The Doors: No One Here Gets Out Alive (2001)

Typically, rock bio programs for radio are little more than aural versions of Teen Beat, rarely delving beyond the surface appeal of a given artist. Los Angeles-based DJ Jim Ladd's aptly titled Inner View was the first nationally syndicated music and interview program to raise the intelligence bar several notches. Ladd's No One Here Gets Out Alive – originally broadcast on North American radio stations during the late summer of 1979 – is an audio biography of the Doors as told by those who lived it. This show marks the first time that John Densmore, Robbie Krieger, and Ray Manzarek spoke candidly regarding the band's origins and their even more colorful lyricist, Jim Morrison. Ladd's narration guides listeners through a profile that is as much sociological as it is historical or musical. This results in an engaging listen for new recruits as well as those familiar with the folklore surrounding the Doors and their craft. In addition to providing a more or less chronological history of the band, each disc examines a specific motif found within the Doors' music. The songs substantiate the revealing interview sound bites between Ladd, the surviving Doors, their band manager Bill Siddons, and concert promoter Bill "Uncle Bobo" Graham, as well as band confidant and author Danny Sugerman. There is no padding or filler on No One Here Gets Out Alive, making the three-hour running time seem infinitely shorter. There is a caveat regarding the source material for No One Here Gets Out Alive. This set was mastered from vinyl. While this in no way affects the sound quality or listenability, astute consumers will inevitably notice intermittent surface noise intrinsic to the playback medium.

by Lindsay Planer, AMG

Tracklist CD1 - Beginning Of The Doors: Visionary Dream:

1. Segment I: The end / Take it as it comes / Light my fire / Moonlight drive / Break on through (to the other side) / Strange days
2. Segment II: Who do you love (live) / When the music's over / My eyes have seen you
3. Segment III: Spanish caravan / We could be so good together / Roadhouse blues / When the music's over / Who do you love (live)
4. Segment IV: Dawn's highway / People are strange / I can't see your face / Celebration of the lizard-The hill dwellers (live) / Five to one / Celebration of the lizard-A little game (live) / Soul kitchen / Crystal ship




Tracklist CD2 - Exploration And Morrison's Sojourn:

1. Segment I: Celebration of the lizard-Lions in the street (live) / Celebration of the lizard-Wake up (live) / Light my fire / The end
2. Segment II: Alabama song (whisky bar) / Not to touch the earth / The end / Strange days
3. Segment III: The American night / Roadhouse blues (live) / Celebration of the lizard-Wake up (live) / When the music's over (live) / back door man (live)
4. Segment IV: Tell all the people / Unknown soldier / Five to one / Ship of fools




Tracklist CD3 - Cultural Excursion Into The Void:

1. Segment I: Riders of the storm / Awake / Waiting for the sun / Dead cats, dead rats (live) / Break on through (to the other side) (live)
2. Segment II: Peace frog / Jim Morrison stage rant from Miami / Love me two times
3. Segment III: The end / Hour for magic / Been down so long / Stoned immaculate
4. Segment IV: When the music's over / Shaman's blues / The Changeling




Tracklist CD4 - James Douglas Morrison: Poet:

1. Segment I: The end / When the music's over / Horse latitudes / Ghost song / Newborn awakening
2. Segment II: To come of age / Black polished chrome / Latino chrome / Angels and sailors / Stoned immaculate / The movie
3. Segment III: The movie / The hitchhiker / Riders of the storm / Jim Morrison: Cemetery poem
4. Segment IV: Jim Morrison: Hitler / Wild child / An American prayer / Curses, invocations / Hour for magic / A feast of friends / The end



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