According to a number of sources the long promised and much awaited 5 disc ‘super de-luxe’ CD box set to mark the 40th Anniversary of The Doors classic ‘L.A. Woman’ has been cancelled by Rhino Records. The release was announced in September with a street date 24th November. Reports are that in these tough times Rhino has decided that it is not a commercially viable project.
The official Doors online forum says: “there are concerns at their end” (Rhino) and they want to be sure that not only is the market there, but do we have a place to distribute them?” It is being suggested that a cheaper 3 disc set will be available alongside a double CD ‘L.A. Woman 40th Anniversary special edition’. There were and still are an array of different releases of ‘L. A. Woman‘ planned including dvd and Blue-Ray releases.
Jeff Jampol The Doors manager says: “It will probably be reduced to a 3-disc set (just the alternates/outtakes/chatter), and packaged so as to be affordable (i.e. not an expensive, all-out designed hard box).”
So the double CD 40th Anniversary set is due for release on 24th January 2012, and the proposed 3 disc set will be released at an “affordable price (most likely under $50)” at some point in the first half of the year. Or “definitely in 2012″ according to Jampol.
The 3 disc set looks like it will be a ‘limited edition’ of 6,000 numbered copies. There is no track listing for the 3 disc set, except that the tracks will be alternate and outtakes etc from the ‘L.A. Woman’ sessions, all previously unreleased with nothing from the double disc repeated.