The Doors’ Restraint

The accusation that the Doors have been mining their vaults to release inferior-sounding songs is an insult (“Doors Release Proves They’re Not All Hidden Treasures,” by Randy Lewis, Jan. 12). The Doors have consistently shown great restraint when it comes to what gets approved and what doesn’t.

Yes, the demand for the Doors releases is huge, which is exactly why we (the band and I, their manager) decided to release “The Bright Midnight Sampler” only through their own Web site. It is the ideal vehicle to offer noncommercial, high-quality recorded versions of concerts that have heretofore been bootlegged, overpriced and horrible-sounding with little thought given to packaging. We are not trying to make a record for the masses, nor promoting it or marketing it to a mass audience. Calendar asked for this record and we gave it to them. I’m not surprised The Times gave it a bad review. I’m shocked they bothered to review it at all.

However, the reviewer did not take the time to compare this release to other “Web-site only” releases, such as the Grateful Dead’s, Jimi Hendrix’s or even Pearl Jam’s--these are the standards on which the Bright Midnight releases should be judged.

DANNY SUGERMAN

West Hollywood