The Jimi Hendrix Thread

[jff]

Jimi Hendrix: A Legacy Tarnished?

 

(Wolfgang's Vault article)

 

In my opinion, that guy is full of shit.

[Analogman]

I sort of agree with what he is saying.

 

It is interesting that Eddie Kramer said in the early 70s that they were scraping the barrel. OF course, more tapes have come along since then. I ordered the new cd, I am a Hendrix collector, so I have almost everything. I am not too happy about the after the fact overdubs though.

 

I think they should leave the studio stuff alone, and concentrate on releasing the live stuff recorded on multitrack.

[jff]

I am not too happy about the after the fact overdubs though.

 

 

That part I agree with completely. The article seemed to be disparaging virtually all posthumous releases, though, and that's what I take issue with (it also seemed a bit self-serving coming from a concert download website). Calling them unfinished demos, and such.

 

Does the Beatles Anthology tarnish the Beatles legacy? Or does it offer insight into their work process, and some of the material they worked on but never completed, for one reason or another?

 

Aside from Hendrix being dead, what's the difference?

[Analogman]

That part I agree with completely. The article seemed to be disparaging virtually all posthumous releases, though, and that's what I take issue with (it also seemed a bit self-serving coming from a concert download website). Calling them unfinished demos, and such.

 

Does the Beatles Anthology tarnish the Beatles legacy? Or does it offer insight into their work process, and some of the material they worked on but never completed, for one reason or another?

 

Aside from Hendrix being dead, what's the difference?

 

I think it is partly due to the fact that so much Hendrix stuff has come out over the years.

 

Some people dismiss that sort of thing, other people love it. Most of what we have got over the last few years are demos, rough takes, different mixes, and things of that nature.

 

As you know, he really only released three albums. Smash Hits was a greatest hits, and Band of Gypsys was a live album he released to get out of a lawsuit.

 

Of course, what is funny is, the show they are pointing out there was released as a cd (or some of it, anyhow).

 

Live at Winterland

[jff]

I think it is partly due to the fact that so much Hendrix stuff has come out over the years.

 

 

 

Most of it that I've heard has been quality, even if it was "just" a collection of informal studio jams, such as the incredible Nine to the Universe.

 

I think there are a number of good examples of his legacy being tarnished, like the GIBSON Hendrix Strat.

 

http://www.gear-vault.com/gibson-hendrix-strat-people-are-pissed/

[Analogman]

I think in the book Eddie wrote, he dismisses Nine to The Universe. If I recall, what we hear on there is heavily edited, and the titles were made up

by Alan Douglas. I think a few of those jams were released unedited on one of those Dagger Records releases. I don't have any of those albums though.

 

I agree with that. Sort of like the wine they had for sale, and the idea of making his gravesite into an amusement park.

[LouieB]

I have not yet heard any of this, but the inital review I read makes me at least somewhat interested in buying this, something I have never done with any of the other barrel scrapings of Hendrix material. Since most of these cuts are relatvvely free of over dubbing, it appears that they are at least somewhat the way Jimi would have wanted. That's a good thing.

 

Anxious to hear A-man's assessment when it comes to him in the mail.

 

LouieB

[Analogman]

I have not yet heard any of this, but the inital review I read makes me at least somewhat interested in buying this, something I have never done with any of the other barrel scrapings of Hendrix material. Since most of these cuts are relatvvely free of over dubbing, it appears that they are at least somewhat the way Jimi would have wanted. That's a good thing.

 

Anxious to hear A-man's assessment when it comes to him in the mail.

 

LouieB

 

We'll see. Some of those albums are good. What I really want are the Lifelines and Stages boxsets. They are out of print, and go for tons of bread though.

 

Engineer Eddie Kramer makes some "new" Hendrix from old tapes

[jff]

I think in the book Eddie wrote, he dismisses Nine to The Universe. If I recall, what we hear on there is heavily edited, and the titles were made up

by Alan Douglas.

 

 

Editing is no crime. Virtually all albums are heavily edited, including those Eddie Kramer engineers. I doubt Hendrix would have released the Nine to the Universe jams in unedited form. Sounds like sour grapes on Kramer's part.

 

I guess I'm lucky in that I've never bought/owned/and in some cases heard the unfinished Hendrix material that has session musicians (who Hendrix probably never even met or heard of) finishing the tracks. That's pretty lame, and is an obvious cash-in attempt.

[mjpuczko]

just listened to most of valleys of neptune. i like it a lot. i haven't listened to any of this posthumous stuff really. i do love the blues album though.

[jff]

i haven't listened to any of this posthumous stuff really. i do love the blues album though.

 

War Heroes is a good '70s one. It only features Hendrix's band.

 

South Saturn Delta has a lot of amazing material. I haven't heard First Ray's of the New Rising Sun...supposedly the album Hendrix intended to be his folow up to Electric Ladyland. That'll probably be the next one I get.

[mjpuczko]

i've always meant to check out south saturn & new rays. i should probably do tha.t

[Analogman]

Editing is no crime. Virtually all albums are heavily edited, including those Eddie Kramer engineers. I doubt Hendrix would have released the Nine to the Universe jams in unedited form. Sounds like sour grapes on Kramer's part.

 

I guess I'm lucky in that I've never bought/owned/and in some cases heard the unfinished Hendrix material that has session musicians (who Hendrix probably never even met or heard of) finishing the tracks. That's pretty lame, and is an obvious cash-in attempt.

 

I think it was more about how those jams were never meant to be released, and Douglas put them out.

 

In all the Hendrix books I have read, there are many stories of him always running tape. Even if they were not doing anything. This is how all of those sort of things come about.

 

I have a vinyl Hendrix bootleg that I bought back in the early 1990s. That is exactly what it is. He is just jamming or messing around.

 

I have those albums (Crash Landing, Midnight Lightning, and Nine To The Universe (I don't have this one.) but I have not heard them in a long time. Some of those tracks were used in some of the more recent releases, but without the work that Douglas did.

 

How Alan Douglas came to be in charge of Hendrix releases is a whole other weird story.

 

These are the pre-Douglas releases that I have:

Isle of Wight, Experience, More Experience, Soundtrack Recordings from the Film Jimi Hendrix, Hendrix In The West, The Cry of Love, Rainbow Bridge, War Heroes, and Loose Ends.

[mjpuczko]

pretty sure i have rainbow bridge on vinyl. that is one effed up doc/movie

[Analogman]

pretty sure i have rainbow bridge on vinyl. that is one effed up doc/movie

 

It's awesome.

 

Jimi Hendrix- Rainbow Bridge Interview

 

Chuck got rid of his wizard hat.

 

A friend of mine use to freak out on the scene where Pat Hartley is talking and rubbing her crotch.

(This is in A Film About Jimi Hendrix, not Rainbow Bridge)

 

One of my favorite Hendrix songs:

Hey Baby

[mjpuczko]

I also have rainbow on vhs. used to watch that all the time in my stoner days. the music in it is great.

[Analogman]

That's a funny story to read about also. It was really Mike Jeffrey's trip.

 

Live at The Royal Albert Hall (1969.02.24) was the last Hendrix thing I found. It has a been a semi-official release off and on over the years.

 

I have read that the family is going to officially release that, and a DVD along with it sometime this year.

 

'Valleys of Neptune' Surprises Jimi Hendrix Skeptics

 

I think Mr. Kot needs to do some research:

 

Terrific, Raw Production, writes Greg Kot at The Chicago Tribune: "The tracks are blissfully free of the overdubs and other studio manipulations that mar many of his posthumous recordings. Instead, we get a you-are-there document of Hendrix in the last volatile days of his great power trio with bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell, the Experience."

[Mr. Heartbreak]

I have always liked the Nine to the Universe album, and never really cared how it was edited, who's playing on it, etc. That's one that they really need to rerelease on CD in remastered format. I only have it on tape, and vinyl copies are overly pricey, IMO.

[mountain bed]

 

 

I think they should leave the studio stuff alone, and concentrate on releasing the live stuff recorded on multitrack.

Yeah, that's my attitude about Jimi recordings as well.

 

I always liked that double LP "The Jimi Hendrix Concerts" that Warner Bros put out in '82. It's taken from a number of different shows and years but still flows pretty well from song to song imo. That version of "Red House" on that record (from 7/17/70) is my favorite version of that song ever.

[Analogman]

Yeah, that's my attitude about Jimi recordings as well.

 

I always liked that double LP "The Jimi Hendrix Concerts" that Warner Bros put out in '82. It's taken from a number of different shows and years but still flows pretty well from song to song imo. That version of "Red House" on that record (from 7/17/70) is my favorite version of that song ever.

 

I have that.

 

A lot of those live tracks from the various releases have ended up on some of the cds that the family has put out. And, on the boxset.

 

Hendrix In The West is one of the best. I have that also - bought it when I was a teenager.

 

Mr. H -

 

You can find FLAC files of Nine To The Universe if you look around. That is one Hendrix release that I do not have.

 

I don't think the family will ever re-release the Douglas stuff. They have used some of the tracks in a different form on various releases. It could be that NTTU will never come out as it was again.

 

Amazon.com amazes me. I pre-ordered the new album a few weeks ago, and my expected delivery date is next week sometime.

Edited March 12, 2010 by Analogman

[Analogman]

Ok - I finally got the cd in the mail today. There is a nice booklet in there, as there is in all the releases the family has put out. I had not seen some of the photos before, particularly the one where he is playing a purplish-blue Stratocaster.

 

I think Noel Redding talk about the overdubs in his book. I can't recall the story behind why they did such work though.

 

There is a good bit of talk about the version of Stone Free in the booklet. I think my favorite take of that song besides the original is the version on the Fillmore East live album. The version here, recorded in the spring of 1969, is a precursor to the Band of Gypsys version. It has that power funk feel.

 

Valleys of Neptune - is really ragged.

 

Bleeding Heart - is more funk than blues here.

 

Hear My Train A Comin' - is alright, again, there are better versions out there.

 

Mr. Bad Luck - is a nice groove.

 

Sunshine of You Love - there are better live versions of this song out there.

 

Lover Man - there are various versions of this song out there. The arrangement here is different than what I am use to hearing.

 

Ships Passing Through The Night - a nice funk groove. Not really that great of a song.

 

Fire - it sounds about the same as the version I've heard a million times.

 

Red House - about the same as you've heard before.

 

Lullaby For Summer - another funk work-out.

 

Crying Blue Rain - sound like a jam to me. It's ok I guess.

 

I think this album sort of catches Jimi between the Experience, and The Band of Gypsys. There are better albums out there, such as First Rays of the New Rising Sun and South Saturn Delta for example. Unless you are really into collecting Hendrix albums, I would not bother with this new one.

[Analogman]

Also - there is a Hendrix torrent site out there:

 

Crosstown Torrents

 

It's interesting to read what they think about the new album.

 

Also - there is a torrent up of James Marshall - Midnight Lightning. I bought that album for five bucks backs in the early 1990s.

 

If anyone wants this, here it is (in FLAC)(This is a link to a FLAC blog):

 

Message From Nine To The Universe

 

01 - Nine To The Universe

02 - Jimi-Jimmy Jam

03 - Young-Hendrix Jam

04 - Easy Blues

05 - Drone Blues

06 - Midnight Lightning Jam

07 - Highway Of Broken Dreams

08 - Lonely Avenue Jam

09 - Lover Man

10 - Trying To Be

 

Drawn from various sessions recorded between March 1969 and March 1970 some of the music featured on this disc originally appeared on the album Nine To The Universe. At the time of the albums release (1980) many suggested that Jimi was heading in a jazz direction although the recordings show no real sign of this despite featuring contributions from known jazzers such as Larry Young and Dave Holland both of whom had worked with British jazz guitarist John McLaughlin and worked along with McLaughlin on the landmark Miles Davis album Bitches Brew.

 

The recordings here are the unedited recordings that Alan Douglas utilized to make his final selection on the original Nine To The Universe album. At the time the release was heralded as the final unreleased recordings to be made available for Alan Douglas to shape into a releasable album. Time and subsequent releases however have obviously proved that there were and indeed are many recordings still lying in the vaults that are awaiting release. In essence the music contained on this disc could be described as a series of jams. With Jimi inviting other musicians into the studio with him to try out new musical ideas. Alan Douglas merely fashioned an album out of the material here although in his defence he did a fair job in trying to deliver a commercial album the record label could market.

 

These performances however are the real raw material and as such are now heard in the correct context rather than the edited pieces that appeared on the 1980 album. Here the pieces are longer and looser and they give a much better idea of how Jimi worked in a studio and drew on many influences. Of the material here only Lover Man ever made it to a fully fashioned live performance where it made the set regularly from late summer 1969 through to just before Jimis death in September 1970. Jimi preformed this song more famously during the Woodstock Festival and also at the Isle Of Wight Festival just weeks before his death and is featured on the live albums drawn from recordings of those events and also on the Live At Berkley album recorded in May 1970.

 

The quality of these studio tracks is stunning and it is far more interesting to hear the full versions of the songs that Alan Douglas used for his edited version of Nine To The Universe in 1980 and as such places that album in far better perspective. These recordings have been described as jams although Jimis creative spark is present throughout the sessions. Despite the claims that Jimi was to move in a more jazz oriented direction and Miles Davis had expressed an interest in working with him there seems to be no evidence on these recordings that Jimi would have moved in any direction other than the one he wanted to. These recordings then are considered historic and as cutting edge as Jimi Hendrix ever was but the style is all of Jimis making.

 

The disc claims to be "officially licensed from the estate of Hendrix's former manager, Michael Jeffrey" and is a "limited edition - only 1500 copies world-wide", but I think this is just a good trick by the bootleggers to make it look a little bit more like an official release. The sound is great anyway.

[LouieB]

I semi-read a story about dead Jimi kicking dead Elvis's ass. Can't recall the details at the moment.

 

LouieB

[jff]

Also - there is a Hendrix torrent site out there:

 

Crosstown Torrents

 

It's interesting to read what they think about the new album.

 

Also - there is a torrent up of James Marshall - Midnight Lightning. I bought that album for five bucks backs in the early 1990s.

 

If anyone wants this, here it is (in FLAC)(This is a link to a FLAC blog):

 

Message From Nine To The Universe

 

FLAC means ??? to me, but this sounds like something I've been looking for.

[Analogman]

FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec, an audio format similar to MP3, but lossless, meaning that audio is compressed in FLAC without any loss in quality. This is similar to how Zip works, except with FLAC you will get much better compression because it is designed specifically for audio, and you can play back compressed FLAC files in your favorite player (or your car or home stereo, see supported devices) just like you would an MP3 file.

 

FLAC stands out as the fastest and most widely supported lossless audio codec, and the only one that at once is non-proprietary, is unencumbered by patents, has an open-source reference implementation, has a well documented format and API, and has several other independent implementations.

 

See About FLAC for more, or Using FLAC for how to play FLAC files, rip CDs to FLAC, etc.