The fall is upon us, and we all know what that means: the holiday shopping season is right around the corner.  Like so many years in recent memory, 2011 is marked by a crowded field of super deluxe catalogue boxes, from venerable artists like Pink Floyd, Elvis Presley, Sting, The Who, Nirvana and Jethro Tull.  One more hotly-anticipated box set is Rhino’s lavish celebration of The Doors’ L.A. Woman, which celebrated its 40^th anniversary back in April.  We duly passed Rhino’s initial press release on to you, which promised the deluxe edition this fall.  Later reports indicated a November release.  Now, an unexpected announcement has come straight from the source – Jeff Jampol, The Doors’ manager – that L.A. Woman has been delayed to the start of 2012, at the earliest.

In a statement made to The Doors’ official forum, Jampol indicated that Elektra founder Jac Holzman has signed on to help supervise a “Year of the Doors” program, beginning this November with the Black Friday release of a seven-inch vinyl box set for participating Record Store Day retailers.  Jampol confirms that the Super Deluxe 5-CD L.A. Woman is still in the works, along with an array of other projects including two digital apps and two CD box sets dedicated to the band’s London Fog and Matrix performances.  Doors producer/engineer Bruce Botnick is also involved in the upcoming “Year of the Doors” campaign, and has suggested “remastering and recutting of certain lacquers…regarding final mixes (he came up with some brilliant finds/opinions/solutions/suggestions on some vinyl material).”

For the complete text of Jeff Jampol’s statement, just hit the jump!  Watch this space for more details on L.A. Woman and “The Year of the Doors” as it arrives.

Hi, All:

Here’s an update on what’s going on –

1. Jac Holzman has come on board personally to supervise, along with me, a whole campaign called “Year Of The Doors.” This Year Of The Doors will run from November of this year to September 2012.

2. This will entail several changes to our planned release schedule, mostly reconfiguring release dates due to expanded packaging and higher-end materials we want to use, as well as some remastering and recutting of certain lacquers due to Botnick suggestions (and subsequent discussions with Holzman and me) regarding final mixes (he came up with some brilliant finds/opinions/solutions/suggestions on some vinyl material). This will necessitate extending certain art and packaging deadlines, and this also gives us more time to really get stuff as close to “right and perfect” as Jac and Bruce can. There are two additional products you will see (in addition to all the ones we’ve all been discussing here), and we are also trying to figure out how best/when to release London Fog and the Matrix Box Set, which are yet two MORE products we’re trying to prepare.

3. As a result, you will see the Doors Record Store Day serial-numbered 7″ Vinyl Box come this year (on November 25th, a/k/a “Black Friday”), and the other releases will be rolled out throughout next year. When, exactly, has not been set in stone, so DO NOT HOLD ME TO THIS (yet), but I’d think the 2CD set and vinyl may come at the end of January ’12.

4. The 5CD box may come in January, too, or a little later – absolutely no idea yet. There will be two different digital apps, the first a simpler/more basic L.A. Woman/”Year Of The Doors” app in the early part of the year, and a real Grand-Poobah bells & whistles comprehensive All-Doors big-ass whizzbang digital app towards August of 2012. With what he have in mind, we need lots and lots of development time.

5. We are working on a super secret “hush-hush” cool collectible piece for September 2012. I cannot talk about it, but it has nothing to do with L.A. Woman or London Fog or the Matrix box. As/when I can begin to discuss it, I will, so don’t keep asking me about it until then – PLEASE!

6. When we get all of this sorted out – and Jac & I are working on this every day – then, I will see where we can slot in London Fog and Matrix. Ideally, I’d do both later, but I know we’ve been discussing the Matrix Box forever, and you guys have been understanding (mostly) and patient (mostly), and I know you want it ASAP, and I feel we kinda owe you that, so I will try my best to prioritize/push that agenda (and London Fog, too), but please understand that we cannot “call the shots” anymore – the record business is in such turmoil, and all labels have lost so many employees, not to mention places that even SELL CDs anymore (!!), let alone Box Sets (!!!), let alone catalog releases (!!!!) that it’s extremely difficult to get all of this stuff done. We WILL get it done, I promise you – but as Ringo said, “Ya know it don’t come easy.” Or perhaps better, as Bowie said, “It ain’t easy.”

7. The 5CD Box Set will be the same 2CDs in the “L.A. Woman 40th Anniversary” release, plus 3 additional CDs of outtakes/alternate takes/studio chatter. Because of this, we will make arrangements so that no one will have to rebuy 2CDs twice. I’m not sure what the mechanism will be for doing this yet, but rest assured if you buy the 2CD 40th Anniversary release and then want the 5CD Box Set, you will get some kind of credit or discount to effectuate this. Rhino has promised this to us, so we will see how they suggest completing it, and we’ll make sure you’re taken care of.

8. ALL releases will be stickered with a cool, silver “Year Of The Doors 2011-2012” sticker on the packaging, so you will know they’re a part of the campaign – look for it!

9. All of these plans have been discussed, agreed upon and decided by The Doors, Jac Holzman, Bruce Botnick, Rhino and me – just know that NOTHING is being done in a vacuum or is a result of one thing/one occurrence/one person.

10. As for the “Riders On The Storm” questions, I think it’s a whole different take, but I don’ know for sure. One thing I can tell you is I’ve HEARD The Doors doing “Ghost Riders In The Sky” during the session, so THAT’S pretty damn mind-blowingly cool! I’ll ask and advise soon on the ROTS issue.

11. When I know more, I will tell you.