In March of 1967, relatively unknown Los Angeles rock band the Doors did a five-night residency at San Francisco club The Matrix, playing three sets a night for small but enthusiastic audiences. Just about six weeks later, the group would break through to the top of the charts with their song "Light My Fire," bringing the psychedelic revolution into homes and minds across America and beyond. There was no turning back from superstardom after "Light My Fire," but the band playing at The Matrix just beforehand was hungry and working hard to connect with their listeners. One of the club's owners, Peter Abram, recorded a fair number of the Doors' performances from their run at The Matrix, and for decades nth-generation bootleg copies of these recordings circulated. Live at the Matrix 1967: The Original Masters corrects the shoddy sound that was available on many of these bootlegs by remastering all of the material directly from the original analog tape reels. In addition to enhanced sound quality, this version unearths some segments never previously released in any form. Even in a raw, early form (playing for what sounds like a half-full club judging from the tepid applause between songs) the band pulses with power on songs from their self-titled 1967 debut like "Soul Kitchen," and they run through the majority of the tracks from second album Strange Days despite it still being about six months until it would be released. The true fun of Live at the Matrix 1967 comes in the ample jams, covers, and non-album selections from the sets. The Doors' blues influence comes through as they stretch out on instrumentals like "All Blues" or the previously unreleased "Bag's Groove" as well as in a smattering of cover tunes like the scuzzy funk of "Get Out of My Life Woman." Multiple versions of the same song from different nights also showcase how fluid the band's creative drive was at this point, in particular on "The End," which appears in an explosive version not too far removed from the studio rendition, and a second, partial iteration that cuts in with Jim Morrison reading a poem that starts with the line "Let's feed ice cream to the rats" and devolves from there. Live at the Matrix 1967 is a thrilling document of the Doors just moments before they rocketed fully into the fame and spectacle they would forever be known for. It captures a group in a primal state, but one that was already electrifying and uncanny, despite their fresh-facedness. ~ Fred Thomas