Set the Night on Fire - Robby Krieger

 Of course, I've been a Doors fan since "Light My Fire" catapulted them to superstardom in '67, and through the 70's their myth continued and many friends were still fans and our bands mangled some of their tunes. Even the 80's, when my clique was burying ourselves in 60's garage music, we still respected Jim and company for their intelligence and weirdness. Robby's flamenco (among other things) inspired guitar work certainly added to their unusual sound, coupled with his inspired songwriting - he came up with "Light My Fire", after all. 

Here is his own story, and he freely admits that his mind does not necessarily work chronologically, so he skips around in time. First thing I learned is that he has a twin brother - don't know that I've ever heard about that - and that he was a popular, athletic kid until his eyesight went south, he gained weight and got acne. Guitar seemed to help solve his popularity issues and he took to it seriously.

Of course, he played around in various projects, looking for the right fit until he was asked to audition for the fledgling Doors. They had already recorded a demo (don't believe that I've ever heard that - certainly would be interesting) of a few tunes for him to learn, but he believes that his unusual bottleneck style is what got him the gig (and the fact that he lost the weight that he had gained at puberty).

While there were certainly dues to be paid, things moved reasonably quickly for the gang, from residencies where they played to practically no one to opening for superstars at the Whisky, where they were signed. Their debut blew up once an FM DJ started playing "Light My Fire" in its entirety and they subsequently issued an edited version for AM radio - after their first choices as singles flopped.

From there on, there are innumerable tales of Jim's antics on the road and at home, encounters with other famous musicians, recording sessions, TV shows and lots more. As it always happens, Robbie's memories are somewhat different from everyone else's, but that's the fun of reading the different bios - to see the various points of view.

I think it actually works in Krieger's favor that he moves from distant past (the most compelling tales, natch) to close to the present, as the less intriguing stories are not all relegated to the end of the book, where they could be skipped over. It is interesting to hear how later tours with just Robbie'n'Ray were huge successes and they were able to travel the entire world playing to thousands of Doors fans.

HIs chapter on heroin abuse is one of the, if not the, longest chapter and it is just plain depressing, as most tales of rock stars ruining their lives with drugs are. I was morbidly interested, but really just wanted to skip ahead to the next chapter in the hopes of something less sad.

I wondered if he would and he does indeed talk about the orchestration on the album The Soft Parade, which I believe was a bit overdone. They actually attempted this on a couple of concerts and apparently it went fine, but was a bit puzzling to the older fans. Of course, they then reverted back to basics and recorded one of their bluesier albums next, with Morrison Hotel and later, the finale, LA Woman.

Funnily, Robbie seems to have some issues with Ray, with snide remarks throughout, and I agree that Ray was the trippier member and the cheerleader of the post-death Morrison legacy, but the living three all benefited from that hype and they were all acid head/meditation freaks, so there seems to be something more involved that Robbie doesn't get into.

Towards the end there are random lawsuits and animosities, but Robbie tries to stay neutral even when being sued. But, he and Ray reaped many benefits with their "reunion" tours (John was asked but refused to join them), and in the end, everyone gained financially from their legacy.

Definitely worth the read for any Doors' fan, if just to get Robbie's take on things - and he's not afraid to reject the others' version of events, even if he admits that enough drugs were taken that it's surprising that anyone remembers anything!