Jimi Hendrix - Beyond the "big 3"

[MK]

The three studio albums are essential, but what about the rest? A friend of mine is a Hendrix fanatic who scooped up most of the Hendrix Family releases. I've read dusty, decade-old rants about how Jimi's been repackaged, blah, blah, but I never listened to Jimi until 1998, by which point most of those shoddy posthumous releases were being axed in rapid succession.

So anyway, most of these CD's are mastered by Kramer/Marino and they have the same basic signature: pretty loud, hot, but I still dig 'em, and much of this can't be found elsewhere in this form, so I'm not gonna complain. Besides, no ear-bleeders, best possible tapes, no bass-shaving, no NoNoise...

"First Rays..." is up first, and it's great. Still frustrating how most of these tracks are still a step or two away from completion, but this is a pretty damn good presentation of what could've been a great fourth album, a double-Lp at that. The tunes are strong, the playing's great, a bit more polish and this would've been great. Even Christgau, who has a strong aversion to any Hendrix CD re-issue, praised this as the one exception, in HIS book, at least.

"South Saturn Delta" looks nondescript, but it's actually a pretty good compilation. Not sure if this was the thinking at the time, but it's like they wanted to keep the catalog lean, with no endless reissues (yet), so they put out only the best studio outtakes they had. None of these tracks really fit into the purpose of the "First Rays" CD so they put this disc out as a way of making it presentable and affordable. In other words, this is probably the best studio outtakes collection you can get after "First Rays" and "Blues" (which is partially live, but it's an excellent comp, the best and aesthetically most successful 'blues' themed compilation of any guitar-god out there). Doesn't cohere as an album, think of like "Odds & Sods."

Which leads us to the box set from 2000. This is everything "With The Lights Out" was to Nirvana. My God, this exceeded my low expectations. They already put the best stuff out, it's been thirty years of unabated plundering, and from the looks of the track listing a lot of it are excerpts of concerts, so my first thought was 'barrel scrapings.' That and the crappy Time-Life box set from a decade back, which I no longer have.

This box set is good because of the way it's put together. John McDermott did a FANTASTIC job with this, and in a way, he uses the Beatles Anthology as a model. The big difference is, no fucking around, with fabrications of 'alternative versions' (well, almost no fucking around, more on that later), no interviews plopped in, and only a 3-4 year time frame to work with, which helps things a bit.

The annotation is similar but MORE extensive, with notes for each track going in to great detail about the session/show itself, where Jimi was at artistically in his career, everything, and even better these notes cohere and have a complete, unbroken flow so it doubles as a biography, better than anything you'll find at All Music Guide.

Quick rundown of the music, disc one has some great live tracks like the JHE's earliest known live recordings and highlights from Monterey Pop. BTW, if you're a collector, you'll want the concerts complete, but for those of you who dislike boots in general, this is still palatable because it takes the highlights and leaves Jimi's less-than-glorious moments - the wanking off, etc. - off the box. Most of the studio outtakes are kind of like the best studio outtakes on the Beatles Anthology - earlier versions that show you how these tracks were put together in the studio. If you like studying this kind of shit, you'll like this, but personally, I'll reach for AYE? 99 times out of 100. Still good to hear at least once. There are a few outtakes that didn't make AYE?, and these are worth repeated listening. Title #3 is an instrumental, short, but smokin.' Taking Care of No Business is pretty solid, Here He Comes is a great instrumental of a song that was recorded many times but never released.

BTW, there's the first stereo mix of Highway Chile on disc one, but it SUCKS. If you hated the narrow stereo remixes of "My Generation," you ain't gonna be happy with this one.

Disc Two has better studio material and more great live stuff. The studio stuff includes a GREAT, extended instrumental version of Bold As Love that was just Jimi working out the arrangement, but it's GREAT, you'd never think it was a run-through or whatever it's supposed to be. If you love the song, you'll love this version.

Disc Three is even better. The remake of "Stone Free" is interesting at first, but now it bores me. Some think it's a cool version that sounds like a Curtis Mayfield track, but I think that's stretching it. Spanish Castle Magic gets THE definitive studio version here as does Hear My Train A Comin'. The LA Forum and San Diego Sports Arena probably deserve to be heard in their entirety, but they picked a few great tracks from them.

Disc Four is the weakest period, but it's been presented very well. It's a lot less interesting if you already have "First Rays," but it's cool to hear a good studio version of Message To Love, Country Blues is good, and the live oldies covers are nice. To be honest, though, this disc is the weakest in terms of live material, simply because Jimi's shows during this time were his weakest. The one cut from Mauii is interesting, not great but worth having for being the only fusion of Hey Baby and In From The Syorm that I know of from Jimi, but the IOW cuts are disappointing. I was never a fan of that show, and the two cuts from it just aren't good. If it wasn't 'historical' (I think it was one of Jimi's last shows, or his last recorded show), it would probably have been forgotten. But as it is, the entire IOW show has been reissued, but based on these two cuts, I'll avoid it. From the liner notes it sounds like Jimi was more interested in finishing that double Lp that was taking 2+ years to make, which may be the reason for the lackluster live performances. His playing on the studio stuff is still top-notch, and it's telling that when he performs the new, unreleased stuff live, it doesn't live up to the studio incarnations. He was doing all right in the studio, but not doing it on stage.

So a suprisingly good set. If you already have the live material on boots, you may not be interested, because that eliminates half this set, and if it was just studio stuff, it wouldn't play as well. The live stuff SOUNDS really good, though, with some original mixes and some newly mixed. Kramer seems to do a good job remixing live stuff.

But this is one expensive set, so if you're looking beyond the big 3, start with "First Rays" and "Blues." From there, "South Saturn Delta," but if you want to unload the cash, get the box set.

[JWB]

I tell all my friends that "First Rays" is essential...probably my favorite Hendrix disc. Call it "unfinished" if you want, but it was basically 95% done. All it needed was a guitar overdub here and a guitar overdub there. They used a lot of mixes prepared by Hendrix himself...which is great. One or two that were remixed later appear in their original Hendrix mixes on the Purple Box.

[Chris M]

First Rays is absolutely essential and it is by far the best attempt at compiling the double album Jimi was working on in '70 but EH still screwed it up. For some reason they didn't use Jimi's handwritten tracklist A handwritten tracklist for the first 3 sides that Jimi wrote in the summer of '70 survives. Not only did EH not adhere to the tracklist but they didn't even INCLUDE all of the songs that Jimi had earmarked for the album. Sure, it's likely that this was just a temporary list and Jimi would of revised it later but you would think EH would at least include all the tracks Jimi had listed for the album. Drifter's Escape, Cherokee Mist and Coming Down Hard on Me should of been on First Rays. My Friend (an EL outtake) has no business on there - that's akin to putting Graduation Day on Smile. EH repeated the same mistake the Cry of Love compilers made. Hats off to them for using all of the original Hendrix/Kramer mixes though.

Some of the First Rays stuff is amazing. Freedom, Dolly Dagger, Drifting, Angel, Hey Baby are top shelf Hendrix but I really don't care for the studio versions of Room Full of Mirrors, Straight Ahead, Earth Blues, begginings and Izabella. I like the songs but the studio performances are really tepid. The live versions of these tracks destroy the '70 studio versions. Anyone know what happened to Mitch Mitchell in 1970?? Could his skills of deteriorated THAT rapidly? He was a monster '67-'69 but his 1970 work is just awful save for a few songs.

[JWB]

I'm not a big fan of Mitch's drumming. I really don't like his drum tracks on the stuff that originally had Buddy Miles on it. The way Buddy played "Stepping Stone" was like a train, and Hendrix replaced it with Mitch rat-a-tat-tating and thumping away.

[Jelly]

For some reason Mitch also replaced drums on Earth Blues. Indeed, Buddy's solid style suited much better.

At least the Box has Earth Blues with Buddy. I wonder why they didn't use the version found on bootlegs. It has much better guitar parts and sounds the most finished version to me.

And why wasn't Valleys of Neptune included in any of these discs?

[krabapple]

I have a double LP (not a bootleg) I bought in the early 80's called 'The Jimi Hendrix Concerts' -- I recall it being pretty good -- has it ever been released on CD, or is this a case where the various concerts represtented on it have all been given separate releases?

[Ess Ay Cee Dee]

I have that one on vinyl. It was indeed released on CD in the 80's but it's been out of print for over a decade.

[John Buchanan]

Krab, that release was one of the first to show that there were high fidelity JHE live tapes in existence. It was released in 2 versions on CD - the earlier Mediamotion UK release and the later Reprise US with an extra track (Foxy Lady). The sound on that CD wasn't very good - nearly mono with lots of artificial reverb. I suspect you can get nearly all of this in better sound elsewhere (e.g. Live at Winterland on Ryko, Stages on Reprise for the San Diego cuts, Berkeley 2nd set on EH or Lifelines 4th CD for the LA Forum 1969).
No release date for the Royal Albert Hall 1969 concert as yet - the version of Stone Free doesn't sound great on JH Concerts, but the sound of the Royal Albert Hall cuts on the 4CD JHE box is very encouraging - they sound better than I've ever heard them before. I live in hope.

[Chris M]

For some reason Mitch also replaced drums on Earth Blues. Indeed, Buddy's solid style suited much better.

At least the Box has Earth Blues with Buddy. I wonder why they didn't use the version found on bootlegs. It has much better guitar parts and sounds the most finished version to me.

And why wasn't Valleys of Neptune included in any of these discs?

I agree - Earth Blues is MUCH better with Mitch. What's interesting is that while Mitch overdubbed a drum track in July of '70 Jimi MIXED a version of Earth Blues with Buddy's drum track on August 22 1970 - one of Jimi's last studio sessions. That is the version on the box, the mix with Mitch's drums was done after Jimi passed away. Experience Hendrix really should of used the version Jimi mixed on First Rays.

AFAIK vocals were never recorded for the 1970 attempt of Valleys. The backing track circulates and it's pretty weak. The '69 version recorded at the Hit Factory is the most complete version. A chopped up version of it is on the OOP Lifelines box. The unedited Hit Factory version has been booted and it is really great. No idea why EH hasn't released it yet.

[Chris M]

This box set is good because of the way it's put together. John McDermott did a FANTASTIC job with this, and in a way, he uses the Beatles Anthology as a model. The big difference is, no fucking around, with fabrications of 'alternative versions' (well, almost no fucking around, more on that later), no interviews plopped in, and only a 3-4 year time frame to work with, which helps things a bit.

That was a nice review and I agree with most of your observations. I think the purple box essential but a few things bother me. For one the Monterey Pop tracks do not belong on a rarities/outtakes set. That was just a waste of space. Ditto for the 2 Isle of Wight tracks on disc 4, they really only served as a teaser for the EH Isle of Wight 2CD set.

I really like how EH tends to use vintage mixes for the outtakes when available. The alternate mixes of Ezy Rider, Nightbird Flying, Little Miss Lover, If 6 Was 9 are all vintage '67-'70 mixes.

Most of the live stuff on Disc 3 were taken from the In the West album. Since EH plans to issue stand alone releases for each of the concerts represented on In the West the box was a good place to put the original mixes of this stuff. I like the logic of this. It's nice that these mixes are in print.

I think the early instrumental take of Bold As Love is one of the best things he ever did. That track just smokes. Ditto for the altenate instrmental Little Wing. I would give anything for a Complete Bitches Brew styled box for the Axis and EL sessions.

I think South Saturn Delta was an incredible release. The title cut just kills and I can never get enough of Tax Free.

[Chris M]

Here's Jimi handwritten tracklist for First Rays. Note that he didn't write a tracklist for Side D.

Side A

Dolly Dagger
Nightbird Flying (Jimi has a ? here)
Room Full of Mirrors
Belly Button Window
Freedom

Side B

Ezy Ryder
Astro Man
Drifting
Straight Ahead

Side C

Drifter's Escape
Coming Down Hard on Me
Beginnings
Cherokee Mist
Angel

Side D candidates would of been Hey Baby, In From the Storm, Valley's of Neptune, Lover Man, Bleeding Heart, etc.

[MK]

Krab, that release was one of the first to show that there were high fidelity JHE live tapes in existence. It was released in 2 versions on CD - the earlier Mediamotion UK release and the later Reprise US with an extra track (Foxy Lady)...I suspect you can get nearly all of this in better sound elsewhere (e.g. Live at Winterland on Ryko, Stages on Reprise for the San Diego cuts, Berkeley 2nd set on EH or Lifelines 4th CD for the LA Forum 1969).

I have a copy of the 4th disc from Lifelines with the LA Forum 1969 concert. Now great sound, mastered by Gastwirt sounds really thin and NoNoised, weak compared to the vintage mix of "I Don't Live Today" on the JHE box set (the only LA Forum '69 cut included on the JHE box set).

What REALLY sucks/fucking irritating about the Lifelines CD is that "Foxey Lady" (I think it's that track, it could be another one) was omitted even though there was plenty of room. The reason given: it's on another CD compilation (now OOP)...yeah, thanks.

Supposedly there are a large number of CD boots of the concert in its entirety, but last I heard the Hendrix Family was suing one label for producing their own disc of it.

[Chris M]

I'm really surprised that EH hasn't released the Winterland '68 shows, LA Forum '69 and San Diego '69 yet. They have the multi tracks for all of that stuff.

[dcooper]

I'm really surprised that EH hasn't released the Winterland '68 shows, LA Forum '69 and San Diego '69 yet. They have the multi tracks for all of that stuff.

Is the Winterland '68 show the one Ryko put out way back when? As I recall the sound quality on that disc was pretty good and the material was great (Great Sunshine of Your Love instrumental). Haven't heard it in years though.

[Patrick M]

Is the Winterland '68 show the one Ryko put out way back when? As I recall the sound quality on that disc was pretty good and the material was great (Great Sunshine of Your Love instrumental). Haven't heard it in years though.

There were six shows in total, early and late shows over three days, IIRC. It's all out there in good quality on bootlegs. The Ryko disc it a hodgepodge of stuff from different shows.