hendrix @ woodstock on obey videos

you can buy this on dvd, too, but for a minute, at least, somebody has streaming online the near-complete jimi hendrix set from woodstock. in the fullness of time, robert christgau and matt hembree have convinced me that this was a better performance than monterey: he's so in control of his material, his improvisatory abilities soaring to coltrane-like peaks, with a lot on his mind. never mind that you can't hear the two conga players and the second gtr (larry lee, a 101st airborne bud just back from the 'nam); figure that they at least contributed to the _vibe_ that got jimi to this cusp of what'd be his most interesting musical period. hear him work out the ideas that'd become "message to love" and "stepping stone." hear the way he pulls "the star-spangled banner" out of the coda to the loosest and best version of "voodoo chile (slight return)" imaginable. (he tells the other string players "it's in E," but nobody follows.) hear the rambling improv that follows (which got cut out of the movie, duh) which is even more all-over-the-map than townshend's "my generation" coda on live at leeds until he slides into the stately gabor szabo minor-blues beauty of "villanova junction." greatness. he was 26 years old, with just over a year left to live. dig what he was, and think of what he might have become.