The Lost Interview Tapes Featuring Jim Morrison Volume Two: The Circus Magazine Interview

Bright Midnight Records reissued this CD on November 14, 2006, under catalog number RMH2 7909, as the second domestic US release in the Lost Interview Tapes series. The series had already established itself with Volume One, and this follow-up focuses entirely on a single, substantial source: a conversation between Jim Morrison and Circus magazine reporter Salli Stevenson, recorded on October 13, 1970, at the Doors Workshop studios in West Hollywood, California. A sibling pressing also exists; see the alternate Volume Two listing (2002) for variant comparison.

The front cover of this CD is immediately striking for its restrained, sepia-toned presentation. The dominant image is a large, close-cropped photograph of Jim Morrison, likely taken sometime around 1970, showing him from roughly the chest up. His hair is long and slightly unkempt, his beard full, and his expression is distant and introspective rather than performative. The photograph has a warm, amber-brown tone that gives the whole cover a period-appropriate feeling without being artificially aged. At the top of the cover, The Doors logo appears in a clean, period-consistent typeface rendered in a light cream or off-white color, sitting comfortably above the image. Below the logo, stacked text reads The Lost Interview Tapes Featuring Jim Morrison Volume Two, with the subtitle identifying the Circus Magazine Interview. The fonts are straightforward and unfussy, prioritizing legibility over graphic embellishment. The overall layout is centered and balanced, with the Morrison photograph doing most of the visual heavy lifting. There is no garish color work here; the palette is essentially browns, creams, and soft grays, which suits the archival nature of the content. The jewel case format is standard, and the packaging does not appear to include an elaborate booklet, though the rear panel and tray card would carry the track listing across 41 individual segments, each titled as a question or Morrison's own partial statements. The physical presentation is sober and functional, appropriate for what is being sold: a primary source document rather than a commercial studio product.

The content here is genuinely significant for any serious Morrison researcher. The October 1970 Stevenson interview catches Morrison at a pivotal and historically loaded moment. The Miami obscenity trial verdict was still fresh, and the possibility of an eight-month jail sentence was openly on the table. The 41 individual tracks on this disc are split into discrete segments by question and response, making the audio easy to navigate and reference. Topics covered range widely: Morrison addresses the Absolutely Live album, the Lizard King mythology he had grown ambivalent about, his UCLA film school work including what grades he received, the Miami incident and his emotional state that evening, and the deaths of Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, both of whom had died only weeks before this interview was recorded. He also discusses the Isle of Wight concert, his poetry book, the Doors' future, and even makes candid observations about John Densmore's recent marriage. One segment, labeled simply Restart The Cassette Machine, captures an unedited moment in the recording session itself, which collectors of candid Morrison audio will appreciate. The question How Do You Think You'll Die? carries an obvious retrospective weight given Morrison's death in Paris just nine months after this conversation. For context on how Circus covered the Doors over the years, the Circus magazine archive on DoorsInfo gives useful background. Discogs currently shows 10 collectors owning this specific pressing against 15 wanting it, which reflects modest but real demand. The want-to-have ratio suggests it circulates less freely than its desirability warrants. Comparable spoken-word interview releases like Up Close: The Doors Part 1 and Part 2 offer produced radio-style content; this release is rawer and more archivally focused by comparison.

This is an official Bright Midnight release, the label operated by the surviving Doors members, which gives it legitimacy that bootleg interview discs lack. The Stevenson session is one of the more substantive late-period Morrison interviews on record, and having it segmented across 41 tracks on an authorized CD makes it genuinely useful. It is not a scarce pressing in the sub-100 copy sense, but the Discogs numbers confirm it is not flooding the secondary market either. Collectors building a comprehensive Morrison spoken-word library should track this one down rather than waiting for prices to soften.