Music ok but ordered from US company, took long time to arrive from Germany, which was not mentioned, unwrapped with teeth missing holding cd in case. Case scratched up.

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Gino

Ray Manzarek was the Doors' signature

Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2013

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Morrison said so himself. Whatever phantasmagoric scenes Jim could conjure, Ray expressed the atmosphere for them. His solo work is in some ways better, in my ears.

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Erika Wooley

Quirky but grows on you. Buy it already!

Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2018

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I could go into critical reviews and get all pretentious, but I won't. If you like The Doors, you will like this. It sounds almost just like them. I like all of the songs. Just buy it! I never thought we'd lose Ray...

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Tom Jacques

Classic rock but horrible audio

Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2015

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I've been looking for this album since I first heard back in the mid seventies. The only reason I'm not giving it a 5 star rating (the artist and music certainly deserve it) but the audio quality is horrible. It sounds as if they bootlegged a copy off an old worn record album. I have a pretty high end 2 channel audio system built around some Magnepan Tympani IVa speakers and I can hardly stand to listen to this cd. Did I get a defected cd?

9 people found this helpful

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Meggie

The Golden Scarab

Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2017

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I first purchase this as an album in 1974 when Ray Manzarek started recording on his own. My favorite song is Down Bound Train! RIP Ray, you were a very good man.

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R. Guenther

Oy, what a gravelly voice!

Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2009

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I've always been a huge fan of The Doors music, but Ray Manzarek, the wonderful keyboard player who backed up Jim Morrison's great vocals and poetry, can't sing to save his life. He "sings" in a gravelly monotone without regard to pitch or changing notes, which is apparently beyond his ability. So, why not just play your keyboard and quit reminding us how limited your vocal ability is Ray?
Do like Booker T and Jimmy Smith and just play nice music, why don't you?
Anyone considering buying this particular recording should do themselves a favor and listen to the snippets of each track offered as samples on Amazon first.
Sometimes artists need to acknowledge their limitations and concentrate on their strong suits, and hopefully Ray will have this kind of epiphany someday.
Hey, not everybody can sing like James Taylor, ya know?
I prefer Ray's CD "The Whole Thing Started With Rock and Roll" and his other CD
"Love You Madly" to this one. The vocals on the former CD are much less grating and
less emphasised and on "Love You Madly", a soundtrack, there are no vocals, which is a step in the right direction, if you ask me. Plus, that soundtrack sounds great!
Well, that's my advice for you and Ray, so now go forth and prosper!

3 people found this helpful

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Herr KJD

Typical of the Era

Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2013

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More campy/silly than I remembered from when I first heard this stuff on underground stations in the '70s, but still interesting instrumentals. In other words, it is probably more interesting on drugs, preferably a lot of drugs. Slip Solar Boat or Downbound Train into a random playlist and it will take you back to the days when FM radio wasn't all homogenized pablum playing on an endless loop and DJs were actually able to try new and strange things -- and do drugs, preferably a lot of drugs.

2 people found this helpful

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Ronald Tirino

Ray manzarek golden scarab

Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2020

Verified Purchase

glad i purchased item but not exactly what was looking for .His album it all started with rock and roll was not on cd so i got this instead i recommend other cd ,though a few good songs on this one

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JHP

Fantastic Album !

Reviewed in Canada on August 9, 2013

Verified Purchase

What a fantastic album this is. Superb musicianship and songwriting.

The vocals are good (the only reason some people think it's a weakness in the album is simply because Ray is not perceived as a singer, but nobody would point this out if it's James Taylor's vocals or Dylan's, two artist with limited vocal abilities, right?). So just like these two artists I mentioned, Ray's vocals are spot-on, very expressive and carry the songs nicely.

Then you have the songwriting, which is great ! (again, think of The Doors' songs, most of them brought in by Morrison or Krieger)... so that would also come as a wonderful surprise.

It is actually very sad that there are only two albums by Ray in this vein... an eclectic fusion of Rock, Jazz, Latin, Progressive, etc. (the other one being "The Whole Thing Started With Rock & Roll...").

I also would like to comment on the actual product to inform the consumers...
the "Lemon Records" label is a branch of Cherry Red Records, which takes care of paying attention to great obscure artists which otherwise would be forgotten by bigger media or record companies, so this is a labor of love.

However this release as well as "The Whole Thing Started With Rock & Roll..." on the Lemon label, is plain and simple a transfer from Vinyl to Digital mastering. So, in some quite moments of the music you can so clearly hear the crackling of the needle, and that, can be annoying. But for the most part it is a very enjoyable listening. (... and yes, I do own and treasure my great Vinyl collection too, but when I'm listening to CDs is because I don't want crackling noises, alright?)

The booklet is beautiful... reproducing all of the original artwork (including lyrics and pictures), as well as recent liner notes.
So I would definitely get it, I think all in all (crackling and all) is well worth the purchase.

One person found this helpful

F.H

Good but....

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 12, 2017

Verified Purchase

A good album very "doors" , except for the lyrics...
Nice playing,but I dond't know if it worth discovering right now if you have never heard it before.
Sound is sometimes like on vinyl...They make cd's from vinyls ?

Peter Rose

If you want a parody of prog-rock lyrics, look no further

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 1, 2015

Verified Purchase

I bought this as a long-time Doors fan who still has all his original 60's vinyl copies of their canon purchased when a schoolboy hippy.
However, although this has some nice bits of instrumental work, mainly on the keyboards, it is let down badly by the cringe-making lyrics. This is why Jim was the wordsmith and not Ray. Oh dear. The music is played competently enough, but I find it generally unoriginal and uninspiring. Maybe I would be better disposed towards it if I could lose the vocal track. One for completists only!

3 people found this helpful

Streamer

Vertonte Poesie

Reviewed in Germany on July 10, 2008

Verified Purchase

Ich bin selber ein großer Doors Fan und habe mich dann auch mi tden Solowerken der einzelnen Bandmitglieder beschäftigt.

Als ich zum ersten mal den Song "Golden Scarab" gehört habe war ich begeistert von der Atmosphäre die dieses Stück kreiert hat.

Sehr interessante Ideen, typische Ray Manzarek Stimmeinlagen und natürlich sein unverkennbares Tastenspiel.

Das Album bietet, finde ich ausreichend Abwechselung und es gibt sehr schöne Soli, wie z.B. das Gitarrensolo auf dem Song "Solar Boat".

Für jeden Ray Manzarek-Liebhaber auf jeden Fall eine Empfehlung.

ps:

Hatte noch das Glück auf einer Plattenbörse dieses Album als Original Venyl zu einem Spottpreis zu kaufen;D

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dominique duwez

Commentaire sur Ray Manzarek

Reviewed in France on September 6, 2013

Verified Purchase

Cet album est très riche, abordant plusieurs styles de musiques des années 70, nostalgique et très bien produit.
C'est tout de même le créateur des Doors!

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The Golden Scarab [Vinyl] Ray Manzarek

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