Released as part of Record Store Day’s Black Friday event, the main frisson here is the last (apparently) unreleased studio recording by The Doors. Paris Blues was part of what Jim Morrison called the “blues day” that produced Cars Hiss By My Window, Crawling King Snake and L.A. Woman but stayed in the vault since neither Robby Krieger (“not a great tune”) nor the late Ray Manzarek (“nothing special”) deemed it worthy of rescue.
Essentially an upgrade on the Rock Is Dead (1969) song Queen Of The Magazines, written for and about Morrison’s mate Pamela Courson, it’s clearly a minor piece.
Other rarities are Morrison and Krieger performing I Will Never Be Untrue (a Morrison Hotel out-take), and a May ’69 live cover of Robert Johnson’s Me And The Devil Blues. Manzarek’s humdrum You Need Meat Don’t Go No Further and I’m Your Doctor bulk it out, while three tracks with Albert King guesting on guitar are available on Live In Vancouver 1970, best of which is Who Do You Love?, although that doesn’t eclipse the drama of the Absolutely Live version.
File under: ‘Something of interest to Doors fans’. Krieger painted the cover art.
