After 50 years of Waiting for the Sun, the Doors’ third album has risen again in an expanded anniversary edition.

Featuring a remastered version of the original 1968 LP, rough mixes of the album’s 11 tracks – save for “The Unknown Soldier” and “We Could be so Good Together” – and a handful of live performances, it’s a refreshing look back at what is perhaps the Doors’ most satisfying release and their only No. 1 record.

This is the band at its most compact – there are no double-digit runtime opuses here – even as it mixes far-out period pieces such as “Not to Touch the Earth” and “My Wild Love” with more durable, poppier fare like “Love Street” and “Hello I Love You.”

The remastering’s impact is negligible; however, the rough mixes show the value of a producer who knows when to say when.

While not significantly different than their better-known antecedents, these versions are more organic, less polished and therefore extrmently agreeable. With background vocals more prominent on “Five to One” and John Densmore’s light-touch, jazzy drumming out front throughout, the nine new versions make these old songs pop afresh.

The set is rounded out with five audience recording-quality tracks from the band’s Sept. 17, 1968, concert in Copenhagen. Featuring a sketch of a spoken-word “Texas Radio & the Big Beat” that runs just 90 seconds and a positively dreadful rendition of “Hello I Love You,” these add ons will make collectors drool, but leave casual fans cool.

Get this one for the rough mixes.