The Doors: Jim Morrison (vocals); Robby Krieger (guitar); Ray Manzarek (keyboards); John Densmore (drums).

Additional personnel: Larry Knechtel (bass).

Recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders, Hollywood, California.

The Doors: Jim Morrison (vocals); Robby Krieger (guitar); Ray Manzarek (keyboards); John Densmore (drums).

Includes liner notes by Danny Sugarman.

Digitally remastered by Bruce Botnick.

The Doors: Jim Morrison (vocals); Robby Krieger (guitar); Ray Manzarek (piano, organ, bass); John Densmore (drums).

Recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders, Hollywood, California in September 1966. Originally released on Electra (74007).

Digitally remastered by Steve Hoffman.

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

The Doors: Jim Morrisson (vocals); Robby Krieger (guitar); Ray Manzarek (keyboards); John Densmore (drums).

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

Includes liner notes by Max Bell.

All tracks have been digitally remastered.

The Doors: Jim Morrison (vocals); Robby Krieger (guitar); Ray Manzarek (keyboards); John Densmore (drums).

Additional personnel: Marc Benno (guitar); Curtis Amy (saxophone); Douglas Lubahn, Harvey Brooks, Ray Neopolitan, Jerry Scheff (bass).

Producers: Paul Rothchild, Bruce Botnick, The Doors.

Compilation producers: The Doors, David McLees, Gary Stewart.

Recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders, T.T.G./Sunset-Highland Recording Studios, Elektra Sound Recorders and The Doors Workshop, Hollywood, California. Includes liner notes by Max Bell.

Digitally remastered by Bruce Botnick.

The Doors: Jim Morrison (vocals); Robby Krieger (guitar); Ray Manzarek (keyboards); John Densmore (drums).

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

Compilation producers: The Doors, David McLees.

Recorded between 1967 & 1983. Includes liner notes by Jim Ladd.

Personnel: Jim Morrison (vocals); Marc Benno, Robbie Krieger (guitar); Ray Manzarek (keyboards); John Densmore (drums).

Audio Remasterer: Bruce Botnick.

Liner Note Authors: Max Bell; Shawn Amos.

Recording information: Elektra Sound recorders, Los Angeles, CA; Sunset Sound Recorders, Hollywood, CA; Sunset-Highland Recording Recording Studios, Hollywood,; T.T.G., Hollywood, CA; The Doors Workshop, West Hollywood, CA.

Photographers: Joel Brodsky; Henry Diltz; Paul Ferrara.

Released to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of the first Doors album, THE VERY BEST OF THE DOORS supercedes all former Doors compilations. At two discs and 34 tracks, this is quite comprehensive for a band whose key lineup released only half a dozen albums. In addition to all the expected hits like "Light My Fire," "Hello I Love You," and "Roadhouse Blues," this compilation delves much deeper into the catalogue with fan favorites such as "Not To Touch the Earth" and "Wishful Sinful," as well as a handful of previously obscure rarities. Remastered and newly remixed by original engineer Bruce Botnick and the surviving members of the Doors, THE VERY BEST OF THE DOORS is a solid tribute to the band.

Rhino U.K.'s 2007 release The Very Best of the Doors is very similar to Rhino U.S.'s 2001 release The Very Best of the Doors -- and the 2007 comp is also available as a single disc and as a double-disc set, as well as a limited edition that adds a DVD to the two-CD version, so it's very easy to get all three compilations confused. That said, there are notable differences between all three U.K. comps and the original U.S. set. The American disc weighs in at 16 tracks while the single-disc U.K. set is longer at 20 tracks and, in fact, boasts a stronger overall selection of songs, making this arguably the best single-disc introduction to the band yet assembled. The double-disc U.K. set doesn't just add a second disc, it has a different sequencing as well and consequently feels like a very different beast than the original set. It's a compilation that digs deeper into album tracks and radio favorites, sometimes getting songs that maybe should have been on the U.K. single disc -- such as "Five to One," for instance, a Doors standard that's on the U.S. single disc but not the U.K. -- but its real strength is how it paints a richer portrait of the band. It's for the listener who wants a bigger picture of the Doors without investing in the actual albums or a box set and, in that sense, this Very Best of the Doors (along with the version with the DVD) does its job well. So, choose wisely: if you're looking for an introduction or just the hits, take either of the 2001 or 2007 single discs; if you're looking for most of the best, pick the double-disc set, either with or without the DVD; if you know you love the band already, go for Perception. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Not to be confused with the two-disc compilation of the same name (the one that displays Jim Morrison's Jesus Christ pose), and not to be confused with the identically designed The Very Best of the Doors, this particular Best of the Doors was distributed in various territories outside the U.S. in 2000. The Very Best of the Doors, released in 2001, is a preferable single-disc anthology since it's easier to find and is a little smarter with its selections, but this disc does cover a lot of fertile ground, including "Riders on the Storm," "Light My Fire," "Touch Me," "The End," and "Five to One." For whatever reason, a live version of "Roadhouse Blues" gets the nod over the studio version. ~ Andy Kellman

There ought to be a warning label on this double-CD set, and not for parents (though with the Doors you never know) but for fans -- thanks to the "40th Anniversary Remixes," almost every song here is so different from the established versions of the Doors' classic repertory, that it is certain to annoy the hell out of longtime fans and will give new listeners a very misleading picture of what the group's hits sounded like and what their music was about sonically. The Doors were already one of the most heavily anthologized bands of the 1960s -- like the Who, they've had more hits collections and best-of compilations issued on them than the number of official albums that they ever released, which is testimony to their continued popularity across the decades, and this double-CD set is certain to double or triple the confusion associated with that mass of compilation albums. To top it off, this U.S. version of The Very Best of the Doors released in the fall of 2007 comes on top of Rhino UK already releasing two different compilations (single- and double-CD) called The Very Best of the Doors in England earlier in 2007 -- and follows another The Very Best of the Doors issued in the U.S. in 2001. The 2007 U.S. version has the same name as the U.K. set, the same cover art, even the same first disc as the U.K. double-disc compilation, but it is not exactly the same as that U.K. set. Its second disc spans 19 songs, just like the U.K. version, but five songs -- "Bird of Prey," "Orange County Suite," "Runnin' Blue," "Stoned Immaculate," and "Whiskey, Mystics and Men" -- are swapped out from the U.K. edition, and have been replaced by "Twentieth Century Fox," "My Eyes Have Seen You," "Tell All the People," "Not to Touch the Earth," and "Gloria" on the U.S. edition, and the sequencing is shifted slightly. This gives the set a slightly less psychedelic bent in favor of a slightly more straightforward rock & roll feel, which may mean that it's targeted more toward the tastes of an American audience, but it's such a subtle difference it hardly matters; the difference in sequencing just seems like a way to create collectibles in the catalog. In any case, the American two-CD version of The Very Best of the Doors is as good as the British -- not better, not worse, just different -- and either one serves as a comprehensive look at the group. But there's the rub -- it's a very misleading look where it counts, in the listening.

Rolling Stone (5/1/03, p.59) - 5 stars out of 5 - Included in "The Rolling Stone Hall Of Fame" - "...A stoned, immaculate classic..."

Q (1/03, p.54) - Included in Q Magazine's "100 Greatest Albums Ever"

Q (11/00, p.124) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Still their best album, a blurt of American Gothic teenybop, containing both the pop hit 'Light My Fire' and the mum-shagging epic 'The End'..."

Down Beat (p.69) - 4.5 stars out of 5 -- "Surrealism and dark existentialism pervade The Doors' debut disc, a tour de force of brilliant pop songwriting."

NME (Magazine) (10/2/93, p.29) - Ranked #25 in NME's list of the 'Greatest Albums Of All Time.'