Jim Morrison

Angels Dance And Angels Die: The Tragic Romance of Pamela and Jim Morrison
$17.95
Having already read several Morrison-Doors related bios in the past, including the excellent "No One Here Gets Out Alive" and the book by Jim's alleged "wife" Patricia Kennealy, I got the sense that the story of Jim Morrison and his relationships definitely had three sides - his, hers, and the truth - or maybe even more than that. I was eager to read this book in hopes of solving another piece of the puzzle. As some others have noted, it's clear the author did much research and made a concerted effort to tell the intimate story of Jim and Pam, as well as present information that hadn't already been done to death in other Morrison books, such as interviews with childhood friends. Unfortunately, much of the key information about this couple either was private to them and died along with them, or else has been denied/ protected by their families (although some family members reportedly cooperated to some degree with the author). Therefore, the reader doesn't get a clear picture of Pam, her background, her motivations and her thought processes beyond simply being the beautiful, wild and possessive consort of a famous and doomed rock star.

For example, we learn that Pam, like Jim, had a murky and possibly dysfunctional childhood that may have contributed to her "acting out" behavior as a child, teen and adult, but most of the details of Pam's early life are unconfirmed or missing. The first couple of chapters of the book focus on Jim and provide information that will be familiar to anyone who's read up on him elsewhere. When Pam finally enters the story as a little girl growing up in suburban Orange County, we hear that she misbehaved frequently, was considered a "bad seed", lacked friends and along with her sister was isolated from playmates, but we never find out exactly why or what was going on in the household to make her act up. Following Pam's abrupt departure from high school, the story fast-forwards to her meeting with Jim, giving the impression that this anorectic "ugly duckling" suddenly moved to LA and immediately became the beautiful belle of the ball with men, including Morrison, falling instantly at her feet when she entered the room. While Pam was undoubtedly lovely, there had to be more to the story than that.

Most of the rest of the story describes Jim's rise to fame with the Doors and retells all the familiar tales of Pam as veering between a playful child-woman and a screaming harpy who spent Jim's money profligately, threw plate-smashing temper tantrums and never ceased demanding that he stay home with her instead of staying out all night. It seems clear that while Jim loved Pam and turned to her for excitement and inspiration much the same way that F. Scott Fitzgerald relied on his Zelda for excitement and challenge, he also had many other women (probably including Patricia Kennealy) who he turned to for intellectual companionship and, well, peace and quiet. The book keeps suggesting that Pam had intellectual capacities that past portrayals have missed, which may well be true given that Jim kept returning to her for years and didn't get bored, but the book fails to cite any actual examples of Pam's alleged brainpower.

In the end, the impression is that of a beautiful couple-of-the-moment who, like F. Scott and Zelda, were mutually dazzled with each other's gifts and clung to each other out of a shared insecurity and need for risks, kicks and stimulation. It's an interesting story, but a short one due to both parties having untimely passed, and like most Doors books, it presents a wealth of information on Jim but not as much about Pam as I would have liked. She remains a tantalizing and slightly murky mystery lady.

Surprisingly, the book also contains fewer pictures of Pam than I would have expected. Many of the pictures are of the Doors, of Jim performing, or of inanimate story locales such as houses, schools and graves. A couple of times, photos of Pam are mentioned in the text but not actually shown - might the author have had trouble getting permission to use certain photos? Pam was definitely gorgeous and I would have loved to see, as well as read about, much more of her. I hope this won't be the last book that focuses on her.

The Lords and the New Creatures
$11.95
maybe its because when i took lsd i didnt read this book is the reason why i dont understand it. i have all three morrison poetry books an this by far is the weakest, its seems to me to be just a whole bunch of imagery tied together with no real meaning or direction. if you want imagery poetry done right read rimbaud. If you want good morrison poetry read wilderness vol 1 an 2 especially an american prayer, where it seems to me that jim found some real direction and meaning in his poetry.

Wilderness: The Lost Writings of Jim Morrison, Volume 1
$13.95
Poetry is so personal. I recommend to those curious about Jim Morrison's poetry to try to find some samples of his work in the web to see if they like it. That's what I did. The quality of what I found surprised me since I was one of those people who never took his poet persona seriously. I ended up buying this book and it has become one of my favorites. I find his verses fascinating; they are open, layered, therefore each reading seems to reveal something new, a different meaning or idea. Very cool.

The American Night: The Writings of Jim Morrison
$13.95
I really dig this book. If you're trying to get into Jim's poetry, I recommend buying "The American Night" and not "Wilderness"
Both books have printed copies of his actual journal writings in them, but The American Night felt more complete.