Pirate Alert: Doors Love Hides Live In Pittsburgh

 

The Doors Love Hides Live In Pittsburgh 2 May 1970 (Radio Looploop RLL031)

[review by Bill Glahn]

Venue: Pittsburgh Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, PA May 2, 1970

Cover: Single pocket jacket with close up of Jim Morrison on the front, a grainy live shot of band on back with track listing

Sound quality: excellent

Tracklist: (side one) Back Door Man/ Love Hides/ Five To One/ Roadhouse Blues (side two) mystery Train/ Away In India/ Crosroads Blues/ Universal Mind (side three) When The Music's Over/ Break On Through/ The Soft Parade Vamp (side four) Someday Soon/ Tonight You're I(n For A Special Treat/ Close To You/ Light My Fire

Comments: Despite the assertion in the lower right hand corner of the front cover that this is sourced from a Westwood One broadcast, it is no such thing. America's biggest syndicator didn't exist until 1976. Nice try Radio Looploop, but you're not fooling anyone except, maybe, the pressing plants in the UK (where certain radio broadcasts are fair game). What this presents is a vinyl release lifted directly from the 2008 Rhino/Midnight Archives CD release, Live In Pittsburgh 1970 with different artwork. Even the sometimes subjective track titles are lifted straight from that release.

The performance is is a fine one - the Doors had been recording dates on this tour for their first live album, Absolutely Live, an album that may well have been live, but is also highly edited from various dates. Recording for that album ceased on May 8, 1970 which puts Live In Pittsburgh in the right time frame, although none of the recordings here were ultimately used on the 1970 release. The result is an excellent recording of a more historically accurate live performance by the band.

With so much unreleased material by a multitude of deserving bands, Love Hides goes against any cogent argument that bootleg collectors (such as myself) raise. This isn't something that "superfans" desire to fill in the gaps left by official record companies. Rhino/Midnight Archives have already filled that gap. Doors fans will not need this. Vinyl fetishists might.

Grade: F