THE COMPLETE STUDIO RECORDINGS contains: THE DOORS (1967)/STRANGE DAYS (1967)/WAITING FOR THE SUN (1968)/THE SOFT PARADE (1969)/MORRISON HOTEL (1970)/L.A. WOMAN (1971) and ESSENTIAL RARITIES (1997) which includes previously unreleased, live and demo tracks. Includes a 60-page booklet with liner notes by Dave DiMartino.

The Doors: Jim Morrison (vocals); Bobby Krieger (guitar); Ray Manzarek (piano organ, keyboards, marimba); John Densmore (drums, percussion).

Additional personnel includes: Marc Benno (guitar); G. Puglese (harmonica); Curtis Amy (saxophone); George Bohanan (trombone); Harvey Brooks, Doug Lubahn, Ray Neopolitan, Lonnie Mack, Jerry Scheff (bass).

Producers: Paul A. Rothchild, Bruce Botnick, The Doors.

All tracks have been digitally remastered using 24-bit technology.

This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.

The Doors issued just six studio albums during their phenomenal (yet extremely turbulent) four-year run, yet the band's popularity has increased dramatically since singer Jim Morrison's mysterious death in 1971. And although the Doors have been the subject of one box set already, the 1999 seven-disc set COMPLETE STUDIO RECORDINGS is definitive. All six of the band's albums are included, in crystal-clear digitally remastered sound. All come in cardboard replicas of the original records that go so far as to duplicate the records' dust cover sleeves.

And as a bonus, an extra disc entitled ESSENTIAL RARITIES is included, which features the best uncommon material from the Doors' 1997 four-disc box set, THE DOORS BOX SET, as well as a booklet filled with pictures, essays, and lyrics. Few would debate that some of the finest rock ever recorded is here--"Light My Fire," "Break on Through," "Peace Frog," "Waiting for the Sun," "Touch Me," "Roadhouse Blues," "Riders on the Storm," the list is endless. If you're a longtime Doors fan looking to replace your records or a newcomer wanting to acquire all of the band's official albums in one shot, COMPLETE STUDIO RECORDINGS is a must-have.

Q (2/00, pp.96-7) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...6 of the quartet's studio albums...dressed up in miniaturised versions of the original cardboard sleeves, plus...ESSENTIAL RARITIES: a 14-track distillation of the last boxed set with an unreleased and nondescript slow blues 'Devil Is A Woman'..."