Light My Fire by Ray Manzarek Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Light My Fire
Book Review: Alright.
Summary: 3 Stars
I kinda suspected what kind of book this would be like when I saw Ray Manzarek's name as the author. Reading it, it became a cross between myth-making and hippie-babbling. A lot areas have Manzarek attacking Oliver Stone and his film "The Doors," claiming it is fiction. Really? Then why should we even take Manzarek's claims as fact? Jim Morrison is not alive and therefore can't defend himself or set the record straight, Manzarek has proven to be a little "strange" when detailing Doors stories, oh, it's fun to read, of course, Jim Morrison is now first and foremost, a mythic icon of popular music. I suggest you read it but not ready to take it all in as the truth. Many parts seem to walk away from Morrison and The Doors' story and turn into weird, sometimes hard to understand hippie philosophies that have quickly died-out (Morrison was reported to dislike the hippie movement in the first place), it gets tiresome to hear Manzarek just say some "babblings," especially when he tries to support the use of pot (he obviously hasn't seen the many teens today ruined by drug-use and still thinks acid is a "spiritual" thing), never really realizing that excess never did any good for Morrison, it just killed the guy. It is neat the way he incorporates classic Doors lyrics into the text, and there were some parts that though obviously fiction, were entertaining in a cinematic sort of way. I had a good laugh during the part where Manzarek describes sex for teens in the 50s. I suspect a lot of the text works for people who around in the 60s, but for those of us born in the current generation that embraces Doors music in a more powerful, emotional way (as seen in the bands the group has influenced like Creed, Stone Temple Pilots and The Cult), a generation that looks at the poetry and power of the music which is more timeless today than ever, the hippie stuff can get boring. When you listen to songs like "People Are Strange," "Break On Through," "Five To One," "The End," "When The Music's Over" and "Strange Days," you don't get flower-power, you get violent, atmospheric, gothic and powerful experiences. "Light My Fire" is surely 60s myth-making at it's best, while Stone revealed an artist brought down by excess who was still brilliant, Manzarek tries to make it all sound innocent and yet mythic like Greek mythology with a dose of acid, what he describes doesn't fit with the picture. When you're talking about a guy who wrote lyrics even Marilyn Manson sings (check out his cool "Five To One" cover), I don't think hippie dreams is a fitting way to remember him.Book Review: Back when music was good
Summary: 5 Stars
Many interesting new tidbits about the band. Find out about Mr. Manzarek's upbringing in Chicago, his days at UCLA film school, founding The Doors, playing at the London Fog, etc. An overall good book.Book Review: Call me hypercritical, but...
Summary: 2 Stars
it seems like Manzarek was a bit dried up on ideas for this book. You encouter the name "Dionysus" in one form or another twice per page minimum, along with various other coy references to deities and mythos. Manzareks' obssession with the whole 60s drug culture comes through loud and clear in his frequent rants (once about ever five pages) about legalization and the "Doors of Perception" according to Houxsley and his pills. The book could be more adequately titled "Jim Morrison and My General Thoughts on Society." Though the book has no lack of interesting stories and excellent photos, it lacks any sort of distinction from every other Jim Morrison story. Ray details the excesses in a fashion similar to most everyone else who's ever written about Jim. The relaxed pace and style are fine until you get to "I HOPE THE LOVERS WIN THE WAR" twice per page, along with "THEY DONT WANT YOU TO KNOW" and "FASCIST PIGS." ...
If you are looking for a good read, this isn't it. I found myself skimming after his second drug rant began, and I most always passed over paragraphs of neo-hippie artsy mumbo jumbo where Manzarek inserts random quotations and philosophical excerpts one after the other, along with a few references to Bacchus and Sattires, in an attempt to convince you he is intelligent. And let us not forget his boyhood recollections... and 20 pages detailing the names, not the works, of the blues artists he enjoyed; or his overbearing interest in erotic film noire, and of course the endless rambling about his gorgeous wife...
Though I now know many random facts about film noire in the 60s that I care nothing about, and I can now correctly spell Manzarek, I feel that this book was a distinct waste of time... both mine and the authors.
Book Review: Damn Neat Book
Summary: 4 Stars
Hey Guys,Absolutely fantastic book and I am sure everybody who is a fan of Morrison Bhai will love it!
A must read.
A fan of Doors and a lover of Rock!
Mr. Pain.
Book Review: Disappointing
Summary: 2 Stars
This book reads like a 15 year old's idea of what sounds intellectual and spiritual. If his key-board playing was as awkward as his writing, the Doors never would have made it. There are bits of info of interest to Doors fans. But I got sick of Ray knocking John Densmore. (I personally liked him knocking Oliver Stone. Stone committed serious libel with the movie JFK, and I think in a just world, should be rotting in jail now for it, or have had to have made a big settlement.) I saw Ray last year give an intimate performance at Muldoon's Irish Pub in Newport Beach. He played Doors riffs on the piano. Told stories about Jim and the Doors. And it wasn't much publicized, so he performed to a small crowd. It was a real treat. And he did knock Oliver Stone when he talked. But he praised John Densmore. His book was just out, and I wonder if he'd gotten flack for being mean to Densmore in the book, and was making amends. I was cringing when he mentioned Densmore, because I thought, "Here come the insults." But he was actually nice about Densmore when he spoke. Too bad he wasn't nice about Densmore in the book.