When You're Strange: A Film About the Doors

Personnel: Jim Morrison (vocals); Robby Krieger (guitar); Ray Manzarek (keyboards); John Densmore (drums, percussion).
Audio Mixer: Bruce Botnick.
Liner Note Authors: Dick Wolf; Johnny Depp; Tom DiCillo.
Recording information: Isle Of Wright (08/29/1970); New York City (08/29/1970); Television-Byen, Gladsaxe, Copenhagen, Denmark (08/29/1970); The Ed Sullivan Show (08/29/1970); Isle Of Wright (09/18/1968); New York City (09/18/1968); Television-Byen, Gladsaxe, Copenhagen, Denmark (09/18/1968); The Ed Sullivan Show (09/18/1968); Isle Of Wright (09/19/1967); New York City (09/19/1967); Television-Byen, Gladsaxe, Copenhagen, Denmark (09/19/1967); The Ed Sullivan Show (09/19/1967); Isle Of Wright (1970); New York City (1970); Television-Byen, Gladsaxe, Copenhagen, Denmark (1970); The Ed Sullivan Show (1970).
Reader: Johnny Depp.
The soundtrack to Tom DiCillo's Doors documentary When You're Strange does an admirable job of aping the L.A. quartet's hazy pomp and poetry, intercutting interviews and recitations by Johnny Depp with live tracks, assorted rarities featured in the film, and a few enduring classics. Apart from Depp's readings of Jim Morrison's poetry, there is nothing previously unreleased here, nor is it necessarily of much use to the collector who will have the handful of oddities elsewhere, but as an aural companion to the film it works quite well, creating its own hazy, impressionistic journey through the group's oft-told past. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine