That’s pretty much my experience as well. R.I.P.
I am sure that if Morrison hadn’t existed, or hadn’t been interested in being in The Doors, Manzarek would have found someone else to front the band and it would have been just as successful.
I got to hang out a bit with Mr. Manzarek when I played keyboards in a musical featuring the music of the Doors called Celebration Of The Lizard. He was a very nice guy, really smart and well-spoken.
I particularly remember one thing he did at a rehearsal. I was sitting at my keyboard and he was standing in front of it. He wanted to demonstrate a specific musical passage, so I went to get up so he could sit down and play it. He said “no, no, don’t get up,” and proceeded to just reach across and play it perfectly, upside down, from the other side of the keyboard. It was pretty impressive.
It’s not just me that’s always noticed that the Peanut’s character Schroeder plays piano the same way as Ray, right?
I’ve always assumed that was on purpose.
I’m not sure what you mean.
This is Schroeder playing and this is Ray playing.
It’s the best one I could find for Ray (though I’m sure there are more out there, I just didn’t want to sift through them), but they both hunch over the keyboard in the same way.
Ah. Never thought of that. Then again, never really saw any videos of Ray playing, so I wouldn’t know. I just thought it was a typical “musician getting into his instrument” kind of thing. I know sometimes I will space out, close my eyes, and drop my head down when I’m really getting into it.
“Well the clock says its time to close…now…”
Sucks to get old. RIP Ray.
I loved his work with X.
Have you ever heard the song that’s the instrumental track for “Riders on the Storm” and the vocal track is Blondie’s “Rapture”? It must be heard to be believed.
Wow, that was unexpected. And saddening. I was listening to Gideon Coe (UK radio dj) last night and he broke the news and immediately played Crystal Ship..
After the Doors, Ray did a couple of solo lps which I used to like a lot, despite their completely different sounds. The Golden Scareb was fun, with tongue-in-cheek new age lyrics - ‘the source of the Nile, which is in Tibet…’ 
And, later, the rockier *The Whole Thing Started With Rock and Roll, Now it’s Out Of Control! *. Great title!
And, yes, he ws the spirit of the Doors to me at least as much as Morrison.
Search the archives of the NPR show Fresh Air. Terry Gross did an interview with Ray in which he came across as witty, wise and a fantastic musician. He sat at a piano during the interview, and used it to illustrate points, to introduce the Doors’ bass player Lefty, and to provide mood music. I came away from that interview really liking and respecting him. Now that I think about it a little more, Fresh Air will probably play at least part of that interview some time this week since Ray has died.
RIP Ray
RIP indeed.
Count me as another who read “No One Here Gets Out Alive” as a teenager.
I never really knew of The Doors when Jim was alive. I imagine the next time I hear one of their songs on the radio I’ll choke up a bit, like I did the first time I heard “Here Comes the Sun” after George’s death.
There’s probably going to be a whole lot of this in the next decade…unfortunately.
I find this interesting - I read NOHGOA as well - but man, it really put me off The Doors and Morrison in particular. I thought the book spoke to many of the bad things about Morrison especially as he spiraled down.
Please note: I am NOT trying to threadshit - at all. The Doors are an essential band in the 60’s/early 70’s pantheon and Manzarak was a great player and key to their sound. I am merely noting that folks are citing that book as something that attracted them to The Doors, whereas I read it and was put off.
Just curious - no bearing on Manzarek and his contributions; and if the book worked for you, totally cool…just curious.
If Jim is really alive, (as i suspect), he will show up…probably in disguise. looking forward to seeing him after all these years!
I still remember first hearing LA Woman as a kid when it came out. I’d spend a month at summer camp outside of Austin and our cabin would have KLBJ on. A summer storm might pass by, you could smell the rain, look out through the screen at limestone hills cut by clear streams and listen to Riders on the Storm. It defined that year, as did Layla another. I vividly remember discussing RotS with my sister when camp was over, we’d catch up and talk about all the great music we’d grown fond of since seeing each other last. Wonderful memories. Thanks, Ray.
As a teenager, Morrison’s antics seemed cool and rebellious. I already liked the music and had the Lizard King poster on my wall. Some of the stories didn’t sit well, but overall I came away more interested in him and the band.
My reasons are similar to Southern Yankee’s. As a teen, Jim Morrison’s rebelliousness seemed cool, and while some of his behavior seemed assholish, it didn’t seem all that bad.
As a 38 year old man, it definitely strikes me differently now. I’d say Morrison had pretty serious substance abuse problems and that he tended to treat people poorly. He may or may not have been an asshole, but he tended to act like one.
I do still like the music. For me, Ray Manzarek really defined their sound. Whenever I heard him play, I could tell it was a Doors song.
Yes it did – but in addition to that innate teenage attraction to rebellion as cited by Southern Yankee and Caffeine.addict, it also provided an interesting history of the band coming together, with insight into both Morrison’s genius and his (all-too-often, yes) sophomoric idiocy. To me, it was a fascinating portrait of a damaged person, and strengthened my curiosity about the music the band produced with him.
So yeah, even at the time I would have acknowledged Morrison could be a gigantic asshole, but I would defend the music of The Doors vehemently.
Conversely, and by the way, Densmore’s account (Riders on the Storm) put me off Densmore, who comes across (in my opinion) as a whiny jerk. Had I read that before No One Here Gets Out Alive (though it didn’t exist yet back then), I certainly would have had a different perspective of Morrison and The Doors.
(I wasn’t aware of Manzarek’s bio; I’ll probably look that up.)
My first album was also the Doors. Little bits of my youth going away… I have a vivid memory of lying in bed, listening to the radio & hearing (for the first time) “Riders on the Storm.” Nothing else like it, even now.