jimi's music 3
as my teague-inspahrd hendrix binge continues, i'm finding that besides being overexposed via clear channel, the early stuff (are you experienced, monterey, the bbc sessions) sounds nervous, jumpy, without "that repose, that inevitability you get from people like b.b. king and john lee hooker" (as nik cohn wrote), a quality which jimi found on his magnum opus electric ladyland, along with a more natch'l sounding groove which he'd claim on the series of 1970 recordings that trickled out after his death on albums like the cry of love, rainbow bridge, and war heroes (the cream of which are now collected on experience hendrix's first rays of the new rising sun). jon 'n' i agree with robert christgau that the cox-mitchell unit was jimi's best band; sad but appropriate that he was making the best music of his life when he checked out. if only he'd had more time...
listening to ladyland now, it breaks down like this --
side 1: who else had (or has) the range, not to mention the balls, to essay 'riginal compositions in the styles of both curtis mayfield and john lee hooker on a single elpee side, and make 'em work?
side 2: part of hendrix's genius was the way he could embroider even sow's ears like noel redding's songs into silk purses. the dylanesque r&b fantasias "long hot summer night" and "gypsy eyes" are evidence his songwriting was getting better and deeper, the latter song introducing a groove he'd mine further in '69-'70. i have a special fondness for "come on," a song i liked to play with ric goldstein and steve gray in albany back in '75. "burning of the midnight lamp" was a u.k. hit, surprising for such a poignantly rendered evocation of solitude.
side 3: while in general i prefer vinyl, the cd medium allows you to hear "1983" bookended by "rainy day" and "still raining" without changing discs. in comparison to the psych-sprawl that followed in its wake, from funkadelic's "free your mind" to acid mothers temple, this sequence sounds relatively concise.
side 4: "house burning down" provides further proof, as if any more were needed, of jimi's growth as a songwriter. "all along the watchtower" is formally perfect. while "voodoo child (slight return)" has been srv-ed to death, the 'riginal retains its power.
listening to ladyland now, it breaks down like this --
side 1: who else had (or has) the range, not to mention the balls, to essay 'riginal compositions in the styles of both curtis mayfield and john lee hooker on a single elpee side, and make 'em work?
side 2: part of hendrix's genius was the way he could embroider even sow's ears like noel redding's songs into silk purses. the dylanesque r&b fantasias "long hot summer night" and "gypsy eyes" are evidence his songwriting was getting better and deeper, the latter song introducing a groove he'd mine further in '69-'70. i have a special fondness for "come on," a song i liked to play with ric goldstein and steve gray in albany back in '75. "burning of the midnight lamp" was a u.k. hit, surprising for such a poignantly rendered evocation of solitude.
side 3: while in general i prefer vinyl, the cd medium allows you to hear "1983" bookended by "rainy day" and "still raining" without changing discs. in comparison to the psych-sprawl that followed in its wake, from funkadelic's "free your mind" to acid mothers temple, this sequence sounds relatively concise.
side 4: "house burning down" provides further proof, as if any more were needed, of jimi's growth as a songwriter. "all along the watchtower" is formally perfect. while "voodoo child (slight return)" has been srv-ed to death, the 'riginal retains its power.
posted by stashdauber at 8:38 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home