Ray Manzarek

Piotr Bal

Atonal Head

Shinjuku Nights

Jim Morrison

Riders on the Storm

The Hard Road

Caravan Must Go On

Before the Rain

Kundalini Rising

Quick Trip in a Fast Machine

Feijoada

Brazilian Green

Atonal Head, Part.I

Atonal Head, Part.II

Michael C Ford

John Densmore

Robby Krieger

When The Doors first formed Michael C Ford was considered for the bass player position, however, it was decided that keyboardist Ray Manzarek would play the bass on his organ instead. This decision gave the Doors their unique sound. Michael went on to become a Pulitzer Prize, Grammy nominated poet while all along remaining close friends and collaborators with the band as they rose to international stardom. This album marks a reunion and last recording for the three Doors members, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger and John Densmore, backing up Michael C Ford as he recites his poetry. Vocal choruses are added by Tommy Jordan (Geggy Tah) and Angelo Moore (Fishbone).  

Production by Harlan Steinberger at Hen House Studios

Bass - Paul Bushnell | Horns - Dave Ralicke, Danny Moynahan | Mixed by Kieron Menzies | Mastered by Brian "Big Bass" Gardner | Art Direction - Randi Malkin Steinberger | Artwork - Bettina Hubby | Graphic Design - Ivan Golinko

When I first met Michael C, by John Densmore - When I first met Michael C. Ford, he didn’t have a “C” in his name.  He was just Michael Ford… but he had hair.  The late, great, Ray Manzarek introduced him as one of his film school buddies.  He was the first guy I’d ever seen with “Beatle” hair.  Or Rolling Stone hair.   Michael said he played bass, and we needed a bass player… we thought.  Then we found a keyboard bass that Ray could play with his left hand, and decided we didn’t need one.  But Michael Ford already looked like a rocker.  I aspired to that.  

When the words started tumbling out of Michael’s mouth, the “C” became his middle ballast.  And that voice. The ultimate hipster.  I defy anyone to name a “cooler cat” then MC Ford.  His breadth of knowledge about “the scene” is unmatched.  He knows more about jazz drummers than I do!  I think this record is really good… I mean really good. I hope you listeners will dig it, cause I dug it, and will dig it for a long time…

The Doors Open Up, by Michael C Ford - In 1964 I audited a class at the UCLA School Of Cinema Art. The instructor was Josef von Sternberg: the film genius who provided moviegoers with (among other innovative images) Marlene Dietrich in The Blue Angel (1930) & Scarlet Empress (1934).  Also fascinated by the noir sensibilities & theories of the great German filmmaker were two other attendees in that lecture series: Ray Manzarek & Jim Morrison.  Being immediately aware of mutual admiration for the same cultural heroes, we became comrades & confidants.  

A couple years before meeting Jim & Ray, I met John Densmore, he lived two houses down from my maternal grandparents on Wilkins Av., next door to Westwood Village. One winter evening he was loading his drum kit into a car & I inquired about his destination. It turned out to be The Balladeer: a coffee house hosting local jazzers & folk rockers. 

In the middle 60s, I briefly met Robby Krieger just after he had been playing with Densmore in The Psychedelic Rangers.  In June of 1969, when the Doors were in full tilt, Jim invited me to perform with him & Robby for my first time ever on stage at the Cinematheque Theater.  It was a benefit for Norman Mailer that included our UCLA poetry teacher Jack Hirschman, Michael McClure & an elite cadre of Andy Warhol film people all wrangled by Jim. 

Familiar to those of us who studied film at UCLA, were these bungalows (army barracks, really) maintaining a set of film editing cubicles with a fair sized screening room: Bungalow 3-K7. They were all bulldozed in 1971, around the same time Morrison’s obit appeared in the Los Angeles Times. I will leave any explanation for that to the gods of cosmic coincidence.

Dedication to Ray Manzarek, by Michael C Ford - This recorded and print document is dedicated to: RAYMOND DANIEL MANZAREK. Yet, a thought comes to mind on the right way to honor my fallen musical brother, here, without the patina of precious gratuitous sentiment. To be honest, without the selfless spontaneous guidance of both Manzarek and Morrison, even, beyond UCLA film school days, I might not have been more motivated to pursue and cultivate my own multi-layered craft. Throughout subsequent years, they had set two perfect examples. And as Jim, once, put it in words with clear-eyed perception: We live, we die / & death not ends it! Let me bottom line you: some of Jim's last words indicated his feeling that there are closed Doors and Doors, still, open. So, please, allow this dedication, in Ray's honor, to include, also, Robby Krieger and John Densmore without whose trust and tenacity I wouldn't so fully realize the fact that friendship and brotherhood never go away.

Atonal Head

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