Revealing the Identity of “The Phantom” in One of the Most Notorious After-Death Jim Morrison Conspiracies<br />Posted: April 25, 2012 by Dion in History, Music, <br />It was back in 1997 in the now-defunct “Record Explosion”, a record store chain in New York City that had a large amount of hard to find music and bootleg material, that I first came across one of the weirdest albums of the 1970’s: Phantom’s Divine Comedy, Part 1. This album may ring a bell for hardcore Doors fans, but it isn’t something a music fan may normally come across.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This LP has notoriously been purported to be in fact another Doors album in disguise, something that came out after the death of singer Jim Morrison, adding to the conspiracy-theorists—you know, the ones who believed the singer faked his own death in Paris and went on to lead a secret life in order to dodge the haunting limelight that had plagued the troubled young singer up to his (so-called) death.<br /><br />The album was released in 1974, and was immediately touted in fan circles as proof not only that Morrison was still alive, but that he had come out of hiding (perhaps from Africa, as some die-hards had theorized), and had in fact recorded a new album. But we must first step back and understand the time in which this album was released. The Doors were one of those bands to hit immortality sadly after the passing of their lead singer, and by the early seventies, as the hippie-rock era died out and Motown begot 1970’s R&B and then disco, the Doors’ music was still hugely popular (though really only the six albums that had been done while Morrison was still alive; the three remaining musicians tried to continue after his death and put out two further LPs, Other Voices (Oct. 1971), and Full Circle (Aug. 1972), before eventually splitting up in 1973). But people still wanted their Morrison-Doors fix, and rumors abounded about the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death. Any life that could be breathed into Morrison’s memory, at that point, was accepted with open arms.<br /><br />Enter the Phantom. When Phantom’s Divine Comedy, Part 1 was dropped, dubious stories abounded about who the lead singer was, since he was only billed as “The Phantom” in the credits, with musicians “Drummer X”, “Bassist Y”, and “Keyboardist Z” providing accompaniment. At points “the Phantom” did bear eerie vocal similarities to Morrison, which made for immediate speculation. Fans insisted this was in fact Morrison, and that he had come out of hiding.<br /><br /><br /><br />When I came across this in 1997, it was even filed under the “Doors” section, with a note on the case explaining the controversy. Upon listening to the album, I was immediately able to make two definitive statements:<br /><br />First, as much as I wanted to believe, this was indeed not Jim Morrison singing. It is very clear after listening to a couple of verses that it is someone else entirely. I cannot think of someone to equate it to in the context of 1974, but basically once the Phantom gets going he begins to s
