I searched the joint but there isn't one.

I was listening to Hey Joe last night before nodding off(the Are You Experienced studio version), and for the first time found myself totally fixated on the background vocals in the song. Needless to say I was blown away following this pattern rather than the usual Hendrix guitar and vocal lines. Pretty trippy stuff. I'd like to know how they recorded that one. The note changes at the end of the song almost seem Gregorian. I know it's a cover by Hendrix, but clearly he made the thing his own.

Also, it seems obvious to me that Jack White is the closest thing we have to a Jimi Hendrix now. Obviously the songs aren't as good......


BTW, it is said that the improv he did here is to simulate bombs, screams and guns as Woodstock was during the Vietnam War:

Hendrix has always been one of those guys where I've got the albums and a few of the live ones, but have never been able to grasp the love of him as much as others. Sure, I know what he did for the electric guitar and all that, but I never find myself going back to his albums day after day and never went through a 'Hendrix Phase' like I did with the Floyd or (especially) Zeppelin. My fault though, not Jimi's.

Of the stuff I can't get enough of, 'Burning of the Midnight Lamp' is the top of the pile. Brilliant tune.

electric ladyland is jaw-dropping stuff, although are you experienced? is way easier to stomach.

Those first 3, and I believe the only ones released while alive, Are You Experienced, Axis Bold As Love and Electric Ladyland are all A+. One of the better runs in rock history.

The only reason I opened this thread was to see how many youtubes of Hendrix Monty included. I’m impressed with his restraint, only including the one youtue.

I appreciate what Hendrix did, but I have trouble listening to an entire album of his. Two, three songs in a row is about all I can take.

I definitely had a "Hendrix stage". From about 13 - 17 I followed this "Favorite Band" progression where I listened pretty much exclusively only each band one after another for years on end:

Beastie Boys ----->

Entered High School ----->

Guns N' Roses ----->

The Doors ----->

Jimi Hendrix ----->

Janis Joplin ----->

Led Zepplin ----->

Nirvana ----->

Ledbelly ----->

Entered University.

'Machine gun' is 'my 'jam''. Happy enough with a hits collection and Band of Gypsies myself but yeah, Hendrix, yeah.

3 Album Run is really unparalleled.

if you havent listened to "Live at the Fillmore East" you really dont understand hendrix live.

He's good.

The new Coen Brothers has an amazing sequence that uses Machine Gun.

the 3 studio albums + band of gypsies (or the live at the fillmore east aka BoGs expanded) are 100% essential. lots of extraneous comps, bbc sessions, blue records, etc. have littered the marked posthumously, and a handful of these are quite excellent as well. i haven't listened to him in forever actually, i need to fix that.

as unheraleded as noel and mitch too often are when folks talk about the great bassists and drummers of rock, perhaps the quality about the experience that strikes me as their most under apprecaited is jimi's voice. the man was a phenomenal vocalist.

i could probably go on for hours about how much i love jimi hendrix and how great he is, but i will start with this.

jimi hendrix is the soul of the electric guitar.

sometimes i feel like the only people who truly appreciate what he did for music are guitar players. the depth of his playing really comes out when you sit down and learn one of his songs. not to say that non-musicians don't appreciate his music, because i know he has tons of fans that have never played a guitar or any other instrument in their life, but that there is some seriously subtle shit in his playing that is really easy to miss unless you sit down and learn all the changes and licks.

a tune like "angel" could sneak right by you as a listener, but after i sat down a couple weeks ago and learned all the chords i just stared at my guitar and said "this is fucking beautiful." he had a remarkable ear.

There's a Jimi statue in my neighborhood:

yeah dude, the vocals in "have you ever been (to electric ladyland)" are so smooth...

Not even close

If the house caught fire and I could only take one Hendrix LP with me



It's one of those rare comps that really works as a proper album.

and it has "Stone Free", so its got that goin' on.


Story checks out. If he never picked up an instrument, I think he still could have made a name for himself as a singer.

Not too shabby with songwriting either. Check out Robyn Hitchcock's cover of "The Wind Cries Mary" - you get a sense of how powerful the song is, just on its own merits. It holds up to Dylan's best work.

And see "Castles" and "Axis" as well. His vocals and lyrics were extraordinary. Not too many people can play AND sing that well, on that level, except maybe Neil Young.

Yeah, as a player, you can have a much deeper bond with Jimi than the non-players. It's like you actually get to 'look behind the curtain', and maybe even touch the 'controls'.

Here's a mixtape idea-- all of Jimi's cover songs: (or just a handful of the more rare ones, as I have assembled here)

Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sunshine of Your Love
Blue Suede Shoes
Johnny B Goode
Hound Dog
Gloria
Day Tripper
Like a Rolling Stone
Killing Floor
Rock Me Baby
Tomorrow Never Knows

Hmmm... the flip side could be folks covering Jimi's songs

Awesome. It's much too underutilized a song, as badass as "Gimme Shelter" and never trite.



Thanks for this.



Yeah, reading that made me throw up a little in my mouth.

Will just add that Hendrix made my teen years as exciting as the Beatles made my childhood. Had all the original vinyl, never got the cds but that needs to change. Have those been remastered, ever?

This is pretty close to me. I totally see how revolutionary he was, and understand the impact and influence, as well, but... I went through a long period where I loved his music, listened to him all the time. But somehow these days, I have to specifically in the mood for him or I won't bother. I will say, though, that Hendix is much better in pop song mode than long form. I mean, "Love or Confusion" kicks the ass of every long jam he's done. I much prefer Are You Experienced? and Axis to Electric Ladyland.

Btw, Montana, I'd recommend The Beavis Frond or maybe some of Buckethead's solo work if you're looking for a guitar-hero analogue.

It's a known fact that Hendrix overdubbed many of the bass parts that were supposedly played by Noel Redding himself. So I guess other than having an afro, Redding wasn't very important to the band.

Kiss the Floor --- I disagree, (sort of) the closest thing to Hendrix is dead too, and his name was SRV. After he died, the whole Jimi thing died. Mayer is fair, but I think only Jeff Beck could really come anywhere close to giving you that spirit. (ALthough, seriously-- you should hear some of the most recent stuff to come out of Buddy Guy's axe- he's in the ballpark, and he would know how to get there, better than most)

What I mean is, as much as your Kenny Wayne Shepherds, etc, all claim to love Jimi, they always come off as pissing on his grave to me. I really think Mayer is one of the few who actually comes off as respectful to the estate.

And while Jack White is NO Jimi Hendrix, he is the latest greatest "guitar hero" of his generation.

Glad you brought this up, Hans and Sid. Obviously his guitar playing gets the attention, but his lyrics show such a love of wordplay ("Is it tomorrow/Or just the end of timr..." - making the end of time less weighty than tomorrow - that's authorial shit) and are really first rate. Guy was the total package.

i've had a number of Jimi phases.

my favorite record is probably "Band of Gypsys." the version i have has 3 extra songs on it, including my favorite version of "Hear My Train A-Coming."

the version of "Stone Free" on "Live @ The Fillmore East" ranks right up there with Neil Young's "Barstool Blues" in which an artist takes a good song and makes it out of this world good.

i also love the "Radio One" version of "Stone Free" and prefer it to the original B-side. "Drivin' South" is also pretty damn great on that record.

how many of you have the "Stages" box set?

the 2 live versions of "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" on that set are, again, out of this world.

my favorite studio song has always been "Are You Experienced?" very few songs sound as cool as that one.

good ole broadway + pike. in front of a very solid and respectible record + CD emporium these days as well (that photo is from before the music store moved in...)

also david longstreth plays a white strat jimi style.

I think Hendrix is really underrated as a singer and a songwriter. Obviously, the guitar work is great. But he had a pretty great, soulful, sweet quality to his voice. The main reason I always preferred Hendrix over guys like Clapton is because it just seemed like guys like Clapton would play standard 4/4 blues songs and then there'd be a section where they'd say "Alright, I'm gonna do a cool solo over this part!", whereas Hendrix used his ability to make the songs more interesting. He wasn't just showing off.

My dad got me into Hendrix and I was really disappointed when I became old enough to realize that there were baby boomers, asshole rockists and dipshit burn-outs who raved about Jimi but didn't understand what made him great at all. So you end up being a 20 year-old at a party next to some guy who's saying shit like "Man, people listen to bullshit like RAP now. These people don't understand the GENIUS of someone like Jimi, bro". And I was thinking "Yeah, you don't either".

Hendrix > God

Yeah-- not all of his solos are 'exploring outer space'. Take "Hey Joe" for instance-- it's 'simple', but it's also like one the best uses of E pentatonic in the history of the guitar. Like, "here's an example of how to start with a chord bend, and just flow into the same old blues riffs you've heard a million times, but still I'm going to show you that if you time the notes just right, it'll basically sound like something you've never heard before." The "Fire" solo is sort of in that mold as well. I think it's almost cliche to say that Jimi valued tone over technique, but there, I've said it again. Jimi always seems to be riffing around a chord. (See the "Wind Cries Mary") It's more rhythm than melody, that's for sure.

when i got to college, i fancied myself an improving guitarist...i was just picking up some rudimentary ability to solo and play at a pretty good range of speeds...i was also good enough to be able to fool people into thinking i was a lot better...but then i became great friends with another guy on my wing who just made the instrument look effortless and he learned Crosstown Traffic in about 5 minutes...I was fuckin floored and my pride in myself went out the window...pretty much destroyed any drive of mine to improve on the instrument...fuck, this guy could do hendrix like that? fuck.

You're focusing on the soloing, and the impressive technicality of the playing, without paying any mind to Jimi's singing or supposed "soulfness" or ability outside of playing the guitar, which is what the post you quoted refers to. You say "Yeah" and then you go on to say something that is exactly in line with what UR was disparaging. The post talked about is how some other supposedly overrated guitarists only used songs as an excuse to perform cool solos, yet all you talked about were cool solos.

I think my 'problem' with Hendrix (which isn't really a problem considering how much I like the guy), is my constant focus on his guitar work as opposed to everything else. As mentioned before, the dude could flat out sing and knew how to write a fucking tune.

Take away those two things and he'd be mentioned in the same breath as axemen such as Steve Vai etc. As it is, he's mentioned in the league of the immortals.

As for Noel Redding - I always got the feeling the guy was a douche and resented the fact that he had to play bass to one of the greatest guitarists ever.

I alway thought "The Cry of Love" was a really great album too --- it was a bit more down to earth than say "Electric Ladyland" or "Axis" -- but still great --- a real genius on guitar, and as has been stated a fine singer, and songwriter. His version of Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" is amazingly good. --- Listening to Jimi is like hearing the heart and soul of a guitar breathing and erupting.

Growing up my good friends saw Hendrix twice --- they said he was incredible -- how I missed out on that I don't remember -- As for Jack White being comparable to Hendrix, not really, because Hendrix was one of a kind, although White's got a lot going for himself.
I remember hearing an album by Mahogany Rush that was amazingly like Hendrix -- Frank Marino is the guy who played like Jimi -- Just looked at a website and MR has several albums out --- this thread makes me want to buy a few Hendrix on CD, I've only got vinyl, and maybe see if Frank Marino is as good as I remember him to be -- if Jimi was still alive, do you think he'd be at the stage of his life where he'd want to release a Christmas album?

Redding/Mitchell is one of the all time great rhythm sections. They built the house, Jimi blew loads all over it.

Legend, obv. The heaviness of his tone and playing is just insane. A single note in a Hendrix solo pretty much invents countless musicians, playing styles, subgenres.

Great songs, of course. Anyone who can glance up and down the Are You Experienced? tracklisting and still call Hendrix overrated has some serious thinking to do.

When I listen to Are You Experienced I'm always "distracted" by (always end up focusing on) the incredible drumming.

Hendrix is my favorite guitarist and Are You Experienced is one of my favorite albums.

I will say that classic rock stations have killed a few of his songs from overplaying (like "Hey Joe"), but that's not Jimi's fault. Great artist.

this is utter heresy

i have to say that john frusciante is honestly the closest thing we have to a jimi hendrix right now


players other than the ones mentioned that vibe on hendrix pretty hard are eddie hazel of funkadelic and robin trower. robin trower - bridge of sighs is kind of a must have for serious hendrix fans who are looking for different artists who play in the same vein as jimi

This sounds good, assuming you are taking out the popularity factor. (Unless you want to count Blood Sugar as a plus in the popularity factor.

Fixed

However, Hendrix > All Post Hendrix Guitarists IMO

yeah, well jimi was one of the biggest stars in the world at the peak of his fame so that's pretty hard to top given that guitar has taken a backseat this decade. also, i think frusciante would be much more respected if he didn't have to play in a band with fucking anthony keidis. that's sort of tarnished his image slightly, in my perspective at least.

as far as the jack white argument, he is more like led zeppelin and the stooges rolled into one. i don't see him vibing hendrix too hard except for the fact that he plays up front lead guitar, something which is admittedly uncommon this days. jack white reminds me a lot more of jimmy page.

Jack has not been the same since the accident, sadly he has never recovered as a guitarist.

That's blasphemy, you old goat.

I don't think there is anyone comparable to Hendrix right now. No one that makes all of his peers consider a new trade.

Hendrix took people like Clapton, Townsend etc and put them in their place. Moreover he just enjoyed playing, which probably pissed them off even more. I don't think any current artist draws the same reverence and respect from Peers, not fans, that Hendrix did.

Stevie Ray is a decent example, but even he was not even close to as extensive as an impact as Hendrix. Every sub-genre has their "Hendrix" but none hold merit. Most mentioned here have been MAJOR stretches.

People forget Noel Redding was a guitar player playing Bass and more of a studio musician than the type of musician Mitch/Jimi were. The personality clash and jealousy from Noel was pretty clear. Hendrix did give "Little Miss Strange" the light of day though.

Listening to Electric Ladyland Outtakes today, ridiculous stuff. The VH1 Classic Albums thing on EL is pretty cool also.

It is an excellent program.
I was surprised to learn the sound on "Cross Town Traffic" wasn't a guitar effect, but wax paper over a comb.
I think that makes it the most popular song to ever feature the kazoo.

I'm usually pretty skeptical of posthumous releases that take unfinished tape room floor material and then over-produce and try to wring an album out of it, but if you haven't heard this, check it out. There's some great songs on here ("Freedom," "Izabella," "Dolly Dagger," "Ezy Rider"), and on the whole, there's a suggestion that Jimi was about to lay an entirely new post-Band of Gypsies heavy direction out there.

that album is basically eddie kramer's interpretation of what jimi's next album was going to sound like. jimi had been working on all these songs before his death, but from what i understand he was pretty confused about how he wanted to arrange them all. the charles r. cross biography "room full of mirrors" does a pretty good job of explaining this. that book does an excellent job in general, for any one looking to dive deeper into hendrix. but yeah, first rays of the new rising sun was jimi's tentative title for his next record and he recorded these tracks at electric ladyland prior to his death. the thing about his recordings at electric ladyland studios is that they were anything but organized. at that point, jimi would just go out on the town all night and then drag some musicians back to the studio and begin recording at like 4 am and go until noon or something. the truth is, i don't think he had a very good idea of what this album was supposed to sound like, but they did a fine job on this posthumous release and all the songs are really enjoyable. this is effectively as close as you can get to the elusive "4th hendrix studio album."

If I didn't know that though, and just went by the cover, I'd have assumed it was the cheesiest of all the rip-offs. What a disaster! Mine eyes!

Yeah, as I indicated in my OP, I don't think these are anything but suggestive sketches, and we'll never know if they sound like the album Jimi would have actually put out, but the release does a good job of compiling all of those posthumous tracks (from all those garbage unauthorized 70's releases) and corralling them into something that does resemble an album. There are some great songs.

I made the lazy mistake of quoting the whole post. As I said in all my posts, I Jimi was an incredible songwriter, singer, and guitarist. He shined in each category. I also said "tone over technique", and was using my post to say that not all of his solos are technical achievements, and some are rather easy to play, yet they are still "cool". Cool is a subjective term, and I know we agree that Jimi never wrote a song to just write a kickass solo. Sorry for the confusion, but I always hope that folks have read all of my posts in a thread, so they can take the entire discussion in context. ANd yes, sometimes I am lazy. My apologies, but I think you misunderstood.

I'll second the Trower/Bridge of Sighs endorsement. I haven't heard any of his work lately, but back in the day he sure had the tone.

"Drifting" is my go-to Hendrix tune. So wistful, and heartbreakingly beautiful.

this thread is coinciding nicely with the fact that i decided a few weeks ago to go back and relearn a bunch of hendrix tunes. i started working on "castles made of sand" today...

part of what made him such a genius is his ability to make a regular fucking G chord sound completely inhuman. he has this one lick that starts below the G, slides above it, then lands back home. classic hendrix. it's sounds so simple, but the way he executed that shit was so utterly perfect.....