Riders On The Storm

This Australian promotional CD single, catalog number DOOR1, was issued on Elektra/EastWest and carries two tracks: the Pnau Remix running approximately eight minutes, and the shorter Pnau Radio Mix clocking in at around two minutes. The disc was distributed exclusively to Australian radio and industry contacts, making it a regional promo-only release with no commercial counterpart in this specific configuration. The DOOR1 catalog number is unique to this pressing and immediately separates it from the various other Riders On The Storm single releases that have circulated over the decades.

The packaging is deliberately minimal: a plain black cardboard sleeve with no printed artwork, no insert, and no booklet. There is nothing on the sleeve itself to identify the contents, which is characteristic of many Australian radio promo pieces from this period. The disc is the only surface carrying any real information, and the photo provided here shows the full disc face clearly. The disc itself has a standard iridescent silver pressing surface. Printed in clean black text across the center label area are the words "The Doors" in bold, followed by "Riders On The Storm" directly beneath. Below the title, in smaller type, sits the promo disclaimer, readable as something along the lines of "promotional use only, not for sale," which is standard language for Australian radio issue promos. The Elektra and EastWest logos appear side by side at the lower left of the disc label, with the DOOR1 catalog number printed at the lower right. Track listings are printed at the bottom center: "1 - Pnau Remix" and "2 - Pnau Radio Mix." The overall disc design is restrained and functional, consistent with a release intended for broadcaster use rather than consumer retail. There is no Matrix etching visible in the photo, though promo pressings from Australia in this era sometimes carried stamped or printed matrix codes near the hub. Without handling the physical disc, that detail cannot be confirmed here. No lyric sheet, no poster, and no additional inserts are included. What you get is the sleeve and the disc, nothing more.

The Pnau Remix is the reason this disc exists in collector circles at all. Pnau, the Australian electronic duo, produced a house and dance reworking of the original "Riders On The Storm" from The Doors' 1971 album L.A. Woman, stretching the track to a full eight minutes suitable for club play. The Pnau Radio Mix condenses that same remix to roughly two minutes for broadcast use. Neither version appeared on a standard commercial single in Australia in this exact pairing, which is what gives DOOR1 its collector interest. The remix itself represents a recurring trend in Doors catalog management: licensing original recordings to contemporary producers for new arrangements, similar in concept to other remix and reissue strategies the band's estate has pursued across multiple formats. Collectors who focus on promotional-only pressings will note that Australian promo CDs from the Elektra/EastWest era are not always well-documented, and DOOR1 sits in that category of items that surface infrequently on the secondary market. Discogs listings for this specific catalog number are sparse, which aligns with its promo-only status and the limited number of copies pressed for radio distribution. It does not appear to have been widely distributed beyond the Australian market, and no equivalent DOOR1 pressing is known from other territories. For comparison, other Australian promotional singles from the Doors catalog have shown similarly limited circulation, though most of those, like the Light My Fire / Break On Through / The Unknown Soldier / Strange Days configurations, were tied to original-era releases rather than remix campaigns. The dance remix angle makes DOOR1 a somewhat polarizing item: purists tend to overlook it, while collectors who track every official and semi-official Doors release treat it as a genuine gap-filler. It is not a bootleg; it carries proper label attribution and legitimate catalog numbering, which matters when assessing authenticity.

If your focus is on completeness across all official Doors promotional releases, DOOR1 belongs in the collection. It is not common, turns up rarely even in Australian second-hand markets, and the black sleeve plus promo disc combination is specific enough that counterfeiting it would offer little payoff, so authentication concerns are minimal. The remix content is not for everyone, but the release itself is a legitimate and genuinely scarce piece of Australian Doors promotional history. Collectors chasing every officially sanctioned Doors CD variant, particularly promos, should move on this when it surfaces.