Pittsburgh Civic Arena (album)

Live in Pittsburgh 1970
Live album by The Doors
Released	March 4, 2008
Recorded	May 2, 1970; Pittsburgh Civic Arena, Pittsburgh PA
Genre	Psychedelic rock, acid rock, blues rock
Length	79:46
Label	Rhino, Bright Midnight Archives, Doors Music Company
Producer	Bruce Botnick
The Doors chronology
Live in Boston (2007)Live in Boston2007 Live Pittsburgh Civic Arena (2008) Live at the Matrix 1967 (2008)Live at the Matrix 19672008

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Live in Pittsburgh 1970 is a live album by The Doors released in 2008. The concert was recorded in Pittsburgh at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena on May 2, 1970. This is the sixth full-length live set of previously unreleased material from The Doors' own Bright Midnight Archives.^[1]

The album includes more than an hour of fire and energy from singer Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger. Always eager to take a chance onstage or otherwise, Morrison experiments with the musical dialogue during a 22-plus-minute version of "When the Music's Over", leading the band into bits of songs that they’d never played live. Along with gems like "Five to One" and "Break on Through", the group also performed covers of Robert Johnson’s "Cross Road Blues" and the band’s signature cover of Howling Wolf’s "Back Door Man". Before closing with an extended take on "Light My Fire", Manzarek took the microphone with backup by Morrison for "Close to You".^[2]

LIVE IN PITTSBURGH 1970 is mixed and mastered by engineer Bruce Botnick, who recorded several shows from The Doors’ 1970 tour on multi-track tape for the Absolutely Live album. The concert would have been released sooner if it were not for two missing sections from the 8-track masters. The dialogue section that comes before “Close To You” has been replaced using the live 2-track stereo tapes and titled here as Tonight You’re In For A Special Treat. The other missing section was of the first 16 bars of music from the beginning of Manzarek’s solo on “Light My Fire.” Instead of allowing the missing music to prevent the release of this show, the band decided to insert the missing music from one of the other 1970 concerts.

According to Bruce Botnick, "Jim was as clear as he could be onstage, and the guys moved to and fro with him, trusting the journey. Sometimes The Doors were raging with fire and energy; at other times, when Jim jumped into the lyric of a different song, in the middle of something else, they were right there with him." ^[3]

Track listing

All songs written by Jim Morrison, Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek and John Densmore, except where noted.

1. "Back Door Man" (Willie Dixon, Chester Burnett) – 2:47
2. "Love Hides" (Jim Morrison) – 2:23
3. "Five to One" (Morrison) – 5:18
4. "Roadhouse Blues" (Morrison) – 7:00
5. "Mystery Train" (Junior Parker) – 7:53
6. "Away in India" – 3:08
7. "Cross Road Blues" (Robert Johnson) – 3:25
8. "Universal Mind" – 4:31
9. "Someday Soon" – 3:50
10. "When the Music's Over" – 16:54
11. "Break On Through (To the Other Side)" (Morrison) - 0:54
12. "Push Push" - 0:23
13. "The Soft Parade Vamp" - 4:37
14. "Tonight You're In for a Special Treat" - 1:28
15. "Close to You" (Dixon) – 5:17
16. "Light My Fire" (Robby Krieger) – 11:18

Personnel

• Jim Morrison - vocals
• Ray Manzarek - organ, keyboard bass & vocals on "Close to You"
• Robby Krieger - electric guitar
• John Densmore - drums

Technical staff

• Produced, Recorded & Mixed by – Bruce Botnick ^[4]
• Production Supervisor – Jeffrey Jampol
• A&R– Robin Hurley ^[5]
• Product Manager – Kenny Nemes
• Project Coordinator – Cory Lashever
• Art Direction & Design – Bryan Lasley
• Liner Notes – Bruce Botnick

References