The Doors: Mr. Mojo Risin':The Story of L.A. Woman
(The Doors / DVD / NR / 2012 / Eagle Eye Media)
Overview: 'Mr. Mojo Risin': The Story of L.A. Woman' is the story of the making of the Doors' last album with Jim Morrison L.A. Woman. 2011 is the 40th anniversary of the album's release and this program goes into detail of how the album came about, its recording and what was happening to the band at the time.
DVD Verdict: "It was 1970 ... and this could be our last album." Haunting words like that are spoken throughout this documentary, but the true narritive is the unspoken one - that of watching the decline on film of Jim Morrison himself. I have to say, although not in the main herd of appreciation for it, I actually loved this documentary.
In much the same recorded vein as the Classic Albums series put out by Eagle Vision, it runs at around 60 mins only (sadly), but the bonus features run a total of forty plus - so that makes up for it!
As they progress through the storytelling, they make it clear most all thought that Morrison had a 'pact with the Devil,' and that with Jim wanting to go to Paris - without the record even being completed - the album was always going to be the last The Doors would make. Especially as once he left for France he was never seen again, as we all now know!
Indeed, the main documentary goes through the album, song by song (minus 'L'America,' for some strange reason!), with the surviving Doors offering lots of interesting anecdotes. They also - separately - play their individual parts for some of the songs, which is VERY cool. Another visual treat is when Producer Bruce Botnick isolates separate tracks from the master tapes. This allows the viewer to hear portions of some songs with just one instrument; unaccompanied, so to speak.
True, dedicated fans will recognize most of the old vintage footage of the band performing, but beware as for some foolish reason there are a few scenes where they attempt to sync L.A. Woman songs with older performance footage. It doesn't work, it looks bad, and is (at times) cheesy!
And so, just for the record, 'The Doors: Mr. Mojo Risin': The Story of L.A. Woman' features a lot of seen-before footage and photos of The Doors, but also (from my standpoint) a third related of never seen before stuff! It also includes The Doors Guide to L.A. which is a trip, literally unto itself, and you will also get to hear for the first time The Doors newly-discovered song, 'She Smells So Nice'! Basically a blues jam with rambling lyrics it was still a must-listen-to song for me.
So, if you love The Doors, and especially the L.A. Woman album, you should check out this documentary. The soundand picture quality on this Blu ray is just incredible, trust me! This is a Full Screen Presentation (1.33:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs.
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