Up Close: The Doors - Part 1

Up Close: The Doors, Part 1, issued by Media America Radio under catalog number 9752, is a US radio broadcast CD from 1997, formatted as a music-and-interview program intended for syndicated radio station use. This is Part 1 of a two-part series; Part 1 carries the identifier 97-52, placing its production date firmly in 1997, while Part 2 (98-01) followed in early 1998. The release circulated to radio stations rather than retail outlets, which immediately signals its audience: this is a promo-distribution item, not a commercial release, and the collector base reflects that. Only two copies are currently logged in the Discogs database, with zero want-listers at time of writing.

The disc is brown, consistent with the catalog note indicating that Disc 1 of the set is brown and Disc 2 is red, a simple but effective way to distinguish the two platters at a glance in a busy radio station environment. The label design is utilitarian and clearly aimed at broadcast professionals rather than consumers. Across the top of the disc label, MediaAmerica Radio is printed in a clean serif-style typeface, establishing the distributor immediately. Below that, centered on the label, the word PRESENTS appears in smaller caps, followed by the program title UP CLOSE rendered in large, bold block letters that dominate the lower left portion of the label. To the right, stacked vertically in a smaller weight, are the words THE DOORS and PART 1. The catalog number 9752 appears near the outer edge in modest print. The background of the label features a faint photographic image, appearing to show an urban street scene or building facade rendered in dark, muted tones, which gives the otherwise spare design a slight atmospheric quality without being decorative in any conventional sense. There is no portrait of Jim Morrison or any band member on the disc label itself, keeping the presentation strictly professional and format-appropriate. There is no jewel case insert or booklet; radio broadcast discs of this type were commonly distributed with cue sheets or station copy rather than conventional liner packaging. The overall presentation is functional, low-glamour, and entirely consistent with Media America's syndication model of the period.

The content here is the primary draw for collectors. The program mixes album tracks with interview segments featuring Robby Krieger, one of the surviving members, speaking to the band's catalog and history. The four segments listed on Discogs correspond to the alternating music-and-interview structure typical of Media America's Up Close format. The track selection across both discs is a well-constructed survey of the band's studio and live output: Break On Through, Light My Fire, and Backdoor Man open Disc 1, followed by Love Me Two Times, People Are Strange, Hello, I Love You, Five To One, and the full The Soft Parade, a track well worth revisiting in the context of the recently reissued The Soft Parade / Stripped. Disc 2 picks up with Roadhouse Blues, a track with its own standalone release history documented at Roadhouse Blues / Albinoni Adagio, and continues through Land Ho!, Waiting For The Sun, Peace Frog, Blue Sunday, LA Woman (also compiled on the 2 In 1: LA Woman / Waiting For The Sun pairing), The End, and Riders On The Storm. The final three tracks on Disc 2 are station promos and are not formally listed in the program's public track documentation, which is a notable detail for cataloging purposes. Whether those promos include any unique content or are simply generic broadcast bumpers is not confirmed. The inclusion of national commercials, noted in the Discogs entry, further underscores that this was a fully produced syndicated broadcast product, not a stripped demo reel. The combination of live and studio sources across the two discs has not been fully annotated in available documentation, so the precise origins of individual tracks remain somewhat unclear without a cue sheet.

For the serious collector, this release occupies a specific and narrow lane. It has no retail equivalent, it was never sold commercially, and the two-copy Discogs count speaks to how rarely these surfaced in collector circulation. Alongside the companion debut album and other primary catalog items, this sits firmly in the supplemental bracket, but it is genuinely scarce. If you are building a comprehensive archive of Doors broadcast and promotional materials rather than simply the official discography, this is a meaningful addition. The Krieger interview content alone, presented in this formatted syndication context, gives it documentary value that a standard compilation does not replicate. Recommended for the dedicated collector who is specifically chasing broadcast and promo formats.