"Butterflies, zebras and moonbeams and a fairy tale. That's all she ever thinks about. Ridin' with the wind"
PART 5
This is what went on tape when Jimi left his reel to reel running at his home base, alone or among friends ...
JIMI HENDRIX
AT HIS BEST Volumes 1,2 & 3
Released 1972 ((Joker/Sagapan)
Vol. 1 - She Went To Bed With My Guitar, Free Thunder, Cave Man
bells, Strokin' A lady On Each Hip, Baby Chicken Strut
Vol.2 - Down mean Blues, Feels Good, Fried Cola, Monday Morning
Blues, Jim Is tender Too, Madagascar
Vol. 3 - Young Jim, Lift off, Swifts Wing, Spiked With Heady
Dreams, Giraffe
This should really be in the Unofficial Releases section but it
makes more sense here.
A ridiculous title for these strange low-fi recordings from a
series of loose home jams with pianist Mike Ephron and
percussionist Juma Sultan at Jimi's rented house in Shokan near
Woodstock in 1969. Some tracks had been featured way back on a
bootleg called "This Flyer...".
This is all very relaxed, the musicians simply freely throwing
ideas around and having fun. Hendrix and Ephron doodle and amble
around without any real direction, which is okay really, as this
wasn't performed for anyone. Ephron plays an electric
harpsicord I beleive and unfortunately it sounds more like a
childs toy piano, worsened by the fact that he seems to play in
the wrong key most of the time. At times, the whole thing sounds
like a bunch of amateurs trying in vain to make music ! This is
all quite "interesting" to a researcher like myself, but not at
all recommended casual listening. David Shadwick's excellent book
"Jimi Hendrix - Musician" summed up the recordings in this
way: "The most arid and worthless musical adventure that
Hendrix ever had the misfortune to be involved in". The title
of the album should read "Jimi Hendrix At His Worst".
Some of these recordings were also put out at some stage as "Jimi Hendrix '64". In his superb book on Hendrix, Charles Shaar Murray points out that Ephron, who owned the tapes, had dated the sessions 1964 to avoid being hassled by Yameta or PPX over publishing rights.
Each jam was given a wild title, presumably by Ephron:
She Went To Bed With My Guitar -
Here, Jimi improvises on "Tryin' To Be" (an embryonic
"Stepping Stone") even putting in a rather out of key
vocal. Soon after, at the Woodstock festival, he would use a
similar phrasing in the jam around "Voodoo Chile (Slight
Return)".
Free Thunder - Begins with a hint at "Gypsy Boy"/"Hey
Baby" before going off into abstract improvisation.
Cave Man Bells - Juma plays dense percussion and bells as Jimi
makes his guitar grown and rumble.
Strokin' A Lady On Each Hip - Begins as "Villanova
Junction" with some very nice work from Jimi, then falls into
doodlings.
Baby Chicken Strut - This short track is trance-like mayhem.
Down Mean Blues - Things get refreshingly "down home" here as
Jimi puts in some neat blues licks.
Feels Good - We hear Jimi chatting to the others here at the
beginning, then things get under way with someone on flute. It
floats along in a very spacey manner and Jimi improvises a vocal
at one point "See me cryin, beyond the sky ...".
Fried Cola - Begins a bit loose before Jimi plays some funky
rhythms alongside Jumas pulsating congas.
Monday Morning Blues - This warbles in, then Jimi goes into a
blues again and puts in another vocal. As it ends he suggests that
they stop and listen to the recording.
Jim Is tender Too - Another meandering jam around a basic
blues riff.
Madagascar - Sounds like the same jam as "Cave Man
Bells", lots of percussion and some Marimbula from Ephron I
presume.
Young Jim - Jimi dominates here with some choppy rythms and
improvisations
Lift off - More rumblings before Jimi slows things down with
some dreamy winding runs
Swifts Wing - Juma patters away as the others dribble drabble
over the top. What were they on ? Jimi then plays some interesting
rock solos.
Spiked With Heady Dreams - Return of the flute and aimless
doodles. Jimi sings again, "Here I go flying, what am I looking
for... ooh feels good...").
Giraffe - Jimi plays a slow descending riff which he later
worked into the ending of "Burning Desire".
Other releases of these recordings carried a track listing that
read like this:
Impromtu N° 1 (Baroque I), Impromtu N° 2 (Baroque
II), Impromtu N° 3, Virtuoso (Part 1 Berceuse, Part 2 Flying,
Part 3 Perpetuum Mobile
> A big thank you to Carl for his help in archive research on this set.
Deleted
THE
COVER(S)
Albert Hall rehearsal shot
which at least pictures Jimi in the same year as the recordings
(which is more than you can say for a lot of releases). Nice cover
-
8/10
These Italian versions cut out Jimi's silhouette was rather awkwardly making them look like old reggae albums ! - 0/10
Another release of the tapes titled "The Jimi Hendrix Story" ! The height of ridicule.
A re-release (Volume 1) with a superb Santa Clara 1969 photo.
This 6CD 2008 unofficial release from the Mike Jeffrey estate includes the awful Mike Ephron jams. (see Unofficial Releases > Radioactive).
The ATM version with a hilarious cover, "At his best ?"
JIMI BY
HIMSELF - The Home Recordings
Released 1995
1983, Angel,
Cherokee Jam, Hear My Train A'Comin, Voodoo Chile/Cherokee Mist,
Gypsy Eyes
This rare CD was only available in a book
titled "Voodoo Child: The Illustrated Legend of Jimi Hendrix"
(pictured below) by Martin I. Green and Bill Sienkiewicz. Thought
to have been recorded in April 1968 in a New York hotel room, the
recording features Jimi alone going through some ideas on electric
guitar. These fascinating recordings really merit a re-release in
some form or other (on Dagger ?). It really is a privilege to sit
next to Jimi and listen to him explore new ideas. The version of
"1983" is just beautiful and Jimi's "Angel" stayed just
long enough for afternoon tea.
"Angel" appeared on "Lifelines".
Deleted
< The book cover.
A French reprint of the book (without the CD) "Jimi Hendrix - La
Légende du Voodoo Child"
(Delcourt/Contrebande 2004)
< Alternate sleeve ?
I recently bought this book and I thouroughly recommend it. Very well researched, it presents the story of his life, portrayed totally in illustrations by Bill Sienkiewicz and is all held together by quotes and lyrics by Jimi.
These tracks would soon turn up on many bootleg albums. Some solo acoustic doodlings can be heard on bootlegs such as "Out In The Sun" and "Acoustic Jams" (only a few are in fact that).
See also "Morning Symphony Ideas" in Studio Releases 2000 section, which features a brief home recorded acoustic track.
Another home-base jam is in circulation
among collectors as "Spicy Essence - Apartment Jam 70" (or
so-called Taj Mahal jams).
I beleive this was recorded in an LA hotel room in 1969 during the
last Experience tour, although it has also been said that it is
another Shokan House recording.
