Alive, She Cried

Alive, She Cried is the second official live album by the American rock band the Doors, released in October 1983 by Elektra Records. It is the follow-up to the 1970's Absolutely Live, produced by Paul A. Rothchild. The album's title was taken from a line in the song "When the Music's Over".

Alive, She Cried
Live album by
the Doors
ReleasedOctober 1983 (1983-10)
Recorded1968–1969, 1970
VenueLos Angeles, New York City, Detroit, Boston, Copenhagen
GenreRock
Length36:59
LabelElektra
ProducerPaul A. Rothchild
The Doors chronology
Greatest Hits
(1980)		 Alive, She Cried
(1983)		 The Doors Classics
(1985)

Background

Following a resurgence in the band's popularity due to the 1979 film, Apocalypse Now featuring "The End", and the 1980 release of the first Doors compilation album in seven years, Greatest Hits, the push was on to release more Doors' music.[1]

The recordings are from various concerts during the period of 1968 to 1970 including shows in Los Angeles, New York, Detroit, Boston and Copenhagen.[2] Songs include "Gloria", originally a hit for Them, and an extended version of the Doors' best known song "Light My Fire". John Sebastian of the Lovin' Spoonful joined the band on stage to play harmonica on Willie Dixon's "Little Red Rooster". The album was discontinued following the 1991 release of In Concert, a double-album which included all of the songs from Alive, She Cried and Absolutely Live, as well as a few other additional live tracks.[3]

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
Robert ChristgauB−[5]
Rolling Stone[6]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[7]

In a contemporary review for The Village Voice, music critic Robert Christgau wrote that the tapes are "of some quality" and Morrison is effective when he focuses on singing, but the album is marred by moments "when he emits his poetry" and "narcissistic" come-ons.[5]

Rolling Stone's Parke Puterbaugh rated it four out of five stars, explaining that it "brings ... the Doors' impossibly strange and wonderful music, Morrison's drunken loutishness and his stabbingly sober poetics, and the brilliant, vivid sparking of a machine too mercurial to last." He concluded by stating that "'Light My Fire' ... flares upward into an intensifying bolt of passion that crescendos with ... a scream signifying the communal orgasm of a generation and a decade and a band that would flame out and fall silent all too quickly."[6]

In a retrospective review, AllMusic's Bruce Eder said that Alive, She Cried "helped solve [Absolutely Live's] problem [of leaving] more casual fans rather cold, owing to the absence of any of their biggest hits". However, he pointed out that "it also revealed the reason why 'Light My Fire' had not made it onto the prior live album".[4]

Track listing

All songs written by the Doors, except where noted. Songwriters and track lengths are taken from the 1983 Elektra Records album and may differ from other sources.[2]

Side one
No.TitleDate / venueLength
1."Gloria" (Van Morrison)7/22/69 Aquarius Theatre rehearsal, Los Angeles6:17
2."Light My Fire"1/18/70 Felt Forum, New York City; 4/10/70 Boston Arena9:51
3."You Make Me Real"7/21/69 Aquarius Theatre (2nd. show)3:06
Side two
No.TitleDate / venueLength
1."The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)"9/18/68 television studio, Copenhagen, Denmark1:52
2."Love Me Two Times"9/18/68 television studio, Copenhagen3:17
3."Little Red Rooster" (Willie Dixon)1/17/70 Felt Forum (1st show)7:05
4."Moonlight Drive" (including "Horse Latitudes")1/18/70 Felt Forum (1st show)5:34

Personnel

Per liner notes:[2]

The Doors

Additional musicians

Technical

  • Bill Gazecki – engineer
  • Jim Marshall – photo
  • Jeff Lancaster – design

Charts
Date Chart Position
November 1983 Finnish Albums (Soumen Virallinen)[8] 26
December 1983 Billboard 200[9] 23

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[10] Gold 50,000^
United States (RIAA)[11] Gold 500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. Ruhlmann, William; Unterberger, Richie. "The Doors – Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
  2. Alive, She Cried (Liner notes). The Doors. Elektra Records. 1983. LP labels. 60269-1.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  3. "In Concert – Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
  4. Eder, Bruce. "The Doors Alive, She Cried". AllMusic. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
  5. Christgau, Robert (June 12, 1984). "Christgau's Consumer Guide: Turkey Shoot". The Village Voice. New York. Retrieved August 22, 2013.
  6. Puterbaugh, Parke (December 8, 1983). "Alive, She Cried by The Doors". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
  7. "The Doors: Album Guide". rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on January 6, 2013. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
  8. Nyman, Jake (2005). Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. p. 127. ISBN 951-31-2503-3.
  9. "The Doors Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard.com. 2019. Archived from the original on September 20, 2019.
  10. "Canadian album certifications – The Doors – Alive, She Cried". Music Canada.
  11. "American album certifications – The Doors – Alive, She Cried". Recording Industry Association of America.
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