Greatest Hits (The Doors album)
1980 greatest hits album by the Doors
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Greatest Hits is a compilation album by American rock band the Doors, released in 1980. The album, along with the film Apocalypse Now, released the previous year, created for the band an entirely new audience of the generation that did not grow up with the Doors. The album went on to become one of the highest-selling compilations of all time, with combined CD and vinyl sales of 7,000,000 in the United States alone.[1]
| Greatest Hits | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Greatest hits album by | ||||
| Released | October 1980 | |||
| Recorded | 1966–1971 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 52:56 | |||
| Label | Elektra | |||
| Producer |
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| The Doors chronology | ||||
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The album was re-released in October 1996 as an enhanced CD with a different track listing and cover art. The songs "The Ghost Song", "The End" and "Love Her Madly" were added, whereas "Not to Touch the Earth" was omitted.[2]
Critical reception
Critic Andy Kellman of AllMusic, reviewing the 1996 reissue, rated Greatest Hits with three-and-a-half out of five stars, and praised that it compiled "some of the band's most enduring songs", such as "Light My Fire," "Break on Through", "Touch Me", "Hello, I Love You" and "Riders on the Storm". His only complaints were on "Not to Touch the Earth" and "The Ghost Song" as "poor choices" and that it could "have been replaced with any number of more significant songs in the band's catalog".[2]
Track listing
All songs written by all members of the Doors (Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, John Densmore), except "Light My Fire" which some sources identify Krieger and Morrison to be the lone songwriters.[3] Details are taken from the 1980 Elektra Records release and may differ from other sources.[4]
| No. | Title | Original album | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Hello, I Love You" | Waiting for the Sun (1968) | 2:14 |
| 2. | "Light My Fire" | The Doors (1967) | 7:05 |
| 3. | "People Are Strange" | Strange Days (1967) | 2:11 |
| 4. | "Love Me Two Times" | Strange Days | 3:16 |
| 5. | "Riders on the Storm" | L.A. Woman (1971) | 7:15 |
| No. | Title | Original album | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Break On Through (To the Other Side)" | The Doors | 2:28 |
| 2. | "Roadhouse Blues" | Morrison Hotel (1970) | 4:04 |
| 3. | "Not to Touch the Earth" | Waiting for the Sun | 3:55 |
| 4. | "Touch Me" | The Soft Parade (1969) | 3:11 |
| 5. | "L.A. Woman" | L.A. Woman | 7:52 |
| No. | Title | Original album | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Love Her Madly" (Krieger) | L.A. Woman | 3:19 |
| 2. | "The Ghost Song" (Morrison) | An American Prayer (1978) | 4:04 |
| 3. | "The End" (edited version for George S. Clinton from Apocalypse Now (1979) | The Doors | 6:28 |
| 4. | "Wintertime Love" (Japanese 1995 CD version only[5]) | Waiting for the Sun | 1:54 |
Personnel
Per album notes as shown at the Back cover:[4]
The Doors
- Jim Morrison – vocals
- Robby Krieger – guitar
- John Densmore – drums
- Ray Manzarek – keyboards
Additional musicians
- Lonnie Mack - bass guitar
- Doug Lubahn – bass guitar
- Jerry Scheff – bass guitar
- Harvey Brooks – bass guitar
- John Sebastian – harmonica
- Curtis Amy – saxophone
- Marc Benno – rhythm guitar
Technical
- Paul A. Rothchild – production, re-mastering
- Bruce Botnick – production (as well as the Doors)
- William Gazecki – re-mastering engineer
- Joel Brodsky – photography
- Ron Coro – original art direction
- Ray and Dorothy Manzarek, Ron Coro, Denise Minobe – album design
Charts
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Argentina (CAPIF)[8] | Gold | 30,000^ |
| Australia (ARIA)[9] | 2× Platinum | 140,000^ |
| Canada (Music Canada)[10] CD edition |
5× Platinum | 500,000^ |
| Canada (Music Canada)[10] LP edition |
2× Platinum | 200,000^ |
| France (SNEP)[11] | Gold | 100,000* |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[12] | Silver | 60,000* |
| United States (RIAA)[13] CD edition |
4× Platinum | 4,000,000‡ |
| United States (RIAA)[14] LP edition |
3× Platinum | 3,000,000^ |
|
* Sales figures based on certification alone. | ||