Song Review - The Doors "L.A. Woman" (Radio Edit)
Take a look and a listen and then read on for my thoughts on this new take on a classic.
The opening minute does well in capturing scenes of Los Angeles circa 2K12and continues to do so as the backdrop for a skating tour of the city, from The Sunset Strip to the Venice boardwalk, featuring pro skaters Kenny Anderson, Alex Olson and Braydon Szafranski. The production and edit choices in a way change the perceived meaning of the song, from the implied character of the Los Angeles Everywoman into the city herself being the central theme.
There are nice, subtle homages to The Doors, with cameos by Robby Krieger and John Densmore and Morrison via Venice street art. Ray Manzarek was reportedly unavailable on shoot day. Which really is the only negative thing to say about the new edit and video. Even editing out the bridge featuring Jim emoting "Mr. Mojo Risin'" repeatedly is a logical, creative choice for this sort of project. But if you are going to go to the trouble of making a new music video for it, you make time to include Ray Manzarek!
Of course, Ray was the one who filmed the original music video for "L.A. Woman", back in 1985, for the full length album cut. You will notice similarities between the two (one can only imagine these as further subtle nods of respect to Ray) and the original is also a loving montage of the microcosm of Los Angeles, circa the mid 1980's in their glory. The main difference you will see is the effective note-for-note edits of different faces of the women of Los Angeles. That and the whole lady killer murderess subplot which is peppered throughout. Frankly, props on bringing the song into a new century and hopefully introducing it to yet another generation of fans, but Ray's is still the better version, and I will take the original song every time.
Mr. Mojo Risin' indeed.
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