Review: The Doors, Shivaree

Review: The Doors, Shivaree

The Doors 'Live In Boston 1970': Aidin Vaziri | The packaging is beautiful. The set list is relatively solid, considering the band's collective state of mind at the time (1970). And there's a version of "Light My Fire" on the third disc that pretty much wipes the floor with every other version of the song in terms of sheer over-the-top insanity. The only problem with the latest unearthed live set by the Doors is the sound quality, which, despite meticulous digital restoration, still feels as if you're listening to a bootleg cassette through the dashboard of a Datsun 260Z. To his credit, producer Bruce Botnick pretty much cops to this in the liner notes, meaning that if you're willing to put up with a serious case of Jim Morrison's dry mouth (not entirely his fault this time), this is just about the best way to experience the Doors at their unhinged best.

Shivaree 'Tainted Love: Mating Calls and Love Songs': Aidin Vaziri | On her latest album, helium-voiced Ambrosia Parsley takes on the music of pop's biggest misogynists and misanthropes, an unsavory crew of courtroom faces that includes Phil Spector, Ike Turner, Michael Jackson, Rick James and Gary Glitter. You expect the singer who puts Air America Radio's major news events to song every week to snatch these tunes away from their composers and pulverize them PJ Harvey style. Instead, the Shivaree front woman gives each track a heavily perfumed makeover, delivering a lilting cabaret version of Mötley Crüe's "Looks That Kill" and making a sensual lullaby out of R. Kelly's "Half on a Baby." There's also an accordion-drenched version of Leadbelly's "Goodnight Irene" that's weird beyond words. It's a little bumpy overall, but oddly compelling.