'The Doors: The Complete Illustrated Lyrics'
By: Danny Sugarman
(Paperback / 208 pages / Hyperion / ISBN: 1401308856 / $19.95)
Description: The legacy of Jim Morrison continues to live on. The poet lived fast and died young but his legend has grown larger than his life ever did. Now there is a book dedicated to Morrison’s lyrics. Album by album and song by song the reader can delve into the mind that was half genius and half madman.
Verdict: OK, let's get this straight (and out) from the very beginning ... Danny Sugerman is someone in the Doors "family" that a lot of people don't think very highly of! The Doors manager has made a pretty good living out of Jim Morrison's death and continues to this day to fuel the many myths he helped create with his contribution to "No One Here Gets Out Alive". But if it weren't for Danny The Doors would not be selling so many records or books ... or basically anything on Morrison, one feels. Danny has helped keep "The Myth" alive. This is why The Doors are so popular today. Having said that, no single person worked harder to keep the Doors name alive in the 80's than he did ... so, I guess somewhere deep inside me I also have a fair amount of respect for Danny.
His latest book, 'The Doors: The Complete Illustrated Lyrics' is one of the best photographic, visual book records of the band to date - and to my mind, of course! It is a fascinating, visually rich and enjoyable display of a band that changed rock music and the amount of praise (and criticsm) they inspired. The pictures are great, they are clear, close and informative and clearly show how Jim Morrison created the theatrical aspects we so see so often in today's rock music. Jim used rock music to share his art but in the end he became a rock star and his poetry took a backseat. This was not what he wanted but he rode it out till the end. In death, Morrison has found what he so desired in life. Now we celebrate the words of Morrison as much as the antics or the songs. This book is a must for any Doors fanatic and anyone who has ever been touched by the music and words of the late, great Jim Morrison.
Reviewed by JoJo Zeeb
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