The story of the Doors will be told in the new officially sanctioned anthology Night Divides the Day, which will be released in January 2025, ahead of the iconic band's 60th anniversary, via Genesis Publications.
Compiled with "unlimited access to the Doors' archives," the 50,000 word book features new interviews with the band's surviving members Robby Krieger and John Densmore, archival interviews with the late Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek, and contributions from Van Morrison, the Turtles' Mark Volman, Slash, Nile Rodgers, Nancy Sinatra, and Simple Minds' Jim Kerr.
Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic wrote the foreword and Gustavo Dudamel, the renowned conductor who currently serves as music and artistic director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, provided the afterword.
Night Divides the Day also includes rare childhood photos, song lyrics, poster artwork, movie stills, previously unseen album cover outtakes, and specially photographed vintage guitars, microphones, keyboards, amps, and more sourced from the band's archives.
The book is available only in a special box set limited to 2000 numbered copies available in two different editions.
The collector edition, limited to 1650 copies, is signed by drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger and comes with a 24-page replica program from the Doors' 1968 tour, a booklet reproducing the master tape boxes of six albums, and a 7-inch vinyl picture disc record with rare demo recordings of "Hello, I Love You" and "Moonlight Drive" remastered by original recording engineer Bruce Botnick.
The deluxe edition, even more limited to just 350 copies, also boasts five previously unpublished photo prints of the Doors at the Whisky a Go Go during their tenure as the house band in 1966.
Morrison died at age 27 in 1971.
"We were reflecting on our own career as it was happening," Jim Morrison said in an archival interview republished in the book. "It's not that we were trend-conscious, we were doing exactly what we would have been doing anyway, but it came at the right time."
"We were just a bunch of psychedelic guys trying to spread the word and the feel of what it was like to be high in Venice back in the mid-sixties. And boy, was it a good feeling to watch that sun set into the middle of the ocean and feel that peace, and to feel at one with the universe," Ray Manzarek added.
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"We didn't sit down and have a meeting to say, 'Hey, we want to change the minds of people.' We didn't say it but we enjoyed doing it," said John Densmore. "We could see it happen, we could feel it in concerts, that sociologically, besides musically, it was affecting people. And what a high that is."
Robby Krieger added, "I think the Doors have remained popular because of the amount of great songs. We never let a song on an album unless we all loved it."
Night Divides the Day - The Doors Anthology is out in January 2025. You can pre-order it here.
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