The Best of The Doors, the compilation of hits from The Doors records released throughout the band’s short lived career, has been awarded Diamond Certification. For those in the know, the RIAA tracks CD and record sales and has awarded Diamond status (that’s also known as 10 x Platinum) to only 104 releases in its history. Along with The Best of The Doors, Rhino publishes dozens of other Doors CDs, including remastered versions of The Doors records, the Perception box set collection and The Band box set of seven limited edition vinyl albums (dressed in faux lizard skin, naturally).

Doors singer Jim Morrison died in 1971, one in a long line of rock front men (and women) who have died prematurely. Fans of New Order cds likely know that the Manchester band was created when Joy Division singer Ian Curtis committed suicide; the rest of the band stayed together and vowed to continue recording but changed their name to New Order. The three surviving Doors members, (John Densmore, Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger) put their differences and feuding over use of the band’s name aside at least momentarily to accept their Diamond Award in New York City. Interestingly, given that Diamond indicates sales of over 10 million copies, every single person living in New York City could have been given a copy of the doors records and still not matched the 10 million copies The Best of The Doors has sold. In an age where the top selling CDs of the year are lucky to sell a million copies, this performance for a “best of” compilation nearly four decades after the band’s demise is especially impressive.

Normally outspoken Doors keyboard player Ray Manzarek, coming off of his “Doors of the 21st Century” and “Riders on the Storm” touring bands (which have been met with lawsuits from John Densmore and the estate of Jim Morrison), looked ecstatic at having achieved the impressive milestone.

Other releases of note from Rhino that are currently being tracked include a number of New Order cds (which have likely gained in popularity after the 2007 motion picture release “Control,” which featured the band in its earlier Joy Division incarnation) and several intriguing limited edition boxed set collections, among them The Doors Live In New York and The Band box set, which contains tracks from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, remastered and remixed by The Band’s Robbie Robertson.

About The Author: Ed Gareth is an aspiring musician (he credits his new order cds for being his ongoing inspiration), music blogger and freelance concert reviewer. A native New Yorker, Ed counts CBGBs and the Fillmore as being among his all time favorite spots to catch a live performance. His favorite rock releases of all time include The Best of The Doors from Rhino, Weird Tales of the Ramones, The Who’s Quadrophenia, Connect The Dots from The Cure and he especially treasures the band box set he received that had been signed by guitarist Robbie Robertson.

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