The Doors were well into their career a year after "Light My Fire" got to #1 on June 3, 1967 and remained atop the U.S. Singles chart for three weeks. The band had two best-selling albums out and a third about to appear when the L.A. band scored its second #1 single on August 3, 1968, The song was "Hello I Love You," released prior to the Doors album "Waiting for the Sun, which came out that September."
This Friday, August 3, marks 50 years since The Doors hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart for the second time.
Rhino Records will commemorate the anniversary with two new releases this week. Out today (Tuesday July 31) on all digital download and streaming services is the “Hello, I Love You” maxi-single, featuring a newly remastered version of the song along with previously unreleased “rough mixes” of “Hello, I Love You” along with “Love Street,” the single’s original b-side.
Out this this Friday, exactly 50 years to the date of the track hitting #1, is a new 7” vinyl version of the single with its original b-side “Love Street.” This anniversary vinyl release uses mono radio mixes of the songs that were given exclusively to radio stations for airplay in 1968. This version of “Hello, I Love You” makes its vinyl debut here, while the “Love Street” mix is being released commercially for the first time.
“Hello, I Love You” is also featured in the upcoming Waiting For The Sun: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition, available September 14. This 2-CD/1-LP collection features a new version of the album’s original stereo mix on both CD and 180-gram vinyl LP, which has been newly remastered from the original master tapes by Bruce Botnick, The Doors’ longtime engineer/mixer. The huge bonus is on the second disc which features 14 completely unreleased tracks: nine recently discovered “rough mixes” from the album recording sessions and five never-before-released live songs from The Doors 1968 European tour.