search & destroy: the posthumous Jimi Hendrix catalog

I've long wanted to start this thread, and this week's addition of Hendrix's records to the eMusic library seems like a good occasion to do it. I've always loved Hendrix but when I was younger I quickly got exasperated with all the different versions of the same material, studio and otherwise, and not knowing what was the best deal or the best package in the pre-internet era. So for a long time I've just kind of satisfied myself with the 3 Experience albums and a couple live discs and promised I'd sort through all the other stuff at some point. Anyone care to share some knowledge?

it has been ages since I listened to it, but I remember enjoying the Rykodisc "Live at Winterland" a lot

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41GU8wHR8XL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

That's pretty much all you need for studio stuff.

it has been ages since I listened to it, but I remember enjoying the Rykodisc "Live at Winterland" a lot

Cosigning. The radio sessions disc they put out the following year was also good -- the version of "Burning of the Midnight Lamp" on there is my favorite take.

Completists can find the studio version of "Message to Love," "Pali Gap" and "Midnight" on both Voodoo Soup and South Saturn Delta.

the single-disc Woodstock and Blues releases from the mid-'90s are both excellent if you can find them.

I'm not a Hendrix expert, but yeah, Woodstock is pretty great -- a lot of stuff played at breakneck speed!

yeah I've been meaning to check out New Rays -- I heard many of the same songs for the first time on Voodoo Soup and loved a lot of them, but then heard all the complaints about the overdubbing on it, which was one of things that got me discouraged about really knowing what was good or bad out of all the posthumous stuff out there. I also remember getting the one-disc Woodstock when it was new around the same time, and then was kinda pissed a few years later when a 2-disc one with more songs came out.

I didn't know about the New Rays comp; I've had The Cry of Love for years and there are good songs there; I prefer Rod Stewart's contemporary take on "Angel" but that's not to take anything away from Jimi's.

adding in my 2 cents that New Rays is the one to get

search:
Cry of Love
Radio One (BBC sessions from 1967)
Live at Winterland
Jimi Plays Monterey OR Live at Monterey (same set, different mix)

yeah Radio One is awesome, just for the novelty of hearing the Experience play in a room with no crowd noise or added layers of production

It's been many years but I seem to recall a funny story in the Radio One liner notes. Something about the band sound-checking in the studio and one of the Radio One technicians saying, "Mr. Hendrix, we're still getting some feedback and distortion here in the booth," and the writer is like, "Forgive them, Jimi, for they know not what they do." Am I remembering that right?

War Heroes has a few cool songs on it iirc.

The Stages boxset is really great - live dates from consecutive years: '67 - '70. This guy posted it here and the links seem to be working. It's put of print and seems to go for some bucks...

and, as stated above, First Ray smokes...

thanks for the link -- that looks great.
maybe we can expand this to talking about worthy Hendrix bootlegs, too -- there are so many! I've only heard a handful -- one I like is the LA Forum 1969. As noted about the BBC sessions above, it's great to hear the Experience just as a power trio, rather than a studio-overdubbed thing. Not that the latter isn't great, too ...

i really dig voodoo soup, overdubs and all. the whole thing sounds great.

and the live at the fillmore thing (band of gypsies expanded kinda) is some of the hottest shit ever.. maybe my fav. hendrix? (challops blah blah)

timely thread; my dad does a big hendrix binge every holiday season. "it really cuts through the xmas spirit" he says

I'd love to hear about some bootlegs as well - some of my favorite recordings of Hendrix are his live performances. I still haven't heard the Berkeley performance yet. The fillmore/gypsies is def a favorite. you really can't fuck with "machine gun"

the Sweden set booted as Killing Floor has good sound quality and performance.

Definitely like Jimi Plays Monterey (or Live At Monterey), Blues, Live At The Fillmore East (two more discs of Band Of Gypsys material) a lot. Was disappointed by Blue Wild Angel: Live At The Isle Of Wight. Also recommend the four-disc Jimi Hendrix Experience box which has lots of great rare stuff, including some jams with Larry Young on organ.

Which one of those Ryko/BBC things has a cover of "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?"

kicking the corpse around once again. Is this stuff really unreleased, or just 'officially' unreleased by Reprise/WB/Sony/Legacy/megacorp?

Valleys of Neptune, containing a dozen previously unreleased studio tracks recorded mostly in 1969, arrives March 9 to kick off Sony/Legacy's massive reissue campaign.

The legend's 11th studio album — the eighth to be issued posthumously and first since 1980 — boasts his Experience trio's final studio recordings, his earliest sessions with bassist Billy Cox and the long-shelved Mr. Bad Luck, intended for 1968's Axis: Bold as Love.

1. Stone Free
2. Valleys Of Neptune
3. Bleeding Heart
4. Hear My Train A Comin\x{2019}
5. Mr. Bad Luck
6. Sunshine Of Your Love
7. Lover Man
8. Ships Passing In The Night
9. Fire
10. Red House
11. Lullaby For The Summer
12. Crying Blue Rain

Hmm. '69 is an amazing year for Hendrix imo, something about how intense he gets about the blues in that late stuff sometimes (see clip below). At the same time, hard to imagine a studio version of "Fire" that I could get excited about & I've never been a big fan of "Red House."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W94hW4qxF64

LA Times article is pretty damn tantalizing - Cross in the first paragraph below is Charles Cross, who per the article has been critical of the Hendrix estate in the past

"With so many different 'official' albums so far and hundreds of bootlegs, very little Hendrix is truly 'unheard' or 'unreleased' these days," Cross said Sunday. "But to listen to some of Jimi's final Experience recordings in their original versions, with quality remastering, is enough to get any Hendrix fan excited, particularly when the songs are as good as 'Hear My Train,' one of Jimi's best-ever tracks."

South African native Eddie Kramer was the lead producer on the album, and he was also the engineer in the studio with Hendrix during the original sessions. Kramer spent months using vintage analog approaches and the latest digital tools to excavate the material. "I felt like an archaeologist using a brush who finds, underneath the dust, this marvelous gold artifact," he said.

Peace in Mississippi, ppl

listening to Fillmore East tonight...good God that's a tight Voodoo Child

ok getting frustrated that i cant seem to buy a legal download of killing floor off of radio one anywhere.

song that btw made me stop being a "oh hendrix YAWN" dick and getting what the big deal was.

ship first rays is both my fave posthumous jimi and the one i hand to "oh hendrix YAWN" types

hendrix is one of those, like the doors, that i have a lot more fun listening to when i make a deliberate effort to ditch the context. i like to imagine i'm listening to some light in the attic lost psych soul album or something and it really lets me hear it with fresher ears

Driving South

the jimi hendrix concerts is worth grabbing if you see it, if only for the ripping i don't live today.

http://images.emusic.com/music/images/album/277/118/230/11823097/300x300.jpg

any thoughts on this?

not heard that... second that the bbc sessions set is wicked for hearing the trio straight rip it up. helps me ditch the context as hoos said upthread, and get a sense for what a bomb this guy was dropping back then.

i mainly fell in love with hendrix as a teenage guitar player. i would jam "pali gap" on repeat back then but i never tried to pick out any of the licks. it just sounded too otherworldly for me to fuck with or something. that was the version on voodoo soup - not sure if others out there are different.

Any views on the Valleys of Neptune album just released?

I was desperate to hear it today so bought it off itunes - and they did a good job. You get two extra tracks apparently, and lyrics, photos and line notes/credits etc.

Hendrix is one of those artists, if you are in to his music, pretty much all of it is worth hearing once. The obscure thing I used to have on cassette when I was in high school that I would like to find was one that was called "Band of Gypsies 2", it had maybe eight live tracks from various sources including a great band version of "Hear My Train A Comin'" that was from I think Atlanta if I remember right.

It looks to me like the Sweet Thing disc that some dude [3/16/10] asked about is another one of those dreaded re-hash jobs with things from the Curtis Knight and/or Lonnie Youngblood sessions. Jimi was a sideman during those sessions & his participation is blown out of proportion. In some cases session guitarists dubbed in Hendrixesque guitar tracks just to make it sound convincing. That's some pretty unscrupulous shit right there. This also goes for old LPs like Rare Hendrix, Moods, Get That Feeling, etc.

damn, thx for the heads up. Valleys Of Neptune is pretty enjoyable though,

Yr welcome. And I agree: Valleys of Neptune is really good. South Saturn Delta is also a good selection of outtakes, alternate takes, etc. - therefore Search. I really want to compare Voodoo Soup to First Rays of the New Rising Sun on consecutive listens sometime. Much of the material is the same, but First Rays supposedly has far superior mix/mastering & its been a very long time since I heard Voodoo Soup.

Search: Live at Fillmore East, Winterland, BBC Sessions, First Rays, Blue Wild Angel, Berkeley, Stages [for the LA Forum show], Live at Woodstock, all the stuff on Dagger Records. Also early titles like Rainbow Bridge, Cry of Love, In the West, The Jimi Hendrix Concerts, Soundtrack From the Film Jimi Hendrix, Isle of Wight.

Destroy: Midnight Lightning, Get That Feeling, Two Great Experiences Together, Rare Hendrix, Moods, Birth of Success.

Surprisingly Good: Crash Landing, Jimi Hendrix At His Best [Despite the misleading dates on these, they're actually recordings of Gypsy Suns & Rainbows woodshedding in upstate New York in preparation for Woodstock.]

posted this on the nirvana / hendrix thread, but it belongs over here: http://theheatwarps.tumblr.com/post/1129618708/saturday-will-mark-40-years-since-jimi-red-wined

http://i.imgur.com/zh01il.jpg

eesh, this new winterland box set is pretty smokin'. on spotify now.

like i would not think i need to hear foxy lady again, but they're ripping it up.

The standalone Winterland cd that Rhino did is one of my favorite Hendrix things. Will have to check this out.

this new thing -- People, Hell & Angels -- is actually pretty solid. kind of amazing that they're still digging through all of this stuff.

USA Today talked this sister, who's currently handling the estate, and she said this wuld probably be the last time they dip into the studio stuff. She went on to say that their new focus will be on the live archive.

...and also slapping Hendrix's name on anything even tangentially related
http://www.guitarworld.com/files/imagecache/featured-node/Dunlop_JH70.jpg

you know you want one
http://www.entertainmentearth.com/images/AUTOIMAGES/VN34170lg.jpg

^^Does it come with a thermos?

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jan/13/jimi-hendrix-family-dispute-escalates-over-use-of-name-for-music-school

listening to first Rays for the first time in a very long while, it does strike me how bsamey and leaden a lot of the rockers are. He seemed to be really running dry or just tired at this point. I know they had to make an album according to his notes but who knows if this is what he would have gone with. Still, 7 keepers isnt bad.

My favorite take on First Rays is the John Scannell remix:

https://web.archive.org/web/20120325214917/http://letamancomeinanddothepopcorn.blogspot.com/2008/09/first-rays-mix.html

I never found any of the other versions very satisfying -- not Cry Of Love, not the 1997 First Rays, and especially not Voodoo Soup (with a hapless drum overdub by the Knack's Bruce Gary that constantly drifts in and out of tempo). But the Scannell remix feels like canon to me.

Still too far many of those plodders like Isabella, dolly dagger, freedom, etc. Yue best songs I think from FROTRS are in from the storm, angel, drifting, belly button window, hey baby new rising sun, beginnings, my friend. The rest mines a very repetitive seam.

the new live in Hawaii live album is really great

Theres a rainbow bridge thread for it...he was still so amazing live. Just a shame all the axis and ladyland songs barely got played.

Izabella is a monster at Woodstock. That new LIve In Hawaii LP is the bomb.

yeah listening to the Hawaii shows now — totally smokes.

some of the sounds on voodoo child ... i guess the dude could really play guitar, haha.

i actually like some of the off-kilter drum overdubs ... gives it an almost royal trux vibe.

The first Ray's cover, whether the pink or blue one, sucks, but a lot of the posthumous artwork sucks, esp the stuff on the dagger label.

I like this one. I wish it was used for First Rays...:

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4LrAkzfpSmM/S7IfssaNfWI/AAAAAAAAI6M/pdoqWLc7f3Q/s1600/Jimi+Hendrix+-+%281968%29+The+Electric+Church.jpg

I think the thing missing from dolly, Isabella, etc, is the melodies just arent nearly as strong as what he was writing before. I know theure a bot different as theres a funkier feel to them, but they're not quite funky enough to compensate. Even power of soul and message to love are stronger songs. I'm going to assume he just wasnt done yet with most of what has come out after his death...

*a lot different

I'd agree with that (and that's a lot of what I feel about Band Of Gypsys too). He was definitely in a transitional mode.

What a fucking loss.

There are few rock deaths where I genuinely think, beyond the human tragedy, we lost *so* much music that might have happened.

Also weird that these songs also sound a bit over worked, or over produced even? I know he loved doing far too many takes, but they lack vitality. Partly that might just be him adapting to the new decade, idk, ir just what was happening to lots of 60s acts, but they are a bit flat to me. But yeah, cant imagine anyone seeing these as definitive. I dont think he knew what he was doing next. Tragic we will never find out. I think he needed a new chas Chandler maybe, someone to help steer him along. Tempted to read the chas book he wrote now.

Listening to a lot of the recent releases, they really are mostly just rehearsal tapes. Its sort of interesting and disappointing to hear a lot of this stuff. Hendrix was capable of more. Pretty fucked up that we will never know what exactly. I think he had lots of rock musician identity issues, but not 100% sure if it would have worked for him to be in a mahavishnu orchestra type jazz rock band either.

Absolutely. In terms of great lost work, Jimi is probably at the top of the list, simply because he was recording so much at the time of his death and mapping out so many new directions that he never had the chance to really explore. So much promising music, gone. Otis Redding would be a close second. He recorded so much right before his death, partly because he was stuck at home recovering his voice and wound up writing so much. Unlike Jimi his posthumous legacy has been curated with far more care, and a lot of it is not only held in equal regard but even more popular than his previous LP's.

I wish I could add Kurt Cobain but he was such a mess, mentally and probably physically, that it may have been too debilitating. Buddy Holly was only 22, and he was still writing some gems, but I'm not sure if he would've continued that long as a recording artist, and it's impossible to say how he would've fared as a producer over the course of the '60s. Same with Sam Cooke - his last records like "A Change Is Gonna Come" were easily his best and breaking new ground, but he actually wasn't recording a whole lot during his final months. It's possible he was planning to become more of a producer/label owner than anything else.

Don't forget the Gil Evans collaboration that was planned but never came to pass.

Presumably THIS would have been the cover. Wild.

https://www.matiklarweinart.com/images/gallery/jimi-hendrix-1970.jpg

Evans did go on to record a Hendrix tribute instead. It's good...maybe a little forced without the natural fire I would have hoped, but still good.

Theres also the less enticing, maybe just plain cynical possibility that he might not have found any satisfying direction to pursue... but I'd like to think he would have found a way to draw it all together.

If Hendrix had lived even a few months longer, it would have been a boon for his legacy, because at least he would have finished a new record, and we could know what of that output he considered wheat and chaff.
Otis Redding is different because he was recording completed songs live with a band, without a lot of post-production (other than seagull sounds), so anything he did is going to sound more complete than Hendrix jamming on a riff with guest musicians, trying to figure out what he wants to do.

Reinvestigating this stuff has clarified that Hendrix only made three studio albums. Four if you include the different uk/us are you experienced versions. Everything else is just off cuts. Def weird to see ppl earlier in this thread saying first rays is the one they will be recommending newbies.

There are few rock deaths where I genuinely think, beyond the human tragedy, we lost *so* much music that might have happened.

― Ray Cooney as "Crotch" (stevie), Friday, January 22, 2021 2:08 AM (nine hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

And it wasn't just a loss of the music Hendrix might have made; it was a loss in terms of the direction of the many, many major figures he influenced. Miles obviously did tons of groundbreaking work that was deeply influenced by Hendrix, but how might his approach have differed if Hendrix had lived (and/or they eventually collaborated, as was tentatively planned)?

Hendrix had so much momentum, and so much of the (for lack of a better term, and broadly defined) "rock scene" revolved around that momentum. It was like when Coltrane died: what do we do/where do we go now that he's gone?

This is an interesting attempt at First Rays

http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2012/06/jimi-hendrix-first-rays-of-new-rising.html

Never thought it was brick walled or over compressed. Not sure that would dramatically change the album but would be interesting to hear that.

Very few of the reimaginings (or, I guess imaginings, since it never existed in full in the first place) seem to get the sequencing right, especially, and oddly, the official ones. That albumsthatneverwere sequencing looks really solid, though.

I can’t remember the name, but my favorite post-EL jimi studio track might be the one with the high pitched “la la la”s in the background...

Earth Blues?

Very few of the reimaginings (or, I guess imaginings, since it never existed in full in the first place) seem to get the sequencing right, especially, and oddly, the official ones. That albumsthatneverwere sequencing looks really solid, though.

The only fault I'd have with it is the use of those two 45 mixes - Hendrix rejected those and wanted to work on them further, and I definitely prefer the First Rays mix for one of them, but otherwise I generally prefer what he's got and would say it's better than any other official or fan-made recreation I've heard.

The version of stepping stone on both sides of the sky is so much more spontaneous sounding than the one on first Rays.

xxp yep that’s the one!

Made a playlist of a range of songs from the final years that cover alot of his instrumentals too, rather than focus so heavily on all those similar rockers he made at the time. If you've never heard easy blues, you really should.

Side one
Stepping stone (both sides of the sky) this version is much livelier than the one on first Rays
Drifters escape (south Saturn delta)
Beginnings (first rays)
Hear my train (people hell angels)
Angel (first rays)
Side two
Pali gap (ssd)
My friend (first rays)
Easy blues (pha)
Drifting (first rays)
Cherokee mist (bsots) this is a bit reminiscent of gypsy eyes and doesnt sound totally complete but is quite weird so would be a good piece to have here.
Side three
Night bird flying (first rays)
Midnight lightning (ssd)
Things I used to do (bsots)
Side four
Villanova junction blues (pha)
In from the storm (first rays)
Hey baby new rising sun (first rays)

nice

It's strange listening to the studio versions of the BOG songs actually. In a way I feel the same way about his attempts to broach soul of the time as I do with prince trying to incorporate hip hop edginess or language and posturing in the 90s, which is weird lol

Forgot to write, that version of hear my train is the last one he cut in the studio IIRC, and I think maybe the best one (its fierce!), though the acoustic one from the film is great too, but that already came out in his lifetime so I excluded it.

yeah it's really good. it sounds really complete, produced, finished.

pali gap sometimes is my favorite hendrix track ever. so laid back yet so much attitude. and the rhythm section just hammering that vamp.

Also just gorgeous.

i think i know every note of it by heart.

Send my love to Linda is another good one from the last sessions, but it's like loverman, great guitar work, but not much of a developed song there. Would be a great b side though.

Pali gap is def a cousin of hey baby new rising sun, or uses the same guitar tone/effects at least. He was def trying to use a diff guitar palette at this point.

My favourite "Hear My Train a Comin'" is the one on Valleys of Neptune, I prefer the slower, grinding pace to the rush of the People Hell and Angels version.

Train is also a monster on the Woodstock album

I know it was a bit controversial to erase or not record the percussion on the Woodstock show but going from the first Ray's songs, it often just sounds surplus to requirements. Just too busy. I get he was trying to work in Latin, soul and funk influences, but it's much busier than those genres tend to be, while also still more earth bound or street bound than his older songs somehow. A weird tension. I wish someone told Hendrix he didnt have to worry about being outside of modern black music.

https://www.loudersound.com/features/hendrix-the-gigs-that-changed-history-10-atlanta-pop-festival-2

This has some good versions of freedom, room full of mirrors. Really prominent bass in the mix too.

how had i never heard cherokee mist?? like an alternate universe where jimi played in the velvet underground. incredible weird metallic sound on the guitar. hypnotic!

Found another stepping stone which is actually the best one, on the voodoo child compilation. Quite different feel to the rest and more complete than the south Saturn delta one. Just nuts how many alternative takes there are! Theres another Cherokee mist too, but quite different.

My favorite take on First Rays is the John Scannell remix:

https://web.archive.org/web/20120325214917/http://letamancomeinanddothepopcorn.blogspot.com/2008/09/first-rays-mix.html

I never found any of the other versions very satisfying -- not Cry Of Love, not the 1997 First Rays, and especially not Voodoo Soup (with a hapless drum overdub by the Knack's Bruce Gary that constantly drifts in and out of tempo). But the Scannell remix feels like canon to me.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, January 21, 2021 11:26 AM (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink

I'd like to hear this but the links on that wayback machine capture are rapidshare... has it been reposted elsewhere?

I'd like to hear it too, though tbh the studio versions of a lot of those songs dont seem good enough.

Strongly recommend checking out stepping stone and loverman from the Fillmore east shows on spotify. If he wanted to really change his sound, post-experience, these are really great, scaled back examples of how it could have gone.