning debut where the differences are acute (many fans prefer the MONO). But in my book that doesn’t take away from the superlative warmth and presence these remasters have.

Side 1 of the album is called 'Hard Rock Café' and opens with a bona-fide rocking winner – the barroom swagger of "Roadhouse Blues" – a 12-bar tune so good that Status Quo covered it for their "Piledriver" album on Vertigo in late 1972. We return to 60ts weird for "Waiting For The Sun" – a cleverly paced mid-tempo ramble with a Rock riff pumping up the chorus (Robby Kreiger playing up a storm on the guitar). Back to fights in saloons with the barrelhouse piano boogie of "You Make Me Real" - Jim growling out the song title while the band lets rip. But then we get the real deal - a truly fantastic rocker in the shape of the short but brilliant "Peace Frog". You would think with lyrics like "...Blood on the streets runs a river of sadness..." and Jim getting all prophet during the spoken bridge - that the tune is all doom and gloom - but for something so down - it's impossibly poppy and 'so' Doors. The only annoying this is the dead-stop ending that's crudely done on CD but segues into the lovely "Blue Sunday" on the LP. The audio on both of these tracks is sensational. The Side 1 finisher "Ship Of Fools" is another Audio winner - the bass, guitar and organ - all crystal clear and full of presence.

Side 2 opens with a sea-shanty rocker in the shape of "Land Ho!" - I used to dismiss this track but now I love it - catchy as a Californian suntan. "Queen Of The Highway" tells us "...she was a princess...he was a monster...black dressed in leather..." - a chugger with a caustic lyric at its poisonous centre (will things work out for the most beautiful people in the world). Based on the 1954 novel by Anais Nin "Spy In The House Of Love" - Morrison shortens it to "The Spy" - a wicked groove allied with his literary fixations. The album’s most trippy track "Indian Summer" wafts into existence - yet just when you think you have the measure of its floating way - the melody just elevates into something special with Krieger picking away as Jim sings "I love you" - and you can't help but think he means it. It ends on the very-Doors "Maggie M'Gill" where they sound like an angrier Dylan circa "Blonde On Blonde" where Jim roars "...people down there really like to get it on!". If you do buy the box set - Track 3 of the 73-minute 'Essential Rarities' disc offers up a live version of “Roadhouse Blues” recorded at Madison Square Gardens in New York. Superb...

Despite being deleted pretty quickly – "The Complete Studio Recordings" was one of those Box Sets you saw cropping up all of the time. But whilst common once – in 2016 it’s not so much any more - with some dealers trying to procure over £200 for a sealed copy. You can still nail it for under £50 in certain places - and if you can't afford that (you're getting their whole catalogue remember) - then just go for the 2007 'Expanded Edition' single-disc variant that can be procured from many online sellers for less than a fiver (including P&P).

"...I'm a spy in the house of love..." - Jim Morrison sang on "The Spy" and "...I've been singing the Blues ever since the world began..." on "Maggie M'Gill" - like fate was already hanging over him - passing through - not staying - just observing before he moved on to something better.

Impossibly cool and still brilliant - "Morrison Hotel/Hard Rock Cafe" by The Doors needs to be in your home in any incarnation...