CD Japan has a 2 disc SHM version of this.

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/WPCR-18051

I received a notice from CD Japan today that this release, the 2 CD Japanese version that is, has been cancelled.

I received a notice from CD Japan today that this release, the 2 CD Japanese version that is, has been cancelled.

Hear the Doors’ Rare ‘Hello, I Love You’ Rough Mix



“What a great opener, ‘Hello, I love you, tell me your name,'” the Doors‘ drummer John Densmore says. “Like, whoa, OK. That’s aggressive. You’re in love with me but you don’t know my credentials?”

He laughs and says that kind of pickup line was not frontman Jim Morrison’s style at all, even if he did write the lyrics. “He was sort of ‘Southern shy,'” the drummer says. “Well, if he got loaded, he got a little more open – a little too open sometimes.” But when he wrote the lyrics that would become “Hello, I Love You” – a Number One single off the band’s Waiting for the Sun LP – it was more from a place of hope than actual bravado. “It’s about an African-American girl he saw on the boardwalk in Venice,” he says. “‘Do you hope to make her see you, fool?/Do you hope to pluck this dusky jewel?'” He laughs again. “Who puts words like that to rock & roll? Only Jim.”

The song will be getting a second life when Rhino Records reissues the seven-inch on Friday, the 50th anniversary of when the song went to Number One. The record will feature mono mixes of “Hello, I Love You” and its B side, “Love Street,” that were only sent to radio stations at the time (the original single was one of the first stereo 45s, which was a novelty at the time). The song will also feature on a new Waiting for the Sun box set, which features nine rough mixes from the album’s recording sessions and tracks from a gig the band played in Copenhagen in 1968. The collection is due out September 14th.

The rough mix of “Hello, I Love You,” which is premiering here, spotlights Morrison’s vocals a little more than the album version, especially in the backups, and it cranks Robby Krieger’s fuzz-toned guitar riff in the right speaker. Toward the end, Ray Manzarek’s keyboard playing takes center stage before the fadeout.

“At first, I was against releasing any of this, but I get it,” Densmore says. “I’ve got mixes of John Coltrane, my idol, doing six versions of one song before they got to the master and I’m interested in that because I want to see the trail.”

For “Hello, I Love You,” the trail leads back to an early version of the Doors, Rick and the Ravens, who cut a funky, piano-driven and harmonica-accented demo of the song before Krieger joined. Densmore winces when he thinks of this early version. “It was kind of lame,” he says. “We knew the words were great.” After Krieger joined and they tried it again in the Sun sessions, producer Paul Rothchild knew it was a hit. “He just demanded that we work it out there in the studio at $200 an hour ’cause he just knew – and he was right,” Densmore says. “Robby came up with this guitar lick and added 100 pounds of fuzz tone on it and it happened.”

Some time after the song became a hit, the band heard rumblings that people thought it sounded similar to the Kinks’ “All Day and All of the Night.” “I read where somebody was interviewing Ray Davies and asked if we’d stolen that and he said, ‘Never heard it, don’t care,'” Densmore says with a laugh. “That was a good response. I mean, we didn’t. There is some similarity there for a few bars but we certainly did not go, ‘Oh, let’s rip this off.’ Shit happens like that, you know?” (Davies has since said that his publisher cut a deal with the Doors’ publisher, which Densmore was unaware of.)

After it topped the chart, the song lived on through covers by many other artists who wanted to put their own spin on it. Jazz drummer Buddy Rich turned it into a big-band raveup, the Cure made it more of a straight-ahead rock song, and Missing Persons refashioned it as a New Wave odyssey, among others. But Densmore fully understood its impact when talking to a stranger.

“A fan came up to me and said, ‘Hey, without your music I wouldn’t exist,'” he says. “I said, ‘Really? What do you mean by that?’ And they said, ‘Well, my mom and dad were in a bar, and “Hello, I Love You” was on the radio, and it gave my dad the courage to go up to my mom and introduce himself. So thank you.'” The drummer laughs. “I went, ‘Wow, that is a great story. I appreciate that.'”

I made it just for you, Geff.

The Doors' Robby Krieger Recalls 'Difficult' Third Album, Shares Rough Mix of 'Spanish Caravan'



The Doors' 50th anniversary celebrations -- including this fall's commemoration of the group's third album, 1968's Waiting For The Sun, whose rough mix of "Spanish Caravan" premieres exclusively above -- is becoming old hat for guitarist Robby Krieger.

"It's kinda cool," Krieger tells Billboard. "But I hate to hear that term 50 years. I'd rather it be 30...."

Produced and remastered by original Doors engineer Bruce Botnick, the Waiting For The Sun 50th anniversary deluxe edition comes out Sept. 14 and features 14 unreleased tracks, including nine rough mixes and five live tracks from a Copenhagen concert in 1968. For Krieger it recalls a "difficult" period for the Doors, one that encompassed the dreaded "third album syndrome" and also coincided with frontman Jim Morrison's burgeoning infatuation with drinking. "We had enough songs for two albums before we ever went in to record the first album, but by the time the third album rolled around you're kind of out of songs," Krieger recalls. "So I ended up writing more of the songs for the third album. I got to do stuff like 'Spanish Caravan' and 'Yes, The River Knows,' stuff like that. We created some stuff right there in the studio, like 'Five To One.' And Jim was starting to get into his drunken stage, although he came up with some great stuff, too."

Krieger chalks up Morrison's drinking as a function of the Doors' process at the time. "By the time of the third album we had enough money really spend a lot of time in the studio recording," he says. "It wasn't like the first album, which was done in 10 days. So Jim would get really bored 'cause you'd spend six hours on snare drum sound and the vocal is always the last thing to be recorded. So he'd be sitting around all day and he got really bored and he would end up going to the bar and getting wasted and was useless after that." Morrison also developed an interest in Quaaludes, according to Krieger -- and wasn't helped by a growing population of sycophants. "It was tough," remembers Krieger, noting that he, keyboardist Ray Manzarek and drummer John Densmore favored LSD and Transcendental Meditation at the time. "(Producer) Paul Rothchild had to yell and scream a couple times and throw people out of the studio. It was kind of crazy."

Waiting For The Sun was nevertheless the Doors' lone No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, also topping the Hot 100 with the single "Hello, I Love You." "In those days it was more about singles," Krieger says, "and we were more excited when a single went No. 1 'cause it was on the radio and you played it on TV and stuff like that. An album was cool to be No. 1, but it was just more of a, 'Hey, we're gonna make some cash on that one,' 'cause usually they didn't stay at No. 1 for longer than a couple of weeks." The new live tracks, meanwhile, came from a tape owned by a private collector who "had it for years and was trying to get a lot of money for it. Finally he became more reasonable and we were able to use it."

Krieger says discussions have not begun yet for a 50th anniversary reissue of 1969's The Soft Parade, though he's certain there will be one. More live tapes are also in and being added to the Doors' vault, and the guitarist is still hoping to release a recording from last year's tribute concert for the late Manzarek. Krieger will be hitting the road with his own band on the East Coast this fall to play shows comprised of the Doors ' music, and he's still trying to get Densmore to join him on stage more often. "He's got tinnitus pretty bad, and he doesn't like to get up and whack on the drums with loud monitors and stuff anymore," Krieger says. "I'm always trying to get him to come and play at my St. Jude's (Hospital) benefit, which is in October, so I’m working on him for that. Hopefully he'll make that one, but it's tough to get John to play anywhere now."