J.H. Top Ten
1) First Rays of the New Rising Sun
2) Live At Woodstock DVD
3) The Baggy's Rehearsal Sessions: Trumps the Band of Gypsys album, even without "Machine Gun."
4) Live At Monterey DVD: Jimi explodes out the gate with "Killing Floor," essays the definitive "Like A Rolling Stone," and caps it with the iconic autodestruct finale of "Wild Thing." I just miss the action painting intro from the original VHS version (created because D.A. Pennebaker dropped his camera during "Can You See Me" and so had no footage to go with the song).
5) Live At the Isle of Wight DVD: Some of this is painful to watch. Jimi looks drained, his amp randomly broadcasts radio crosstalk (my old Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face used to do the same thing, to my great delight), and sometimes ("Red House") his mojo just ain't working; notice the way he just drops his guitar on the stage at the end of the set. But it includes the only live vids of some Cry of Love/First Rays songs, and the band with Mitch Mitchell takes some of the Band of Gypsys songs (including an incandescent "Machine Gun") places they just didn't go with Buddy.
6) Electric Ladyland, side 3: "1983" is a masterful psychedelic sound painting.
7) More Experience: A cheapie import, recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall when the Experience was on its last legs. Inasmuch as classic rock radio and a generation of SRV wannabes have made it near impossible for me to enjoy "Little Wing" or "Voodoo Chile," this is where I heard 'em first. The "Little Wing" in particular is sublime.
8) Axis: Bold As Love
9) Are You Experienced?: Again, classic rock radio has made it unnecessary for me to hear about half of this ever again, but you gotta have "May This Be Love," "I Don't Live Today," "Third Stone From the Sun," and the title track (which I once saw Jim Suhler play on wah-wah dobro to great effect).
10) Drivin' South: If you ever see a copy of this, lemme know. Released on Jungle back in Y2K and withdrawn at Experience Hendrix's insistence, this set from ca. '65 captures Jimi playing blues on a shitty Fender Duosonic with Curtis Knight's band in some Jersey dive. I heard an earlier release (on the Brit Music For Pleasure label, if my shakey memory serves) once in some guy's college room while we were playing chess and still remember it 35 years later. A used copy goes for a bill and a half on Amazon these days. Jeez.
2) Live At Woodstock DVD
3) The Baggy's Rehearsal Sessions: Trumps the Band of Gypsys album, even without "Machine Gun."
4) Live At Monterey DVD: Jimi explodes out the gate with "Killing Floor," essays the definitive "Like A Rolling Stone," and caps it with the iconic autodestruct finale of "Wild Thing." I just miss the action painting intro from the original VHS version (created because D.A. Pennebaker dropped his camera during "Can You See Me" and so had no footage to go with the song).
5) Live At the Isle of Wight DVD: Some of this is painful to watch. Jimi looks drained, his amp randomly broadcasts radio crosstalk (my old Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face used to do the same thing, to my great delight), and sometimes ("Red House") his mojo just ain't working; notice the way he just drops his guitar on the stage at the end of the set. But it includes the only live vids of some Cry of Love/First Rays songs, and the band with Mitch Mitchell takes some of the Band of Gypsys songs (including an incandescent "Machine Gun") places they just didn't go with Buddy.
6) Electric Ladyland, side 3: "1983" is a masterful psychedelic sound painting.
7) More Experience: A cheapie import, recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall when the Experience was on its last legs. Inasmuch as classic rock radio and a generation of SRV wannabes have made it near impossible for me to enjoy "Little Wing" or "Voodoo Chile," this is where I heard 'em first. The "Little Wing" in particular is sublime.
8) Axis: Bold As Love
9) Are You Experienced?: Again, classic rock radio has made it unnecessary for me to hear about half of this ever again, but you gotta have "May This Be Love," "I Don't Live Today," "Third Stone From the Sun," and the title track (which I once saw Jim Suhler play on wah-wah dobro to great effect).
10) Drivin' South: If you ever see a copy of this, lemme know. Released on Jungle back in Y2K and withdrawn at Experience Hendrix's insistence, this set from ca. '65 captures Jimi playing blues on a shitty Fender Duosonic with Curtis Knight's band in some Jersey dive. I heard an earlier release (on the Brit Music For Pleasure label, if my shakey memory serves) once in some guy's college room while we were playing chess and still remember it 35 years later. A used copy goes for a bill and a half on Amazon these days. Jeez.
posted by stashdauber at 5:23 AM
3 Comments:
The BBC Sessions from '67 with The Experience is a pretty good one too. Great versions of "Driving South" and Stevie's "I was made to love her" (with Mr. Wonder on drums according to the liner notes.) Definitely worth a listen, as long as you don't mind Alexis Korner hogging the mic between every other track.
This post inspired me to give my copy of the Jimi Hendrix movie soundtrack a spin (vinyl, still has the plastic on it). A big JH fave of mine, a good collection of live stuff.
AM: It was actually the original Rykodisc release of "BBC" and especially "Live At Winterland" that pulled me back in.
BL: That doco was a fave midnight movie back in college. Still worth watching, but some of those interviews get old after awhile. My sweetie 'n' I like Fayne Pridgeon, though; with more people like her and Billy Cox in his corner, maybe JH would still be kickin'. Just my opinion.
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