Ray Manzarek Talks About The Doors' 40th Anniversary "L.A. Woman" Releases

Rhino/Elektra RecordsThis past week, The Doors released their long-awaited deluxe, 40th anniversary edition of L.A. Woman along with a DVD and Blu-ray documentary about the making of their classic 1971 album called Mr. Mojo Risin'.  Keyboardist Ray Manzarek tells ABC News Radio that as the anniversary approached, he and his fellow surviving band mates got together and said, "Let's honor Jim Morrison's last project with us and let's see if we can make something special for him."

The deluxe reissue is a two-CD set featuring a bonus disc of previously unreleased material.

"We went into the vaults and we found all of our outtakes and…picked out some of the best tracks and most interesting tracks," Manzarek explained.  "And, what's really surprising is there's a brand-new song in there that we have no memory recording."

The tune, "She Smells So Nice," was unearthed by the band's longtime producer/engineer Bruce Botnick -- and Manzarek likens its discovery to finding "buried treasure." The keyboardist describes the track as an "up-tempo, bluesy kind of song" that features Morrison singing about -- as the title implies -- how nice a certain woman smells.

"And that girl is a cute girl," offers Manzarek.  "Probably [Morrison's longtime girlfriend] Pam [Courson].  All red…and freckled and cinnamon sprinkled and red hair and just smelling good.  Smelling like a flower."

As for the new Mr. Mojo Risin': The Story of L.A. Woman video, Manzarek says he's extremely pleased with how the documentary came out.

"I like the whole thing, man.  It was terrific," he declared.  "It's The Doors talking about creating each piece of music.  John [Densmore] talks about his drum parts and I talk about the music I played…and Robby [Krieger] talks about his guitar parts.  You see all our old footage from the '70s.  It's a great piece."

Looking back on the making of L.A. Woman, Manzarek told ABC News Radio that the sessions differed from the band's previous efforts because they recorded it at their rehearsal space rather than a studio.  The 72-year-old rocker explained that without monetary pressures and time constrictions, The Doors were able to record in a more relaxed atmosphere, which actually resulted in them working faster than they usually did.

"We recorded the whole thing in more or less a week," he revealed. "[And] what a great week that was."

Paraphrasing an old quote from Morrison, Manzarek added, "In that week, we had a great visitation of energy."

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

She Smells So Nice by The Doors Official