Strange Days

The item under review is the original US 8-track release of Strange Days by The Doors, issued on Elektra catalog number EKM 84014 in 1967. This is the Lear Jet Stereo 8 Flat Pak cartridge configuration, released concurrently with the LP in October of that year. With only 6 copies reported in Discogs collections against 50 on want lists, this specific format and catalog number occupies a narrow but genuine corner of the Strange Days collecting universe, distinct from the numerous vinyl and later CD variants cataloged elsewhere on this site.

The Flat Pak cartridge format is what it is: a plastic shell housing magnetic tape, designed for the automotive and home playback market that was still riding high in 1967. The Lear Jet Stereo 8 designation on this cartridge indicates it was manufactured to the standard established by Lear, and the Flat Pak housing differs from the bulkier cartridges some collectors associate with the format. The label printing on the cartridge itself carries the Elektra branding of the era, consistent with other Elektra 8-track releases from this period. The spine and face labeling would display the catalog number EKM 84014 alongside the standard Elektra butterfly logo used through much of the late 1960s. Condition on surviving copies varies enormously; the plastic shells were prone to cracking, the tape pads deteriorate, and the splice points wear out with use. Finding a fully functional example with clean, uncracked housing and legible labeling is genuinely difficult. The packaging, as with virtually all Flat Pak cartridges of the period, lacks the insert or booklet content that makes the LP pressings so desirable. What you are acquiring here is the cartridge itself, and its condition determines almost everything about its value to a working collection.

The program configuration on EKM 84014 is where things get interesting for anyone cross-referencing this against the LP sequence. The four-program structure of the 8-track format required the album content to be redistributed across four sides of roughly equal playing time, and the result here departs significantly from the original LP running order. Side One carries Strange Days, You're Lost Little Girl, Love Me Two Times, and Horse Latitudes. Side Two opens with Moonlight Drive and works through Unhappy Girl, My Eyes Have Seen You, and I Can't See Your Face In My Mind. Side Three then delivers People Are Strange, followed by Light My Fire and, notably, a repeat of Horse Latitudes. Side Four is given entirely to When The Music's Over. The inclusion of Light My Fire is an addition not found on the Strange Days LP; it was pulled from the debut album to pad the program length. The duplication of Horse Latitudes on Sides One and Three is a quirk of the tape loop math, not an intentional creative choice, and it is documented on the Discogs listing for this release. For collectors comparing this against the original LP pressing of Strange Days or the various other Strange Days variants cataloged here, the program differences are significant enough that this cartridge represents a genuinely distinct listening artifact. The want-to-have ratio on Discogs, 50 want against 6 have, reflects how scarce confirmed surviving copies are in the collector market. Those researching additional Strange Days formats will also find the other Strange Days releases and format variants worth cross-referencing to understand where this 8-track sits relative to the broader release history. The presence of Moonlight Drive here carries the well-known historical weight of being the song Jim Morrison performed for Ray Manzarek on the beach in Venice, the moment that set the band in motion, and hearing it in this reconfigured program sequence is a reminder of how differently the material was packaged for different consumer formats in 1967.

This is a scarce piece of original 1967 Doors format history. The Discogs want list tells a clear story: collectors know it exists and very few can find one. If you are building a comprehensive format collection around Strange Days, the EKM 84014 Flat Pak cartridge belongs in it, provided you can locate a structurally sound example. It will not be cheap if the seller knows what they have, and it is not a casual pickup. Recommended without hesitation for the serious format collector.