Open Up and Bleed

The 2005 white vinyl Ying Yang LP of Open Up and Bleed has a full-color sleeve, unlike the black vinyl version.

Open Up and Bleed on Ying Yang Records, catalog number 0 75596 25881 4, is the white vinyl variant of this 2005 LP, issued separately from the earlier black vinyl pressing that came housed in a black-and-white cover. This version arrived approximately a year after that first pressing and is distinguished by its full-color sleeve and the white vinyl disc itself. Both pressings share the same catalog number, so the vinyl color and cover art are the only reliable physical identifiers when hunting this one down. It is an unauthorized release drawing from various live and television sources spanning 1967 to 1970.

The front cover here is a genuine visual upgrade over the monochrome sleeve used on the black vinyl pressing. The photograph used is a warm, faded color street shot showing Jim Morrison standing among a small group of older men on what appears to be a gritty urban sidewalk. Morrison, long-haired and wearing a brown leather jacket over a light-colored open-collar shirt, occupies the center background while the men around him laugh and gesture. A pawn shop sign reading "LOANS" is visible in the upper right corner. The palette is muted, heavy on tans and washed-out oranges, giving the image a genuine late-1960s documentary feel. Above the photograph, the familiar Doors logo appears in bold orange outline lettering, with "Open Up And Bleed" printed beneath it in the same orange font. The layout is clean and straightforward, with no additional text cluttering the front panel. The back cover shifts dramatically in tone, using a large sepia-toned portrait of Morrison, long-haired and brooding, photographed from a slight angle against what looks like a wooden interior, possibly a train or stairwell. Track listings and source credits appear in red lowercase type on the right half of the back, organized by side, with running times listed to the right of each source note. The barcode sits in the lower left corner. The disc itself is immediately distinctive: a translucent white pressing with a simple black circular center label bearing only a large white letter "A" on the Side One label. No additional text, matrix information, or catalog details appear on the label face, which is characteristic of budget-tier or bootleg-adjacent unauthorized pressings of this period. The pressing weight feels light to moderate.

The source recordings spread across seven tracks represent a cross-section of Doors live and television appearances that serious collectors will already recognize from various bootleg configurations. "Rock Is Dead" clocks in at a considerable 16:37, sourced from a session dated August 12, 1970, making it the anchor of Side One. "Crystal Ship" pulls from the Toronto Open Air Festival in 1968, and "Holy Sha Poem" comes from Boston, March 17, 1968. Side Two opens with the "Alabama Song/Backdoor Man" medley captured on Danish television in September 1968, a source that also appears on releases like The Riot Show. "Build Me a Woman" is credited to P.B.S. Studios, New York, 1969, "Get Off My Life" comes from the Matrix in 1967, and "Ship of Fools" closes the record with an Isle of Wight Festival recording from August 29, 1970. That Isle of Wight footage circulates across numerous packages, including Isle of Wight 70, and collectors who have assembled a thorough library will likely have several of these sources in other forms already. The white vinyl variant is what differentiates this specific object from its sibling pressing rather than anything unique in the audio content. On Discogs, the broader Open Up and Bleed release has modest community numbers, with 108 collectors reporting ownership and 37 on the want list, suggesting it circulates with some regularity but is not flooding the market. Distinguishing which pressing those numbers reflect is tricky given the shared catalog number. This white vinyl copy, with its color sleeve, is the harder variant to locate compared to the black pressing. If your focus is building a comprehensive live document rather than acquiring white vinyl curiosities, the Live At The Aquarius Theatre - The First Performance box remains the more authoritative starting point, and Apocalypse Now covers some overlapping live territory as well.

The white vinyl version of Open Up and Bleed on Ying Yang (0 75596 25881 4) is worth picking up if you specifically want the colored vinyl variant with the full-color cover, but go in clear-eyed: this is an unauthorized release, the source recordings are well-traveled, and the pressing quality is utilitarian at best. The disc label design is deliberately minimal to the point of anonymity. It holds collector interest primarily as the rarer of the two cover and vinyl combinations, but it does not offer any audio or documentary content that cannot be found elsewhere in more legitimate packaging.