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Out today (December 3rd) is the Doors‘ L.A. Woman: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition. The set, which was the band’s final work with frontman Jim Morrison prior to his death on July 3rd, 1971, includes the original album newly remastered by the Doors’ longtime engineer and mixer Bruce Botnick, two bonus discs of unreleased studio outtakes, and the stereo mix of the original album on 180-gram virgin vinyl. The tracks are all available from digital and streaming services along with a new Dolby Atmos mix of the original album by Botnick.

The legendary original album has been expanded with more than two hours of unreleased recordings taken from the sessions for L.A. Woman, “allowing the listener to experience the progression of each song as it developed in the studio.” An early demo for “Hyacinth House” recorded at Robby Krieger‘s home studio in 1969 is also included.

According to the press release: “Among the outtakes of album tracks, you can also hear the band joyously ripping through the kinds of classic blues songs that Morrison once described as ‘original blues.”‘ There are great takes of Junior Parker‘s ‘Mystery Train,’ John Lee Hooker‘s ‘Crawling King Snake,’ Big Joe Williams‘ ‘Baby Please Don’t Go,’ and ‘Get Out Of My Life Woman,’ Lee Dorsey‘s funky 1966 classic, written by his producer Allen Toussaint.

Although, the final L.A. Woman recording sessions were among the most relaxed and sober of Jim Morrison’s stint with the Doors, drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger feel that ultimately it was Morrison’s alcoholism that created the real chasm between the bandmates. By the time the album was released in April 1971, Morrison had moved to Paris, where he would die on July 3rd, 1971 at the age of 27: (John Densmore): “As Jim’s drinking increased, the quality decreased.” (Robby Krieger): “The three of us were friends — John, Ray (Manzarek), and Robby were friends — and Jim had his drinking buddies, y’know? It kinda kept us apart. Whenever we’d get together and make music, we were friends but, y’know, we couldn’t hang out with him otherwise because it was too painful, y’know?”

Robby Krieger told us the Doors were best when they clicked immediately, rather than when they would labor over a song in the studio. He remembers their final album L.A. Woman — and particularly the title song — came together very easily: “We were recording in our rehearsal place — that’s how we recorded the L.A. Woman album — so we had plenty of time and stuff. And we were just down there playing one day, and we started playing ‘L.A. Woman,’ and Jim (Morrison) just started singing it, and it just came together, y’know? It was just amazing. To me, that’s how the best Doors songs came about.”

The tracklisting to the CD version of The Doors’ ‘L.A. Woman: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition’:

Disc One: Original Stereo Mix Remastered
1. “The Changeling”
2. “Love Her Madly”
3. “Been Down So Long”
4. “Cars Hiss By My Window”
5. “L.A. Woman”
6. “L’America”
7. “Hyacinth House”
8. “Crawling King Snake”
9. “The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat)”
10. “Riders On The Storm”
Bonus Tracks
11. “Hyacinth House” – Demo
12. “Riders On The Storm” – Sunset Sound Version – Original Demo*

Disc Two: L.A. Woman Sessions, Part 1
1. “The Changeling” *
2. “Love Her Madly” *
3. “Riders On The Storm” *
4. “L.A. Woman” (Part 1) *

Disc Three: L.A. Woman Sessions, Part 2
1. “L.A. Woman” (Part 2) *
2. “She Smells So Nice” *
3. “Rock Me Baby” *
4. “Mr. Mojo Risin’” *
5. “Baby Please Don’t Go” *
6. “L.A. Woman” (Part 3) *
7. “Been Down So Long” *
8. “Get Out Of My Life Woman” *
9. “Crawling King Snake” *
10. “The Bastard Son Of Jimmy & Mama Reed (Cars Hiss By My Window)” *
11. “Been Down So Long” *
12. “Mystery Train” *
13. “The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat)” *

* Previously unreleased