Light My Fire by Ray Manzarek
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Book Reviews of Light My Fire
Book Review: kundalini?
Summary: 2 Stars
maybe you need to read some prehistoric art based transgressional novels and manuscripts watch a lot of art house films and catch up on your transcendental studies, because this guy is definately going off on one and you wont understand what the he[ck] he is on about, but all of his references are in reaction to his own mythmaking in sugermans book, the film was about money except ray (kyle mcglaghlan) looked clueless staring gormlessly at the actor playing krieger, this book is a way of getting back the reigns from the major corporations who have splattered the pretty rocker face everywhere. this limp attempt at making densmore and stone look bad is in fact a money making scheme that slaps the "sun child image" in the face.firstly Stones a film maker he is not out to tell truths about brotherly love between a chicago organ player and a flabby excentric poetry freak, he was out to show a throat full of muscles in leather pants stomping all over the stage driving women crazy and going out in a cheap hollywood attempt at poetic death.
Densmore, alright gotta give it to him is the outsider when it came to the reading habits of morrison but he could definately lay a superb drum beat and i bet he could see a lot more from his high riser, oh and since he was not out living like some naeive overblown Coppolla wannabe, i bet he could really observe the effects of "breaking on through" his book details the mental promiscuity of Manzarek, and Morrisons decay humanistically and even tries to carry the blame honestly.
Rays books a joke he was trying to play dad with the bands decisions but steps out the back door when it came to sorting morrison out, he endlessly blames negative energy and a mythological jimbo character a southern drunk that eventually kills morrison. firstly theres the basic problem that morrison was always on a death trip from day one, and the endless touring and repetitive songs and lyrics can easily be heard on the bright midnight album listen to morrison when he is not off his face, he does not wanna be in that place, theres no enthusiasm hes just filling up the time, this guy was human like the rest of us, a trickster, a drunk and a punk, if you want to really look into truly interesting minds look into morrisons endless reading habits.
as for our old friend ray, he is the epitome of the hippie as dictated by the punk rock movement conservatism dressed in a guatemalan sweater" he is a salesman with a peace button. and you thought they all got drowned in the mud at woodstock 69 rays the one that got away.
Book Review: No Good
Summary: 2 Stars
I give this book 2 stars for the occasional first person insights into the Doors. But there is too little of it. There is too much of the rantings of a man who is apparently trapped in the 6os, and is undergoing a personal mind battle between himself as a flower child and a business man. He often comes on as one or the other of these two conflicting images.
Often he rants about the establishment and their love of power and money, but at the same time he exudes great excitement when he describes the business and money aspect of his music career; like the big bucks he got when 'Light my Fire' hit the charts and the new car and beach house he was able to then buy. Or when he describes getting his first royalty check from Elektra and "Grinning and Dithering" while he makes his wife guess at the figure. Then she "squeals" and they hug and yell "We're rich!" A few pages later he goes on ranting about power and money hungry people.
I found too much hypocrisy in his writing like when he keeps using the phrase "I hope the lovers win the war. Don't you?" Then a few pages later he comes on as anything but a lover with his nasty second-hand gossip about Morrison allegedly telling him that he didn't like John Desmore. Uh, wouldn't a true lover and person who preaches peace and goodwill amongst each other, have kept that to himself rather than basically telling the world "Jim liked me more than John." I mean, what does that serve other than hurting another man's feelings? Nasty stuff from a self professed lover of people.
"Break On Through" is a much more supperior book on this topic. And it is a shame. Because with Manzarek's personal insight into the group, he could have provided the greatest story....But instead he chose to hog the spotlight and put too much of himself, his hypocritical pseudo hippy rantings, and his mean spirited jabs at others who were a part of this chapter in his life, into this book. I was hoping for more. Instead he delivered mostly junk.
Book Review: Call me hypercritical, but...
Summary: 2 Stars
it seems like Manzarek was a bit dried up on ideas for this book. You encouter the name "Dionysus" in one form or another twice per page minimum, along with various other coy references to deities and mythos. Manzareks' obssession with the whole 60s drug culture comes through loud and clear in his frequent rants (once about ever five pages) about legalization and the "Doors of Perception" according to Houxsley and his pills. The book could be more adequately titled "Jim Morrison and My General Thoughts on Society." Though the book has no lack of interesting stories and excellent photos, it lacks any sort of distinction from every other Jim Morrison story. Ray details the excesses in a fashion similar to most everyone else who's ever written about Jim. The relaxed pace and style are fine until you get to "I HOPE THE LOVERS WIN THE WAR" twice per page, along with "THEY DONT WANT YOU TO KNOW" and "FASCIST PIGS." ...
If you are looking for a good read, this isn't it. I found myself skimming after his second drug rant began, and I most always passed over paragraphs of neo-hippie artsy mumbo jumbo where Manzarek inserts random quotations and philosophical excerpts one after the other, along with a few references to Bacchus and Sattires, in an attempt to convince you he is intelligent. And let us not forget his boyhood recollections... and 20 pages detailing the names, not the works, of the blues artists he enjoyed; or his overbearing interest in erotic film noire, and of course the endless rambling about his gorgeous wife...
Though I now know many random facts about film noire in the 60s that I care nothing about, and I can now correctly spell Manzarek, I feel that this book was a distinct waste of time... both mine and the authors.
Book Review: Disappointing
Summary: 2 Stars
This book reads like a 15 year old's idea of what sounds intellectual and spiritual. If his key-board playing was as awkward as his writing, the Doors never would have made it. There are bits of info of interest to Doors fans. But I got sick of Ray knocking John Densmore. (I personally liked him knocking Oliver Stone. Stone committed serious libel with the movie JFK, and I think in a just world, should be rotting in jail now for it, or have had to have made a big settlement.) I saw Ray last year give an intimate performance at Muldoon's Irish Pub in Newport Beach. He played Doors riffs on the piano. Told stories about Jim and the Doors. And it wasn't much publicized, so he performed to a small crowd. It was a real treat. And he did knock Oliver Stone when he talked. But he praised John Densmore. His book was just out, and I wonder if he'd gotten flack for being mean to Densmore in the book, and was making amends. I was cringing when he mentioned Densmore, because I thought, "Here come the insults." But he was actually nice about Densmore when he spoke. Too bad he wasn't nice about Densmore in the book.Book Review: Plays Keyboards Way Better than He Uses It for Words
Summary: 2 Stars
I suppose the book would be VERY readable if one were completely zonked on acid throughout....Most people just don't write, think, read or speak the way Ray writes. Well, most people post-1968...There is a "charm" factor to the nostalgia, and The Doors often bordered on genius. But Morrison DID succumb to excesses, and Ray soft-pedals everything stupid, self-destructive, boring and depressing about him. It is as if he is afraid to somehow "betray" sex/drugs/rock-and-roll so it is better to adopt an "orthodox" hippie party-line...
O.K...acid is great -- I'm going to guess Ray encourages judicious use of the same for his family? -- and Jim's death was...some sort of cosmic coincidence not really caused by lots and lots of alcohol and/or stupid behaviors.
Anyway...if you want to read a really honest book about The Doors, read the John Densmore's book. He pointed out, quite accurately (it would seem), that one never knew if one was going to be dealing with Jim the Poet and Genius, on a given day, or Jimbo, The Raving Alcoholic Idiot.
I guess that's not as mystical and uplifting though...