"Woman, child, man and wife, the best love to have is the love of life"
PART 3
Released 1990 - 1999
LIFELINES - THE
JIMI HENDRIX STORY
Released 1990 (Reprise)
Disc 1 - I Don't Live Today (L. A. Forum, Apr 26, 1969), Cherokee Mist (Home Demo, early 1968, NYC), Testify (with Isley Brothers, 1964), Lawdy Miss Clawdy (with Little Richard, 1964), I'm A Man (with Curtis Knight and the Squires, 1964), Like A Rolling Stone (Generation Club, NYC, Apr mid, 1968), Red House (L'Olympia, Paris, Oct 9, 1967), Hey Joe, Hoochie Koochie Man ("Rhythm and Blues" BBC, Oct 17, 1967), Purple Haze, The Wind Cries Mary, Foxy Lady ("Saturday Club" BBC, Feb 13, 1967)
Disc 2 - Are You Experienced, Third Stone From The Sun, Rock Me Baby ("Monterey), Mister Bad Luck (Olympic Sound Studios, London, May 4 1967), Burning Of The Midnight Lamp, Spanish Castle Magic, Bold As Love, One Rainy Wish (alternate mix), Little Wing, Drivin' South ("Top Gear", Oct 6, 1967), The Things I Used To Do (Record Plant, NYC, May 15, 1969, with Johnny Winter), All Along The Watchtower, Drifter's Escape (alternate mix), Cherokee Mist (Record Plant, NYC, May 2, 1968), Voodoo Chile (Home Demo, early 1968, NYC), Voodoo Child (Slight Return) (Take Four), 1983...(A Merman I Should Turn To Be) (alternate version)
Disc 3 - Voodoo Chile, Come On (part 1) (alternate take), Manic Depression (Winterland Arena, Oct 12, 1968 (2nd show), Machine Gun (Fillmore East, Dec 31, 1969 (2nd show), Room Full Of Mirrors (alternate mix), Angel (Home Demo, early 1968, NYC), Rainy Day Shuffle (Record Plant, NYC, June 10, 1968), Valleys Of Neptune (Electric Lady Studios, NYC, Jan, 1970/Hit Factory, NYC, Sept, 1969), Send My Love To Linda (Electric Lady Studios, NYC, Aug, 1970), South Saturn Delta (Record Plant, NYC, June 14, 1968), Dolly Dagger (Isle Of Wight Festival, Aug 30, 1970), Night Bird Flying, Hear My Train A Comin' (BBC Radio)Disc 4 - Tax Free / Red House* / Spanish Castle Magic / The Star-Spangled Banner /
Purple Haze / I Don't Live Today / Voodoo Chile / Sunshine Of Your Love
The Jimi Hendrix Experience recorded live at the L.A. Forum; Los
Angeles, CA 4-26-69.
*Previously on "Red House - Variations on a theme"
A re-release of "Live
And Unreleased -The Radio Show" (see 80s Studio releases), this mainly
studio collection included a
rare fourth live CD (with no DJ chat and interviews on this disc)
featuring The Experience at the LA Forum
26/04/69. - See "Posthumous Live Releases - 90s" for the review.
As said previously, only the tracks in bold are more or less complete.
THE COVER
The box is all stacked typo with
luxury gold leaf and the CDs themselves are decked out with a repeated
Golden Gate Park San Francisco 1967 photo again (like on "Radio One").
That photo is out of place on the LA Forum 69 disc - 3/10
Deleted
"All Along The Watchtower"/"Come On (Part One" (alternate take)/"Star Spangled Banner"
Released 1991 (Polydor France)
This three track CD single appeared in
France with an alternate take of "Come On (Part One)" ! It is
not the aborted version that appeared on "Lifelines" but a separate
complete take of the song. It has not reappeared officially since.
That "Star Spangled Banner" is the studio version which first
saw the light of day on "Rainbow Bridge" (the previous year Alan
Douglas had included it on the "Cornerstones" compilation and today it
resides on the MCA 2000 box set).
Deleted
ARE YOU EXPERIENCED -
Remaster 1
Hey Joe, Stone Free,
Purple Haze, 51st Anniversary, The Wind Cries Mary, Highway Chile, Foxy
Lady, Manic Depression, Red House (Version 2), Can You See Me (Version
2), Love Or Confusion, I Don't Live Today, May This Be Love, Fire, 3rd
Stone From The Sun, Remember, Are You Experienced.
AXIS: BOLD AS LOVE - Remaster 1
ELECTRIC LADYLAND - Remaster 1
Re-release 1993 (Polydor/Reprise)
A special mention here for the
Alan Douglas supervised remastering (done by Joe Gastwirt) of the holy
trinity of Hendrix albums : "Are You Experienced", "Axis: Bold As Love"
and "Electric Ladyland". These had flashy new covers using photos by
Gerard Mankowitz (the original covers were on the back of the booklets)
and they really did freshen up things compared to the first generation
of CD releases (or did they ? See below). The first CD release of
"Ladyland" for example (with the naked ladies cover) had even got the
song sequence wrong ! That was put right here.
As a bonus, "Are You Experienced" opened with the first three British
singles (A & B sides) but Alan Douglas decided to use the American
"Smash Hits" versions of "Red House" and "Can You See Me",
presumably because of they featured a richer sound (thanks to the extra
overdubs by Jimi and Chas). He then put the original UK version of"Red
House" on the following "Blues" compilation where it remains to
this day. A compilation titled "The Ultimate Experience" was released
at the same time (see "Compilations" section).
These releases had superb 24 page booklets, which were not lavishly
illustrated but featured brilliant notes by Michael Fairchild.
When the Hendrix Estate put out another remastered series (only four years later) on MCA, they claimed that they had remastered "Axis" and "Ladyland" for the very first time from the original tapes. It would seem therefore that duplicate tapes were used for those works in this 1993 series. However, fellow Hendrix fan Luke informs me that this is unclear. While EH has said this, Joe Gastwirt (who did the later Reprise and 1993 discs) said the tapes he used had splices between the songs. EH said their tapes did *not* have splices between songs. Normally, a first generation master tape will have splices between every song, as it is in fact a compilation of all of the individual mixes. That said, it's unclear who is right in this case. Thanks Luke.
See the re-releases below for essential information about the different masterings.
Deleted
A second remastering was done for the 1997 MCA re-releases. In 2010, Jimi's first two albums were again remastered!
THE COVERS
This series of artworks was also
the subject of an exhibition at the time. The covers conveyed very well
the fact that the recordings had been enhanced. On the "Ladyland"
cover, Jimi looks just like how I always imagined him singing "Rainy
Day ...". - 8/10
Each volume
featured very informative booklets.
:BLUES
Released 1994 (Polydor/MCA)
Hear My Train A Comin' (acoustique 1967), Born Under A Bad Sign (Jones/Bell), Red House (version 1), Catfish Blues, Voodoo Chile Blues, Manish Boy (Morganfield), Once I Had A Woman, Bleeding Heart (James/Sehorn),
Jelly 292, Electric
Church Red House, Hear My Train A Comin'
(live-Berkeley 1970)
This excellent collection of archive material focuses on Jimi's blues influences. It was put together by Alan Douglas, with some prevoiusly available songs (see below) and new discoveries. At the time it was a very welcome release as we had had nothing new, in terms of studio material, since "Nine To The Universe" of 1980 ! Today, this is the only Alan Douglas project that Experence Hendrix have retained in their catalogue since his departure, being a good indication of its quality and commercial value.
The album features blues
numbers from all periods of Jimi's success. From the Experience epoch,
we have Jimi solo on 12 string acoustic guitar (recorded in a film
studio) as he goes through "Hear My Train A Comin". The original
UK released "Red House" is included here because Douglas had
chosen to include the American "Smash Hits" version of the song on the
otherwise UK track listed "Are You Experienced" re-master (confused ?
You will be !).
The great "Catfish Blues" captures the band on top form during a
Dutch TV appearance. That song evolved into "Voodoo Chile" and
here we get "Voodoo Chile Blues" which was built using outtakes
from the "Electric Ladyland" sessions (Jack Casady on bass and Stevie
Winwood on keyboards). "Electric Church Red House" comes from a
session in October 68 and features the Experience with Lee Michaels on
organ (and Buddy Miles briefly at the intro which Alan Douglas edited
in from another session).
Then there are four tracks with the Band Of Gypsys line up. The great Elmore James is given hommage on "Bleeding Heart" and this a straight reading of the song, like on the February '69 Albert Hall recording ("Experience") and unlike Jimi's later adaptation of it (as on "South Saturn Delta" and originally "War Heroes"). The Gypsys later played "Bleeding Heart" during their Fillmore concerts. The Hendrix composed "Once I Had A Woman" features a great vocal from Jimi before it climbs into hard rocking finale. "Born Under A Bad Sign" is an instrumental jam around the Albert King song (which was popularised by Cream). "Mannish Boy" is a loose studio jam from April '69 (so only a couple months before The Experience broke up).
With Cox and Mitchell, we hear Jimi at full tilt on "Jelly 292" (in fact an alternate take of the "Jam 292" seen edited on "Loose Ends and complete on "Hear My Music" from Dagger in 2004). Finally we have "the most perfectly formed and satisfying of all Hendrix blues performances" (as it accurately says in the booklet), the incredible and definitive live version of "Hear My Train A Comin", from Berkeley Community Center in May '70 (first show), previously seen on the now deleted "Rainbow Bridge" album of the 70's. This alone justifies the purchase. Jimi is just stunning on this one, taking the song through it's different passages with such assurance and the magnificent drums from Mitch really underline the degree to which he complimented Jimi's music. For me, this is perhaps Jimi's finest moment.
"Here My Train Comin'"
(acoustic) previously on "A film about Jimi Hendrix" soundtrack album
(see Live section)
"Here My Train Comin'" (electric) previously on "Rainbow Bridge"
"Red House" previously on the UK "Are You Experienced", and now also on
the current MCA edition
"Electric Church Red House" previously on "Variations On A Theme - Red
House"
"Catfish Blues" previously on "Calling Long Distance" (Univibes, see
end of page).
THE COVER
A jewel of a CD package.
Evidently Alan Douglas' favourite photo of Jimi (used previously on
"Crash Landing") melts into a multicoloured collage of blues greats
which continues on the back and on the disc itself. Under the disc Jimi
plays slide with a beer can. Another very informative booklet. - 10/10
Note : Another Hendrix blues compilation was
released in 2003 as part of the "Martin Scorcese Presents The Blues"
series - see "Compilations" section
> Here's an interesting article about Jimi's blues techniques and influences…
> …and here is the interesting text from the original booklet.
VOODOO SOUP - ???
Released 1995 (MCA)
The New Rising Sun, Belly Button Window, Stepping Stone,
Freedom, Angel, Room Full Of Mirrors, Midnight, Night Bird Flying,
Drifting, Ezy Ryder, Pali Gap, Message To Love, Peace In Mississippi, In From The Storm
I don't know how to rate this
one. By this time Alan Douglas got round to 20-bit re-mastering the
Hendrix catalogue, he put out Jimi's first three studio albums (with
new-look covers) and then instead of re-releasing the much anticipated
"Cry Of Love", this new compilation of latter day Hendrix material was
offered. It was a great disappointment not to see "Cry Of Love"
reappear. Here, the shuffling together of rough mixes previously
overdubbed, to complete "Crash Landing" ("Message To Love" and "Peace
In Mississippi"), with the more finished tracks culled from the
first three posthumous albums, was rather awkward compiling. The album
does contain many great tracks but the
20-Bit remastering seemed to have stripped away some of the magic of
the original mixes (this reviewer promptly ran out to buy the old CD
edition of "The Cry Of Love" before it disappeared from circulation !).
Douglas had also been up to his old overdubbing tricks again. Here, he
recruited The Knack's drummer Bruce Gary to record new drum tracks for "Stepping
Stone" and "Room Full Of Mirrors" !
A new instrumental track was included titled "The New Rising Sun",
but proved to be of little interest, simply a meandering exploratory
demo. Parts of it had already surfaced on "Crash Landing" as part of
the silly collage called "Captain Coconut". "Peace In
Mississippi" features The Experience in October 68 and is a total
fuzz drenched blues workout which is similar to "Midnight" but
on the whole more basic and rather tedious. It's not that different
from the "Crash Landing" overdubbed version, as Jimi's wild guitar
turned up to "11" leaves little room for anything else.
Note that "Midnight" is 30 seconds longer than on "War Heroes"
(and "South Saturn Delta"). On the bootleg "The Capricorn Tape", there
is even an 8 minute "Midnight" but it is unclear if this is a
posthumous montage or the unédited tape.
One thing that was very annoying here was that Alan Douglas edited out
the nice slow intro to "Pali Gap" for some strange reason. What
a mess. It was surprising that Douglas tripped up hear after such a
good run since "Nine To The Universe".
Deleted
Tracks available today:
Belly Button Window,
Stepping Stone, Freedom, Angel, Room Full Of Mirrors, Night Bird
Flying, Drifting, Ezy Ryder, In From The Storm " - First Rays Of The New Rising Sun" (MCA)
Midnight, Pali Gap - "South Saturn Delta" (MCA)
Message To Love - The Jimi Hendrix Experience box set (MCA)
"The New Rising Sun" appreared on the unofficial "Villanova
Junction" (Burning Airlines)
"Peace In Mississippi" remains on the shelf.
THE COVER
The best thing about the album was the superb cover (taken from an old
French sleeve for an "Are You Experienced"/"Axis: Bold As Love" double
package -see Alternate Sleeves) by the great comic book artist Jean Giraud alias Mobius. He in fact later teamed
up with the journalist who had photographed Jimi eating, Jean-Noel
Coghe, to publish a lavishly illustrated book about Jimi in the
nineties (see my Bibliography). - 10/10
This album remains the only official source of "The New Rising Sun" and "Peace In Mississippi".
Here's another site about Jean Giraud/Mobius - to see more Hendrix illustrations, click on "Mobius" then search for "Jimi Hendrix" on the following page.
The current MCA editions:
ARE YOU EXPERIENCED -
Remaster 2
Foxy Lady, Manic Depression, Red House (Version 1), Can You See Me
(Version 2), Love Or Confusion, I Don't Live Today, May This Be Love,
Fire, 3rd Stone From The Sun, Remember, Are You Experienced
+ Hey Joe, Stone Free, Purple Haze, 51st Anniversary, The Wind Cries
Mary, Highway Chile
AXIS: BOLD AS LOVE - Remaster 2
ELECTRIC LADYLAND - Remaster 2
Re-released 1997 (MCA)
After "Voodoo Soup", the handling of the Hendrix estate came into the hands of Jimi's family, and they thankfully brought in Eddie Kramer to manage all new projects on the MCA label. In 1997, the first three albums were again re-mastered, and the original covers were re-introduced. On the UK "Are You Experienced" the first three singles (A & B sides) were tagged on at the end this time, and the original "Red House" is back where it belongs (but the original "Can You See Me" is again substituted by US "Smash Hits" version).
The compilation "Experience Hendrix" was released at the same time.
> Check out this page about The Sound Of Hendrix CDs
Purple Haze, Manic
Depression, Hey Joe, Love Or Confusion, May This Be Love, Don't Live
Today, The Wind Cries Mary, Fire, Third Stone From The Sun, Foxy Lady,
Are You Experienced
+ Stone Free, 51st Anniversary, Highway Chile, Can You See Me (version
2), Remember, Red House (version 2)
I object to the inclusion of the singles as bonus tracks. Jimi's first album, particularly in its European form, was an historic masterpiece and it should really be treated with the respect that it desreves. Look at "Revolver", "Seargent Pepper's", "Disraeli Gears" or "Satanic Majesties Request", no bonus tracks to detract from the artists concise work. The US version has become a 17 track compilation mixing US and UK album tracks and b-sides and it still doesn't use the original"Red House". It is ridiculous that "Axis" and "Ladyland" remain intact and this most important and influential debut album has become a hotch potch collection of tracks.
FIRST RAYS OF THE
NEW RISING SUN
Released 1997 (MCA)
Freedom, Izabella, Night Bird Flying, Angel, Room Full of Mirrors,
Dolly Dagger, Ezy Ryder, Drifting, Beginning (Mitchell), Stepping
Stone, My Friend (Hendrix/Redding), Straight Ahead, Hey Baby (New
Rising Sun), Earth Blues, Astro Man, In From the Storm, Belly Button
Window
As if "Voodoo Soup" had never existed, this album was an ambitious idea to finally gather together the best of the post Experience material, coming as close as possible to the supposed double vinyl album that Jimi was working on just before he passed on. "First Rays Of The New Rising Sun" was one of the working titles for his 1970 album (in August '70 however, a handwritten memo by Jimi named it as "Straight Ahead" !). It is a sort of expanded version of the deleted "Cry Of Love", with all of its tracks included (beginning and ending in the same way also), as well as some essential numbers from two other 70's albums "Rainbow Bridge" and "War Heroes".
This collection shows where
Jimi went (in terms of "finished product") after "Electric Ladyland"
with his music becoming less "psychedelic" with an earthier R&B
base. This is a very thorough selection of songs but in my opinion
there are a few too many straight rock songs compiled here, which makes
for a rather unbalanced "album" as such. It must be said that all those
rock songs are in fact superb, "Freedom", "Izabella", "Night Bird
Flying, "Room Full of Mirrors", "Dolly Dagger", "Ezy Ryder","Stepping
Stone","Straight Ahead", "Earth Blues", "Astro Man" and "In From the
Storm" … hell, that's alot of rock, talk about overkill !
In contrast there are a few slower numbers: "Angel" which was
inspired by a dream about his Mother, the Dylanesque blues "My Friend"
(in fact recorded back in 1968), the spooky solo blues "Belly Button
Window", the dreamy 'Drifting" which is similar to "May
This Be Love", and the superb "title track", "Hey Baby (New
Rising Sun)". Unfortunately, the beautiful instrumental "Pali
Gap" was left off (the track had fitted in nicely as an extension
of the dreamy "Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)" theme on "Rainbow
Bridge"). Another calm moment on the album would have benefitted it.
Some variety is provided by the rocking instrumental "Beginning"
however (for which Mitchell gets composer credits).
The problem is the CD format. Record companies feel that to give value
for money, they must fill up all the 70 minutes, regardless of the
logic. The multitude of tracks means that some good numbers become less
conspicuous. On vinyl for example, "Straight Ahead" took on more
importance as it opened side two. Here, it is just another rock track
among many others. The same goes for the superb "Rainbow Bridge" opener
"Dolly Dagger", lost in the mass. I might just add that I
prefer the sound on the old "Cry of Love" (on headphones anyway),
everything seemed to gel together better. Hell, I'll stop bickering -
this is a superb CD !
A nice touch was the release at the same time of a two track CD of "Dolly
Dagger"/"Night Bird Flying" which Jimi had planned for a single
release just before he died.
>Jimi had also thought of using some of these songs for his "Black Gold" project.
Freedom, Drifting, Ezy
Ryder, Night Bird Flying, My Friend, Straight Ahead, Astro Man, Angel,
In From The Storm, Belly Button Window - previously
on "Cry Of Love" (1971)
Dolly Dagger, Earth Blues, Room Full of Mirrors, Hey Baby (New Rising
Sun) - previously on "Rainbow Bridge"
Izabella, Beginning, Stepping Stone, - previously
on "War Heroes"
THE COVER
The album title is quite literally illustrated (with a sunset ?) and an
overlayed Jimi seems aptly to ponder what might have been. It does have
a luxury feel to it, which matches the richness of the music within.
Nice typo also but the whole thing does look more like a good
advertisement or film poster rather than an "record sleeve" - 7/10
SOUTH SATURN DELTA
Released 1998 (MCA)
*
Look Over Yonder, Little
Wing, Here He Comes (Lover Man), South Saturn Delta, Power Of Soul,
Message To The Universe (Message To Love), Tax Free, All Along The Watchtower (Olympic
mix) (Dylan), The Stars That Play With Laughing Sam's Dice (remix),
Midnight, Sweet
Angel, Bleeding
Heart, Pali Gap, Drifter's
Escape (original mix) (Dylan), Midnight Lightning
* My ratings judge the "albums" as a whole, even though here for example, some tracks are five star beauties.
Having used up nearly all the "most finished" post Experience materiel on the previous release, Eddie Kramer was obliged to delve deeper into the archives to complete this collection. Like with "Jimi Hendrix :Blues" this is a collection of old and new, with some stunning moments. One drawback is that some demos and alternate mixes are, like on "Voodoo Soup", a bit out of place next to the more polished re-released tracks. Messy compiling. Uneven finish.
That aside, those too young to have known the old albums will discover some fabulous Hendrix here. The blistering rocker from The Experience "Look Over Yonder" just screams along as Jimi punches in some of his greatest rock licks, rising to a shattering, whiplash climax. There are the great Experience studio instrumentals "Tax Free" and "Midnight" which feature some breathtaking guitar. The beautiful, Santana-like, "Pali Gap" is one of Jimi's most moving and accomplished instrumentals. "Bleeding Heart" takes the Elmore James' lyric into new funky rock territory, as good as anything on "First Rays". Other treasures from the vault are a studio version of "Power Of Soul" with the Band Of Gypsys, another Dylan cover in "Drifter's Escape" and the title track, a quirky jazz experiment from Jimi, complete with a brass arrangement !
Some interesting studio jams are included, "Lover Man" (in fact two takes cleverly edited together) opens with the intro that Jimi usually used for "Killing Floor", then takes off into an awesome display of screeching rock guitar. The essentially rhythmic Little Wing" (that title was written on the tape box) in fact turns out to be "Angel" , in an early instrumental run through with Mitch. "Sweet Angel" (which resembles more the structure of the "Angel" that is now on "First Rays") is another early version with overdubs, where Jimi uses a primitive electronic rhythm box to keep the beat. "Message To The Universe" is a raggedy but interesting live-in-studio run through of "Message To Love" featuring Jimi's ill fated "Woodstock" band (they had played the song at the famous festival). It does sound out of place here though. Finally "Midnight Lightning" is Jimi alone on guitar, tapping the beat with his foot and sounding like an old blues master.
A couple of "alternate mixes" are also included. The early Olympic Studios mix of "Watchtower" is really a bit too close to the "Ladyland" version to merit inclusion on this set (it would have been better placed on the box set which would soon appear) and an exciting remix of "The Stars That Play With Laughing Sam's Dice" (originally the B-side of the UK single "Burning Of The Midnight Lamp"). On that track the devastating guitar solo is mixed up front this time, fasten your seat belt !
"Look Over Yonder","Pali Gap"
- previously on "Rainbow Bridge" (1971)
"Bleeding Heart", "Tax Free", "Midnight" - previously on "War
Heroes" (1972)
"Drifters Escape", "The Stars That Play " - previously on "Loose
Ends" (1974) - "Drifter's Escape" was a slighly different (better)
version
"Power Of Soul" - previously on "Crash Landing" (1975)
in a modified form
"South Saturn Delta" - previously on "Lifelines" in a
slightly different form
THE COVER
A very striking photo of Jimi on a chopper which was a nice surprise.
Jimi in fact had dreadful eyesight and was lethal in car, so I dread to
think what he would have got up to on a motorbike ! The glossy mirror
lettering is a bit too much perhaps but all in all an excellent
packaging job -
9/10
In retrospect, the post
"Electric Ladyland" material has again been rather unsatisfactorily
compiled. In my humble opinion the re-releasing should have featured a
straight "Cry Of Love" re-master. That album originally presented
Jimi's most finished final works that had been cherry-picked by Kramer
and Mitchell in 1971. A short CD one might say, but then so is "Axis"
and who's complaining ?) . This could have been followed by another
high quality release of these tracks :
Dolly Dagger, Earth Blues, Pali Gap, Room Full of Mirrors, Look
Over Yonder, Hey Baby, Bleeding Heart, Tax Free, Stepping Stone,
Midnight, Beginning, Izabella, Drifters Escape.
That would be a compilation of Experience and later Hendrix
material but would represent the remaining studio work featuring high
quality overdubs by Jimi, proving his own particular interest in the
songs.
A more complete collection of Experience "rarities" could then have been built around The Stars That Play(remix)/Red House(version 2)/Star Spangled Banner(studio version)/All Along The Watchtower (Olympic mix)/Here He Comes(Lover Man) etc. This would have still left the opportunity to put out a more honest collection of demos and unfinished ideas, which treated as such, would have also made an interesting album. In fact the MCA box set which was released shortly after, effaced any opportunity to compile another single CD release of studio work (for now).
BBC SESSIONS
Released 1998 (MCA)
CD 1: Foxy Lady, Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? (Dylan) , (I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man
(Dixon), Driving
South (Collins),
Fire, Little Miss
Lover, The Burning
Of The Midnight Lamp, Catfish Blues (Robert Petway), Stone Free, Love
Or Confusion, Hey Joe (Roberts), Hound Dog (Leiber/Stoller), Driving
South, Hear My Train A Comin'
CD 2: Purple Haze, Killing Floor (Burnett), Radio One (You're The One For Me), Wait Until Tomorrow, Day Tripper (Lennon/McCartney), Spanish Castle Magic, Jammin', I Was Made To Love Her (Cosby/Hardaway/Moy/Wonder), Foxy Lady, Hey Joe, Manic Depression, Driving South, Hear My Train A Comin' , Voodoo Child (Slight Return), Hey Joe, Sunshine Of Your Love
In fact a re-release of the
deleted 80s album "Radio One" with thirteen (!) extra tracks. See my
review of that album for the original songs. Among the new additions is
the famous 1969 Lulu TV show live performance where, after performing "Voodoo
Child", Jimi aborts "Hey Joe" only to rip into a tribute to
Cream with "Sunshine Of Your Love". There are also a couple of
superb jams with Stevie Wonder on drums, one titles simply "Jammin"
and another built around the singer's hit song "I Was Made To Love
Her". Jimi puts in some great soloing here. After that jam Stevie
in fact led the band into "Ain't To Proud To Beg" which is
omitted here as it didn't come to much.
Also included from the BBC vaults are "Little Miss Lover", "Manic
Depression" (live TV appearance) and some alternate takes which are
very interesting for the improvisations on "Drivin South" and "Hear
My Train", less so for "Hey Joe" (2nd version incomplete)
and "Foxy Lady" (2nd falls apart).
The real scoop was yet another Hendrix cover of a Dylan song "Can
You Please Crawl Out Your Window ?" , bringing the total of Jimi's
Dylan covers to four (with "Like A Rolling Stone", "All Along The
Watchtower", and "Drifters Escape")*. Needless to say, he
was a big Zimmerman fan, even his revolutionary afro hair style was
inspired by Dylan's 1966 hairdo (see "Blonde On Blonde"). Noel already
had frizzy hair so Mitch soon permed his, to complete the band's pop
image (see album cover).
This album includes lots of rare studio versions of songs from the
band's rich repertoire. All this makes for a superb double CD.
The 2010 re-release on Sony
featured an extra track : "Burning
Of The Midnight Lamp" from one of his many BBC Top Of The Pops
appearances. Unfortunately it has only a live vocal over the singles
backing track.
FAKE STEREO: this album does not represent the original pure mono recordings. The original raw takes are circulating among collectors as "At The Beeb".
Fascinating trivia: this release revealed that just before going into "Day Tripper", Jimi toyed with the opening riff to "I Want To Tell You" (a George Harrison song from "Revolver").
THE COVER
The guys photographed in London's Hyde Park I think, on a windy day,
making Jimi's hair part rather awkwardly. Not a shot I would have
chosen but a nice honest cover anyway - 7/10
*DYLAN COVERS
In fact there exists a fifth Dylan cover by Jimi ! In a session
(with Paul Caruso on harmonica and backing vocals) he did nice version
of "Tears Of Rage" ! This popped up on a Dutch radio tribute
show "Wereldberoemd" (which means "World Famous") on their Radio 6 in
November 2007. The track has since turned up on a bootleg titled "Happy
Birthday Jimi". Unfortunately the track fades in and out a few times.
MERRY XMAS AND A
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Released 1999 (MCA)
Little Drummer Boy
(Traditional)/ Silent Night Auld Lang Syne
(Traditional) /
Three Little Bears / Little
Drummer Boy / Silent Night Auld Lang Syne (Extended Version)
These novelty tracks featuring The Band Of Gypsys in rehearsal for their New Years concerts at Baggys Studios which were originally pressed in the seventies as a 7" single titled "..and a Happy New Year", a Reprise "business-to-business" gift (see "Alternate Sleeves"). Here, there is also an "extended version" and a bonus,"Three Little Bears" , which is a long lost fun track from the Ladyland sessions (previously seen on "War Heroes"). Completists only !
THE COVER
Jimi disguised as Santa Clause? A photomontage ? No, it is taken from a
promo shot that Jimi did for the release of "Axis" in December 1967.
What was it Jimi once sang ? "...they might even try to wrap me in
cellophane and sell me..." - 5/10
> To Studio releases 2000 - 2009
