{"id":25010,"date":"2023-04-17T05:30:18","date_gmt":"2023-04-17T09:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=25010"},"modified":"2023-02-20T08:22:34","modified_gmt":"2023-02-20T13:22:34","slug":"take-five-ray-manzarek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/17\/take-five-ray-manzarek\/","title":{"rendered":"Take Five: Ray Manzarek"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Keyboardist, singer and songwriter Ray Manzarek came to fame in the 1960s with The Doors, the groundbreaking band fronted by charismatic vocalist Jim Morrison. In the years after Morrison\u2019s death, Manzarek went on to a series of notable musical endeavors, producing other artists, collaborating and making music of his own. Manzarek passed away in 2013; he would have celebrated his 84th birthday on February 12. Here are five noteworthy musical projects featuring Ray Manzarek.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ray Manzarek \u2013 \u201cSolar Boat\u201d<\/strong><br \/>\nManzarek would only release four solo albums during his lifetime; his first, 1974\u2019s <em>The Golden Scarab<\/em> earned some positive notices. Backed by some jazz-leaning players (guitarist Larry Carlton, drummer Tony Williams, sax man Ernie Watts) Manzarek turned in a psychedelically-tinged record with this track \u2013 an undiscovered gem \u2013 as one of its highlights.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uDo0Gp81kok\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Echo &amp; the Bunnymen \u2013 \u201cBedbugs &amp; Ballyhoo\u201d<\/strong><br \/>\nThe fifth studio album from Liverpool\u2019s Echo &amp; the Bunnymen featured three singles: \u201cThe Game,\u201d the smash hit \u201cLips Like Sugar,\u201d and this track. The former Doors keyboardist counted himself among the group\u2019s fans; when they learned of that news, they invited him to add keyboards on their hypnotic \u201cBedbugs and Ballyhoo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2hiag2iCEEk\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Nite City \u2013 \u201cNite City\u201d<\/strong><br \/>\nIn 1977, Manzarek formed a group with four other musicians including Nigel Harrison. Bassist Harrison would go on to greater fame as a member of Blondie. For the band\u2019s self-titled debut album, Manzarek \u2013 who also produced the record \u2013 co-wrote songs with lead singer Noah James. This mainstream rock tune is a standout cut from the album. The short-lived band stayed together long enough to record and release a second LP, 1978\u2019s <em>Golden Days Diamond Nights<\/em> before the members went their separate ways.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/emPdI-Oo3pw\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>X \u2013 \u201cSoul Kitchen\u201d<\/strong><br \/>\nManzarek got into album production during his time in Nite City, and by 1980 he was in the control room producing Los Angeles\u2019 post-punk heroes X. He would work with the band on several of their most popular albums, largely staying behind the recording console. But for this track off the group\u2019s self-titled debut album, he joined in on keyboards for a high-energy reading of this Doors classic.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cgdh_j3VD-A\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cWeird Al\u201d Yankovic \u2013 \u201cCraigslist\u201d<\/strong><br \/>\nOne of the wackier projects with which Ray Manzarek associated himself is this tune by comedy musician \u201cWeird Al\u201d Yankovic. An ode to the online classified ad site, the tune is a musical pastiche of The Doors, right down to the fuzz guitar lead (by Jim \u201cKimo\u201d West) and Al\u2019s Jim Morrison-style vocal croon-to-a-roar. Manzarek lends his distinctive Doors-styled keys to the recording. The hilarious, must-see video combines the Doors vibe with Yankovic\u2019s trademark witty approach.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/y4sALru9IJk\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Keyboardist, singer and songwriter Ray Manzarek came to fame in the 1960s with The Doors, the groundbreaking band fronted by charismatic vocalist Jim Morrison. In the years after Morrison\u2019s death, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25011,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1793],"class_list":["post-25010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","tag-ray-manzarek","cat-27-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25010"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25012,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25010\/revisions\/25012"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}