**Hendrix appreciation thread***

124»

Comments

  • Get_RightGet_Right Posts: 12,440
    Took my awhile to understand what made Jimi so great.  My first exposure was the Woodstock set, which I never really liked that much. Then I saw the Monterey Pop performance and I was blown away.  What a talent!  If you have never seen it, it is a must see!
  • dankinddankind I am not your foot. Posts: 20,827
    Get_Right said:
    Took my awhile to understand what made Jimi so great.  My first exposure was the Woodstock set, which I never really liked that much. Then I saw the Monterey Pop performance and I was blown away.  What a talent!  If you have never seen it, it is a must see!
    Otis Redding won Monterrey Pop. 
    I SAW PEARL JAM
  • Get_RightGet_Right Posts: 12,440
    dankind said:
    Get_Right said:
    Took my awhile to understand what made Jimi so great.  My first exposure was the Woodstock set, which I never really liked that much. Then I saw the Monterey Pop performance and I was blown away.  What a talent!  If you have never seen it, it is a must see!
    Otis Redding won Monterrey Pop. 
    Funny I was reading about the festival after I posted and Otis is mentioned often as having put on a spectacular performance.  I will have to check it out.  But man that Hendrix set is one for the ages.
  • dankinddankind I am not your foot. Posts: 20,827
    Hendrix is a close second.

    I worship at the altar of Hendrix. My son's middle name is Hendrix. But Otis fucking slayed it and blew those hippies away.
    I SAW PEARL JAM
  • Get_RightGet_Right Posts: 12,440
    dankind said:
    Hendrix is a close second.

    I worship at the altar of Hendrix. My son's middle name is Hendrix. But Otis fucking slayed it and blew those hippies away.
    Awesome. I will check it out.
  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,594
    Get_Right said:
    Took my awhile to understand what made Jimi so great.  My first exposure was the Woodstock set, which I never really liked that much. Then I saw the Monterey Pop performance and I was blown away.  What a talent!  If you have never seen it, it is a must see!
    I was just reading about how American critics didn't get Hendrix right away.  From the John Perry's Electric Ladyland book I mentioned:

    "When Jimi burst on them [American critics] at Monterey, six months later, he was unknown to most Americans as he'd been to English audiences [when he first arrived there].  Yet it was as though they were reviewing a different performer.  Critics wrote of an "undignified", "psychedelic Uncle Tom" whose "gimmick laden" act was a "second-rate copy of the Who's destruction".  Even his speech annoyed them with its "superspade jive".  The shrewd reader may feel a common theme underlies all those responses...

    "The liberal American press from Esquire to The Village Voice was perplexed by Hendrix in a way that the English never were."

    That seems so weird to me because the first time I heard a Hendrix tune I was instantly hooked. 

    But yeah, other than Jimi's Star Spangled Banner, Woodstock is not the best place to start.  If you watch the whole performance, there are other moments of brilliance (there always were), but the expanded band was new, scarcely rehearsed and tired from waiting all night to go on.  Monterey is great, but I don't think his best live stuff was ever caught on film.  Concerts, Hendrix in the West and Winterland are excellent records and worth checking out for live recordings.


    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • dankinddankind I am not your foot. Posts: 20,827
    brianlux said:
    Get_Right said:
    Took my awhile to understand what made Jimi so great.  My first exposure was the Woodstock set, which I never really liked that much. Then I saw the Monterey Pop performance and I was blown away.  What a talent!  If you have never seen it, it is a must see!
    I was just reading about how American critics didn't get Hendrix right away.  From the John Perry's Electric Ladyland book I mentioned:

    "When Jimi burst on them [American critics] at Monterey, six months later, he was unknown to most Americans as he'd been to English audiences [when he first arrived there].  Yet it was as though they were reviewing a different performer.  Critics wrote of an "undignified", "psychedelic Uncle Tom" whose "gimmick laden" act was a "second-rate copy of the Who's destruction".  Even his speech annoyed them with its "superspade jive".  The shrewd reader may feel a common theme underlies all those responses...

    "The liberal American press from Esquire to The Village Voice was perplexed by Hendrix in a way that the English never were."

    That seems so weird to me because the first time I heard a Hendrix tune I was instantly hooked. 

    But yeah, other than Jimi's Star Spangled Banner, Woodstock is not the best place to start.  If you watch the whole performance, there are other moments of brilliance (there always were), but the expanded band was new, scarcely rehearsed and tired from waiting all night to go on.  Monterey is great, but I don't think his best live stuff was ever caught on film.  Concerts, Hendrix in the West and Winterland are excellent records and worth checking out for live recordings.


    And, of course, Band of Gypsys
    I SAW PEARL JAM
  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,594
    dankind said:
    brianlux said:
    Get_Right said:
    Took my awhile to understand what made Jimi so great.  My first exposure was the Woodstock set, which I never really liked that much. Then I saw the Monterey Pop performance and I was blown away.  What a talent!  If you have never seen it, it is a must see!
    I was just reading about how American critics didn't get Hendrix right away.  From the John Perry's Electric Ladyland book I mentioned:

    "When Jimi burst on them [American critics] at Monterey, six months later, he was unknown to most Americans as he'd been to English audiences [when he first arrived there].  Yet it was as though they were reviewing a different performer.  Critics wrote of an "undignified", "psychedelic Uncle Tom" whose "gimmick laden" act was a "second-rate copy of the Who's destruction".  Even his speech annoyed them with its "superspade jive".  The shrewd reader may feel a common theme underlies all those responses...

    "The liberal American press from Esquire to The Village Voice was perplexed by Hendrix in a way that the English never were."

    That seems so weird to me because the first time I heard a Hendrix tune I was instantly hooked. 

    But yeah, other than Jimi's Star Spangled Banner, Woodstock is not the best place to start.  If you watch the whole performance, there are other moments of brilliance (there always were), but the expanded band was new, scarcely rehearsed and tired from waiting all night to go on.  Monterey is great, but I don't think his best live stuff was ever caught on film.  Concerts, Hendrix in the West and Winterland are excellent records and worth checking out for live recordings.


    And, of course, Band of Gypsys
    It was interesting to me that Perry left Band Of Gypsies out of his book other than to make some brief comment about how that was a whole other thing.  I think in a way he's right.  And within that other venture is "Machine Gun" from Fillmore East which is a whole other universe unto itself, going to places previously untapped. That piece knocks the wind out of me every time.
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • 2-feign-reluctance2-feign-reluctance TigerTown, USA Posts: 23,090
    Love Hendrix - that purple box set from the early 00s is amazing & one of my faves to listen to. 
    www.cluthelee.com
  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,594
    Love Hendrix - that purple box set from the early 00s is amazing & one of my faves to listen to. 
    For sure!  Worth every penny!

    I was thinking about Hendrix this morning and the oft pondered notion of "what if he had lived".  It's almost impossible for us Hendrix fans to not speculate on that "what if", and though I tend to try to avoid that kind of speculation, I found this take by John Perry in his fine little book Electric Ladyland, interesting:

    "There's another possibility to consider, although one rarely hears it from critics. I've heard it voiced most often from people who actually know Hendrix in the last years of his life. The suggestion is that Jimi had done his finest work, exhausted the formula, and come to a creative halt. In late period interviews he certainly sounded depressed, lacking in direction. (Again, this is confirmed by people who met him in the final London days.) One understands why critics wouldn't want to be seen advancing such a negative opinion, but I think it does have to be considered.
    More importantly , it must be recognized that in his brief run Hendrix left a completed legacy. He said what he had to say in the form he wished. He invented a specific form of self-expression as distinctive sounding now as in its own day. He arrived on the scene with a perfectly realized first album, something very few artists achieve. Even now, in a different century, he's still the most influential electric guitarist, bar none. You never feel that given more time he's have perfected his craft. The majority of his work seems beyond improvement. As a player, and as a performer, it's hard to imagine how he could have improved- a judgement from which you must draw your own conclusions."

    Rather than seen as a negative view, I personally find Perry's words as both quite plausible and, if there is ever any possible consoling of the early loss of that great musician, somewhat comforting.

    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • PJ_SoulPJ_Soul Vancouver, BC Posts: 49,473
    edited March 2019
    A bit off topic, but not. Nora Hendrix, Jimi Hendrix's grandmother, has had a cool modular housing unit that helps the homeless in Vancouver named after her, and this article talks about why.


    With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy. ~ Desiderata
  • dankinddankind I am not your foot. Posts: 20,827
    "Purple Haze" was recorded 55 years ago today.

    Still sounds fresh!
    I SAW PEARL JAM
  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,594
    dankind said:
    "Purple Haze" was recorded 55 years ago today.

    Still sounds fresh!

    What was so "trippy" (there's just no other way to put it!) about the U.S. version of Are You Experienced was that it kicked off with this song that  was so far out of the norm, "Purple Haze", both lyrically and musically.  And for me, there was the double knockout punch of "Manic Depression" which is still one of my very favorite Hendrix songs. That three note/ three note intro followed by Mitch;s rolling drums and Jimi's rocking riff flattens me every time!
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.














  • Dublin '96, '00, '06, '10
    Lisbon '06 (x2)
    Katowice '07
    London '07 '09 (x2), '10
    MSG NY '08 (x2)
    Manchester '09 '12
    Belfast '10
    PJ20 Alpine '11 (x2)
    Leeds '14
  • GB281198GB281198 Virginia Posts: 398
    https://youtu.be/Apxh5kVq0bs

    Even with the missing footage this is pretty cool
  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,594
    GB281198 said:
    https://youtu.be/Apxh5kVq0bs

    Even with the missing footage this is pretty cool

    Agreed!  I love that Maui footage, even with the wind issues. 
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













Sign In or Register to comment.