General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCelebrating the birthdate of the great Jimi Hendrix
Was there a greater guitar player ever?
discntnt_irny_srcsm
(18,479 posts)...All Along The Watchtower, for the first time in the '70s on AM radio. Jimi was so amazing.
malaise
(268,850 posts)Thanks
argyl
(3,064 posts)InAbLuEsTaTe
(24,122 posts)spanone
(135,814 posts)otohara
(24,135 posts)back then the sound systems were awful - it was windy and the sounds were bouncing off the rocks.
But I saw him!
malaise
(268,850 posts)Miles Archer
(18,837 posts)I say that because there is a wealth of archival photos and video footage but they use Bootsy Collins as "the voice of Jimi" in voice-over narration. Kind of like the "This Is Elvis" documentary from decades ago.
I still prefer the albums released and sanctioned by Hendrix himself in his lifetime. I also still consider the whole Alan Douglas period to be a travesty...using session musicians to re-record tracks?...and since the family took control of his music with "Experience Hendrix," the results have been better, but still spotty. The "Dagger Records" offshoot of Experience Hendrix is where they have reworked a lot of the bootleg / unreleased demo stuff.
Albums like "South Saturn Delta"...which attempted to more meaningfully re-structure his final, posthumous studio album "Cry of Love"...have been insightful, while others such as "Valleys of Neptune" and "People, Hell and Angels" have been mixed bags.
I wonder what would have happened if he hadn't died in 1970. There is the very real chance that he might have "exhausted the possibilities of his instrument" and ventured into other ways to get his compositions out. It happened with Frank Zappa, and for two reasons. One, as his cancer progressed, he lacked the physical stamina to stand on stage and play guitar. Two, as expressed in his liner notes for "The Yellow Shark"...his final album before the flood of posthumous releases...he began composing music for the Synclavier because he felt that it was music that "human musicians could not perform."
In terms of potential cut short, I still consider his loss to be the most tragic.
malaise
(268,850 posts)Archae
(46,312 posts)Now wait a minute!
I'm just being a little facetious here, in fact Hendrix (who was one of the guitar gods,) did only have one "Top 40" hit, "All Along The Watchtower."
None of his other tunes reached the "Tope 40," which is sad IMO.
His Woodstock "Star-Spangled Banner" is legendary.