The Doors - Essential Rarities [Remastered] (1999)

This collection, originally available only as a bonus disc in The Doors: The Complete Studio Recordings box set (fleshed out here with another outtake track, "Woman Is a Devil," from that set) is split just about evenly between a sometimes motley collection of outtakes and demos and a better slate of live material. It also argues that while most rock bands cut their teeth on blues and other roots music, then develop a distinct sound (or sell out to pop fashion trends), the Doors seemed to evolve ass-backwards, the band's, and particularly Jim Morrison's, college poet-nihilist pretensions slowly giving way to more blues-based influences. Indeed, after a few legendary years of late-1960s success and excess, Morrison had more than enough reasons to sing the blues. The studio leftovers here underscore why they're called "outtakes" (1965 demos of "Hello, I Love You" and "Moonlight Drive" are historically interesting, if a bit bubblegummy) though there are some highlights. "Whiskey, Mystics and Men" showcases another side of the band's tastefully odd Kurt Weill fetish; a '69 alternate of "Queen of the Highway" is almost lounge hipster chic; and "Orange County Suite" is a dirge from '70. Live cuts (all from '69 and '70) range from a baroque, affected PBS telecast of "The Soft Parade" to an apocalyptic, overwrought "The End." --Jerry McCulley