Live in America is a must for hard-core Doors people, and also highly recommended for everyone. It contains a nice selection, many of the group's greatest songs, and the sound quality is fabulous. What the mixers can achieve in these 21st Century CDs of 20th Century Foxy concerts (OK, concert snippets) is remarkable. If you turn up the sound a bit, it is as if you are sitting next to a speaker on stage, with volume and balance personally calibrated to you, a magically funneled sound.

Check out "The Crystal Ship" and Ray Manzarek's trademark lovely organ solo, which radiates ooh so beautifully. "Touch Me" is also superb, as Robbie Krieger's guitar flows through so neatly in stereo, in place of the absent brass and strings! "Been Down So Long" is excellent, slick worksmanship to that cool heavy blues, with harmonica here too. The good sonics make the always-electrifying "Break on Through" even better, and "Roadhouse Blues" cooks. "The End" fills the long cut slot. The only negative is some muffled sound in an extended "Love Me Two Times," too great a song to let it bother me. Overall, Jim Morrison's poise and delivery are good and professional to boot, even as he allows himself some spoken-jive spontaneity, in contrast to his alcohol-infused theater in "Absolutely Live."

Though the Bright Midnight story is just beginning, by now at least one other version of each song on this CD has appeared on that label or Elektra. It will be interesting to see how the many Doors tunes with no previous commercial live version roll out with the passage of time, for the group performed virtually everything at least once in concert, including "L.A. Woman" and "Riders on the Storm." For now, we have this gem of a CD, opening with none other than "Light My Fire," highlighted by Ray's dynamic keyboard tension preceding the bridge between the two instrumentals.

Since Jim Morrison's demise in 1971, the band has been subject to countless compilations, live albums and greatest hits packages. What distinguishes this release from the others is that it is on a label the remaining three band members have formed. The performances on the album are very strong and a song like "Break On Through" shows off the hyperkinetic energy the band possessed. The band could jam with the best of them and extended versions of "Light My Fire", the ubiquitous "The End", "Five To One" and "Roadhouse Blues" show off their prowess. Bright Midnight is a solid collection and any fan of the band will be satisfied with the performances.

Think about it. Who's going to buy this? Thank God it's limited--at least they admit they'll try to get a quick buck and run. If you're really into rare live Doors material, chances are you'll go out and get the full double-disc sets from Bright Midnight that this single disc is culled from.

BUT, of course, this disc has tracks appearing nowhere else. So now you can kindly pay the Doors once again for material you already have (if you get the other sets.)

The Doors will pretty much never miss a chance to sell you something you already have. I love this band, but the treatment of the live and recorded output by both band and record company has been shameless. At least they got Bright Midnight going. (After claiming that the tapes they're releasing now didn't exist.) But hey, they already got fans to buy a box set that had yet another greatest hits in it as well as another box set of studio albums remastered yet again...and didn't even both releasing the non-Morrison Doors albums.

If you can find this used somehow, get it to hear the stuff that hasn't been released on other Bright Midnight discs. Otherwise, go and get the full shows. The Doors are rich enough already.

I hated this...for taking so long to come out! The Doors LIVE IN AMERICA is by far their best live CD. Standouts include Touch Me, without the studio orchestration.The result is a straight rocker! The live,Been Down So Long is better than the version on the LA WOMAN album! Certainly one of Morrisons' best blues vocals. Roadhouse Blues is loud and sexually loaded during the middle part of the song. Morrison simply rants like a mad man on, Bellowing, one of the most hallarious live tracks on LIVE IN AMERICA. While Five to One and Love Me Two Times are a bit rough on the edges they still sting melodically. The fact that the music on this CD has survived all these years without ever being released is amazing becasue it is extremely good! Finally a very unusual The End, with alternate lyrics and an extended section that is sure to light anyones fire!!!!pun intended!

Jim, Ray, John and Robbie roll, explore and climax on this recording. Excellent mood setter...sensous delivery...highly recommended if you're a Door's fan and love "this is the best trip; the part I really like," while understanding the jazz tonality and blues traditions as seamless aparitions that ensconced and nurtured this band to its height. Awesome delivery...and emplifies the lyrics: "take a journey to the bright midnight." Get it if you get off to this band.