Jim Morrison: The Lizard King

Jim Morrison: The Lizard King, released in 1973 on the Round LP label under catalog number EP-4345, is a German bootleg LP pressed on standard black vinyl. This specific pressing is closely related to a sibling release documented on Discogs as r2453868, which carried the title Live in the Roundhouse on its labels rather than The Lizard King, and bore a different catalog number. That distinction, the title variation and the catalog number change, is the primary identifier separating this copy from its twin. Both document the same source recording: The Doors performing live at the Chalk Farm Roundhouse in London, 1968.

The sleeve on this pressing reflects the budget-level production typical of early 1970s European bootleg operations. The cover art carries the Jim Morrison: The Lizard King title prominently, leaning into Morrison's mythology as a selling point, as was common for bootleg packagers of this era who understood the commercial draw of his name over the band's collective identity. The labels on the vinyl itself and the track listings printed on the sleeve are both documented as incorrect, which is a known issue with this pressing and one that any serious collector should factor in when cataloging it. What you see listed on the sleeve does not reliably correspond to the sequencing pressed into the grooves. The black vinyl itself appears to be standard weight for the period; nothing about the pressing materials suggests any particular care or quality control was applied. The overall physical presentation is utilitarian, and condition varies widely across surviving copies given the informal distribution channels through which most German bootlegs of this era moved.

The source recording is the 1968 Roundhouse concert in London, a performance that has circulated in collector circles across multiple releases and formats over the decades. If you have spent time with Live At The Roundhouse or the Roundhouse London UK 07.09.1968 (Early Show) release, you already have a frame of reference for the underlying audio. The five tracks spread across two sides, Light My Fire and The End on Side One, with Five To One, Break on Through (To The Other Side), and When The Music's Over filling Side Two, represent a cross-section of The Doors' 1968 live set. The performances themselves are well-regarded among fans of the band's concert recordings from that European period, and the Roundhouse show in particular has been captured on a range of bootleg LPs. The Lizard King Plays London releases, available in both pink insert and green insert variants, draw from the same general performance era and are worth cross-referencing when evaluating audio quality across pressings. Similarly, The Live Doors: Live In Europe September 1968 provides useful context for how this material was circulated on other European bootlegs from the same period. What distinguishes EP-4345 specifically is the mislabeling issue, which is not incidental but structural to this release. The fact that both the sleeve and the labels carry incorrect track information is documented in the Discogs notes and should be treated as a defining characteristic of this pressing rather than a defect to overlook. Discogs currently shows 80 collectors holding this pressing and 35 wanting it, numbers that suggest a modest but stable collector interest. The white vinyl variant of this same title, Jim Morrison: The Lizard King on white vinyl, is a separate and more visually distinct pressing that some collectors prioritize over this black vinyl edition.

This is a German bootleg with modest rarity and a documented mislabeling problem that complicates cataloging. The Discogs want-to-have ratio is not negligible, and the EP-4345 catalog number combined with the The Lizard King title on the labels marks it as distinct from its sibling pressing. If you are building a comprehensive collection of Roundhouse concert documentation or tracking German bootleg variants from this period, it belongs on your list. For anyone whose interest is purely in the audio content, better-sourced pressings of this same show exist. Approach this one as a variant collectible first, a listening copy second.