Listen: Five essential musical moments from The Doors’ Ray Manzarek

Ray Manzarek, founding member of The Doors has died. We have posted the AP obit, but it’s giving Manzarek short shrift to not get to hear his contributions.  The keyboardist was instrumental in crafting the Doors” sound (especially in his innovation of playing bass parts on the keyboards). After the Doors ended, he went on to produce some incredible work for other artists, including Echo & The Bunnymen and X.

While he is probably best known for his transcendent, instantly recognizable keyboard work on “Light My Fire,” he had several other wonderful moments.

[More after the jump…]

Below are five of Manzarek”s finest. What’s amazing is how different they each sound and how integral they  are to the song. There’s no excess, but he makes each song sound so full. I couldn’t resist putting in the entire 11-minute version of “The End,” but you can find a shorter version here.
 

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