Experience the GRAMMY®-winning legacy of the Doors as the soundtrack to the acclaimed 2009 documentary When You’re Strange arrives on vinyl for the very first time.
Chronicling the band’s meteoric and turbulent journey, the collection pairs iconic studio recordings and electrifying live performances with evocative poetry readings, capturing The Doors at their most poetic, raw, and hypnotic.
The special edition 2-LP collection arrives December 11 pressed on crystal clear vinyl, available at Rhino.com and store.thedoors.com. Produced, mixed, and mastered by longtime Doors engineer and mixer Bruce Botnick, the release brings pristine clarity and depth to every track.
Originally premiering to widespread acclaim, When You’re Strange earned a GRAMMY® Award for Best Long Form Music Video, offering an unvarnished window into the creative spark and volatile chemistry of Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, John Densmore, and Robby Krieger. The film unearthed rare, historic footage alongside master recordings to tell the visual story of the group’s monumental run from the mid-1960s to Morrison’s passing in 1971.
The soundtrack seamlessly weaves together the band's milestone studio masters and the raw live performances featured throughout the film, punctuated by Jim Morrison’s haunting poetry as read by actor and musician Johnny Depp.
Reflecting on the enduring power and mystique of the band's legacy, director Tom DiCillo notes the singular place they hold in cultural history: “The story of The Doors is one of the most compelling in the history of American rock music...”
When You’re Strange
2LP Track Listing
Side A
1. Poem: Cinema
2. Poem: The Spirit of Music
3. Moonlight Drive - The Doors
4. Poem: The Doors of Perception
5. Break On Through (To The Other Side) - The Doors (Live - Isle of Wight 1970)
6. Poem: A Visitation of Energy
7. Light My Fire - The Doors (Live - The Ed Sullivan Show 1967)
8. "To really be a superstar" - Jim Morrison (Interview)
9. Five to One - The Doors
Side B
1. Poem: Wasting The Dawn
2. When The Music's Over - The Doors (Live - Danish TV 1968)
3. Interviews:
"The four of us are musicians" - Jim Morrison (Interview)
"I'd like them to listen" - Ray Manzarek (Interview)
"Rock & roll and jazz" - John Densmore (Interview)
"Our music is symbolic" - Robby Krieger (Interview)
4. Hello, I Love You - The Doors
5. "Dead serious" - Jim Morrison (Interview)
6. People Are Strange - The Doors
7. Poem: Inside The Dream
8. Soul Kitchen - The Doors
Side C
1. Poem: We Have Been Metamorphosized
2. Poem: Touch Scares
3. Touch Me - The Doors
4. Poem: Naked Welcome
5. Poem: O Great Creator Of Being
6. The End - The Doors
Side D
1. Poem: The Girl Of The Ghetto
2. L.A. Woman - The Doors
3. Poem: Crossroads
4. Roadhouse Blues - The Doors (Live - New York 1970)
5. Poem: Ensenada
6. Riders On The Storm - The Doors
7. Poem: As I Look Back
8. The Crystal Ship - The Doors
9. Poem: Goodbye America
In 2013, I interviewed Doors’ keyboardist Ray Manzarek about the Doors relationship to film.
Q: You mentioned you had a class at the UCLA School of Film with director Josef Von Sternberg (“The Blue Angel,” “Marocco,” “Shanghai Express”) who applauded your student film “Evergreen.” “Very good, Manzarek. Very good.” You cited his praise as one of the greatest moments of your life, adding that Sternberg’s influence was inherent in the way he paced his movies and the psychological weight of his films informed the way you and Jim together wedded a cinema and music mixture.
A: He’s the guy who really kind of gave a real sense of darkness to The Doors, not that we wouldn’t have been there anyway. But having Von Sternberg seeing the deep psychology of his movies, and the pace at which he paced his films, really influenced Doors’ songs and Doors’ music. The film school is always there. Our song structure was based on the cinema. Loud. Soft. Gentle. Violent. A Doors’ song is, again, aural, and aural cinema. We always tried to make pictures in your mind. Your mind’ ear. You hear pictures with the music itself.
Q: Then in 2007 for “Goldmine” magazine we talked again about Doors’ catalog utilized in movies and soundtracks. The film school influence is obvious again, especially on ‘L’America’ on “Morrison Hotel.”
A: It was written for the director Michaelangelo Antonioni for his film “Zabreskie Point.” And we played it for him at the rehearsal studio and backed him up against the wall with the volume. We played it the way we normally play and too loud for this elderly Italian gentleman. I could see him pressed up against the door trying to get out of the place. We finish the song, he slid the door open and stepped outside and it was almost like he was saying, ‘Goodbye boys. Goodbye Hollywood.’ And then he goes with Pink Floyd. It was all too much for him. He just couldn’t do it.”
(Harvey Kubernik is the author of 21 books, including 2009’s Canyon Of Dreams: The Magic And The Music Of Laurel Canyon, 2014’s Turn Up The Radio! Rock, Pop and Roll In Los Angeles 1956-1972, 2015's Every Body Knows: Leonard Cohen, 2016's Heart of Gold Neil Young and 2017's 1967: A Complete Rock Music History of the Summer of Love.
Sterling/Barnes and Noble in 2018 published Harvey and Kenneth Kubernik’s The Story Of The Band: From Big Pink To The Last Waltz. In 2021 they wrote Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child for Sterling/Barnes and Noble.
Otherworld Cottage Industries in 2020 published Harvey’s Docs That Rock, Music That Matters. His Screen Gems: (Pop Music Documentaries and Rock ‘n’ Roll TV Scenes) was published in February 2026 by BearManor Media. Harvey is currently writing a book on the Beatles.
Harvey spoke at the special hearings in 2006 initiated by the Library of Congress held in Hollywood, California, discussing archiving practices and audiotape preservation.
In 2017, he appeared at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, in its Distinguished Speakers Series and as a panelist discussing the forty-fifth anniversary of The Last Waltz at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles in 2023).
