No Such Thing as 'Bad Jimi'

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • wkhanna
    Grumpy Old Super Moderator Emeritus
    • Jan 2006
    • 5673

    No Such Thing as 'Bad Jimi'

    I am looking to purchase my first Hendrix CD, (I had the 'Are You Experienced?' LP as a kid) and was considering getting the 'BBC Sessions' disc. Do the Hendrix aficionados here consider this a good choice?
    Last edited by wkhanna; 04 September 2007, 11:08 Tuesday.
    _


    Bill

    Practicing Curmudgeon & Audio Snob
    ....just an "ON" switch, Please!

    FinleyAudio
  • Danbry39
    Moderator Emeritus
    • Sep 2002
    • 1584

    #2
    If I had one Hendrix to take to my desert island, it would be Electric Ladyland.
    Keith

    Comment

    • 2bluechris
      Member
      • Oct 2005
      • 77

      #3
      Hendix Fan !

      Hello Gentlemen, we meet here also, {and would elsewhere in this Forum if I had more time available} ...

      I have been a Hendrix enthusiast for 25 years and have all the official albums, and probably all the worthwhile non-official albums, and almost none of those Jimi as sideman before his own career sessions - most I heard are not worth much ...

      I also have numerous Bootlegs, including both Live and Studio material, and I have owned a boot with all those BBC sessions for many years, though I bought it all again on the Triple LP official release set.

      Yes, start there , it is very enthusiastic playing and very good playing - they could actually play the songs live - and really you should hear it all.

      Next get "Are You Experienced" if you want some of those songs in their Studio performances, or otherwise skip it and get "Axis: Bold As Love", because most of those songs are worth hearing, are well played, and few of them are on any of the Live CD sets.

      Next get "Electric Ladyland" - I don't think all of it is Great, but some of it truly is, and most of the remainder is good at least.

      But as I usually say, if you have the opportunity to, then do listen before you buy, as its you who will be listening to them - I have mine !

      best wishes,
      Chris
      Last edited by 2bluechris; 04 September 2007, 08:51 Tuesday. Reason: update

      Comment

      • Danbry39
        Moderator Emeritus
        • Sep 2002
        • 1584

        #4
        Chris,

        Who would've thunk.

        Shostakovich to Mahler to Hendrix.

        Did you ever have a chance to see him live? I was lucky enough to see him three times, Anaheim Convention Center, the Forum, and Fillmore West.

        I'll still stick with Electric Ladyland, as that's my favorite, but, of course, that's individual. It's kind of like the Beatles White album in that there is filler, but the meat of what remains is wonderful. It's also under $10 at Amazon.

        Wkhanna,

        Whatever you do, if a remastered copy is available, get that!!! The first releases were not done well. Even the remastered is not as good as the vinyl was, but much improved.

        Just gave away all my Hendrix vinyl, as well as over 500 others, to a charity drive to support our local NPR classical radio station, so my vinyl is gone forever, although I held onto all my Beatles (beat up as most were) and a few select others.
        Keith

        Comment

        • 2bluechris
          Member
          • Oct 2005
          • 77

          #5
          ... including about the live recordings.

          Hi Keith,

          well the actual order I first noticed the Composers/Artists I've mentioned mostly to date is :-

          Hendrix ; Bach ; Brahms ; Shostakovich ; Mahler, and with lots of others in between, and which maybe we'll get through sometime in this Forum given how we've been going to date !

          No, I never got to see Hendrix live, and despite my age now I was a little too young then, and without money, to have travelled the necessary distances if I had known.
          I had probably read his name prior, but I didn't become aware of his music till after he died.
          A couple of fellows at school were playing his tracks from the original "Woodstock" Sound Track triple LP set in 1971, though it took me later listens to others of his to grasp what he was doing.
          Prior to attending the school in the city in 1971, I had attended school in a country town where little other than Top 40 pop music, Country & Western, and Adult Easy Listening type artists, were known, thus no Hendrix, even on the Radio at that time ...

          I'm really happy for you that you did however !
          I think I've got bootlegs from his shows at all of those locations, or from two of ...

          Do you only have "Electric Ladyland" now, or do you mean that is your favorite of those you have ?

          Some live stuff really is worth having to hear the spontenaity.
          On those BBC sessions the playing is so fresh and alive, such as "Still Raining, Still Dreaming" sounds live on "Electric Ladyland" {and probably is part of a live jam in the studio - no overdubs}, though the BBC stuff is mostly more uptempo.
          Have a listen to the samples from the BBC Sessions on Amazon, if its there.

          I admire you for supporting the local Classical radio station, though you may have given away Hendrix stuff that may be difficult to find on CD.

          Hey, you know the vinyl sounded better, and you gave it away !?!

          Did you own "Hendrix In The West" ?
          Though the version of "Voodoo Chile, Slight Return" on "Electric Ladyland" is great, the version on "... In The West" tops it ! {and also doesn't have that annoying stereo Panning effect during some of the guitar solo sections - amateur mixing by Jimi, and annoying as he is not panning in time with the rhythm - probably stoned then - not surprized that Eddie Kramer wasn't always happy about Jimi insisting on co-mixing some of the stuff}.

          Chris.
          Last edited by 2bluechris; 05 September 2007, 06:35 Wednesday. Reason: substitute correct song title , previous mistake

          Comment

          • 2bluechris
            Member
            • Oct 2005
            • 77

            #6
            correct the spelling !

            wkhanna,

            with the greatest of respect, I suggest you Edit the Title in your first Post so that this Thread has the correct spelling of his name - Jimi - so that later readers will know who the Thread is about.

            I took a guess, but would not have been surprised if the Thread was about a current Rapper, or similar, whose name is Jimmy or Bad Jimmy.

            Chris

            Comment

            • wkhanna
              Grumpy Old Super Moderator Emeritus
              • Jan 2006
              • 5673

              #7
              Opps!

              Thanks for the proof read, 2bluechris!
              _


              Bill

              Practicing Curmudgeon & Audio Snob
              ....just an "ON" switch, Please!

              FinleyAudio

              Comment

              • Danbry39
                Moderator Emeritus
                • Sep 2002
                • 1584

                #8
                Originally posted by 2bluechris



                Do you only have "Electric Ladyland" now, or do you mean that is your favorite of those you have ?


                I admire you for supporting the local Classical radio station, though you may have given away Hendrix stuff that may be difficult to find on CD.

                Hey, you know the vinyl sounded better, and you gave it away !?!

                Did you own "Hendrix In The West" ?
                Though the version of "Voodoo Chile, Slight Return" on "Electric Ladyland" is great, the version on "... In The West" tops it ! {and also doesn't have that annoying stereo Panning effect during some of the guitar solo sections - amateur mixing by Jimi, and annoying as he is not panning in time with the rhythm - probably stoned then - not surprized that Eddie Kramer wasn't always happy about Jimi insisting on co-mixing some of the stuff}.

                Chris.
                I know about giving away my albums, but I don't have a working turntable now. Somewhere down the line, I will probably regret it.

                Oh, and, yes, I do own a strong library of Hendrix on CD, but they don't sound as good. The BBC recordings are a joy and, now I'm feeling a bit remorseful in that one of the albums I gave away was his live at the West one. I really loved that recording and haven't replaced it on CD, but as long as it brings joy to someone else and helps out public radio, I'm satisfied.

                I often exercise to music and, when this thread started, I did so to his three completed studio albums. Honestly, I was loving it all. I could easily do the same tonight with his BBC or any of his live music. One thing about the live music I have is that they never repeat each other. Songs like Little Wing and Hey Joe are always kept fresh and wonderfully so.
                Keith

                Comment

                • 2bluechris
                  Member
                  • Oct 2005
                  • 77

                  #9
                  "Hendrix In The West" , and other comments ...

                  Well, it seems you may be already regretting some of it !
                  Given your comments about the sound, I'd have given the CDs to the Radio Station and kept the LPs, and bought a Turntable - there are some really good sound quality turntables available now in the US for quite reasonable prices.

                  Despite the title of the album, only about half of it comes from performances in the West, eg:- Berkeley, California, and some comes from definitely the North-East --> the UK {Royal Albert Hall, etc ...}.
                  Unfortunately that LP is not available on CD, and likely will never be, at least for legal release, as the Hendrix Estate are mostly issuing the live stuff in single performance location sets, thus there is now the official release of all the Berkeley concert, but that classic version of "Voodoo Chile, Slight Return" is from a Royal Albert Hall concert.
                  Some "... In The West" fans won't know this, thus I'll post :-

                  Remember that LP many years ago titled "Experience" -{"Smashing Of Amps"}.
                  It was only a semi-legal release, thus sold outside the USA.
                  Four jamming type tracks from what was said to be the Sound Track to a Film entitled "Experience", which I didn't know if existed as I never saw anything else about it till recently.
                  A few years later a second LP was released of material from the same concert, and titled "More Experience".
                  Mostly known Hendrix songs on that one {"Little Ivy" on it is actually "Little Wing"}, and including that version of "Voodoo Chile, Slight Return" , but from an inferior quality copy of the tape {probably a dub made for some-one to listen to privately}.
                  The tape used for the "Hendix In The West" release is much better sound {as you know Keith !}.
                  Well, now there has been a few CD releases of both LPs material combined, on budget labels. I don't know the tape-quality source as I haven't listened to any of the CDs, but
                  there is now a {3 or 4}CD set with all that material, plus the remainder {the other concert}, plus the Sound Checks ! - thus there are several performances of some of the songs.
                  I think these will likely be mastered direct from the original tapes, thus when I see a copy a low enough price I'll probably buy it out of curiosity.
                  It is on a budget label, and is not part of the Hendrix Estate authorized releases, but H.Estate probably can't claim copyright ownership of the original UK made tapes.

                  Alternately, one could buy the purple background colour behind photo, longbox, 4CD set - "The Jimi Hendix Experience", which contains the above mentioned live "Voodoo Chile, Slight Return" and some of the other songs from the " ... In The West" LP, and some other live material, and a lot of alternate versions of known songs, and a few unknown songs/jams.

                  Chris
                  Last edited by 2bluechris; 06 September 2007, 11:27 Thursday. Reason: make a correction

                  Comment

                  • Danbry39
                    Moderator Emeritus
                    • Sep 2002
                    • 1584

                    #10
                    Wk,

                    Wonder if this might be of interest to you. Don't own it myself and thus can't vouch for it, but it includes a wide variety of his music, one CD live and one CD studio. Anyway, you might want to check it out. Here's the Link. .
                    Keith

                    Comment

                    • dave
                      Senior Member
                      • Aug 2003
                      • 434

                      #11
                      That Purple box set is selling for a really good price at Best Buy.
                      The comment about vinyl sounding better than cd is very true,
                      however a high quality phono-pre-amp is needed. I feel that is as important as the table & cartridge themselves. Hendrix music was so far ahead of
                      its time that people really did'nt appreaciate it's complexity until after his death. Hendrix on Vinyl is the way to go in my opinion... My statements
                      however are common knowledge...

                      Take Care...
                      Dave...

                      Comment

                      • 2bluechris
                        Member
                        • Oct 2005
                        • 77

                        #12
                        Phono preamps

                        Hi Dave,
                        I'd put it that a high quality phono-pre-amp is beneficial if one wants to hear the best from vinyl, but honestly I've always heard the better detail retrival and more true-to-life feel of vinyl over CD from any half-decent integrated amp with a Phono {turntable} input.
                        My old Sansui AU-217 MkII was one of the better sounding integrateds in its price category in its day, and though it has a fairly simple discreet transistors' phono stage its reproduction of vinyl was superior in the manner I described above to CD.
                        Digital never sounded Real through it.
                        Similarly, through several NAD and Rotel integrateds I've heard since.
                        I reckon the basic current Rotel RA-04 with its in-built phono stage would be sufficient for a listener to hear the more true-to-life effect of vinyl over CD if using a decent quality MM cartridge in a decent quality turntable/tonearm.

                        For owners of budget priced amps without inbuilt phono stages, I think that Cambridge Audio 640 series simple phono stage would do similarly well and perhaps better.
                        The small "Project" {Spelling ?} phono stage a past neighbour of mine bought certainly reproduced vinyl to more believeable effect than CD through his very average integrated amp !

                        I'm not reducing the benefits of better phono stages, but simply noting this for the benefit of owners of basic amps who don't have a lot of money to spend, but who prefer vinyl to CD.

                        Chris.

                        Comment

                        • 2bluechris
                          Member
                          • Oct 2005
                          • 77

                          #13
                          Hendrix compilation

                          That Hendrix compilation- "Voodoo Child" - that Keith posted the Link to is a mostly a good selection of tracks, though do note that some of the Studio tracks are alternate versions to those released on the original albums.

                          Simply for the songs it does fine, though I'd have included "Bold As Love" instead of "Burning Of THe Midnight Lamp" as it is simply better Jimi comprehensively ! , {though the given song is OK}.

                          Some of those Live tracks are really good for his guitar improvising, and the overall bands' performance.

                          Chris

                          Comment

                          • wkhanna
                            Grumpy Old Super Moderator Emeritus
                            • Jan 2006
                            • 5673

                            #14
                            Originally posted by Danbry39
                            Wk,

                            Wonder if this might be of interest to you. Don't own it myself and thus can't vouch for it, but it includes a wide variety of his music, one CD live and one CD studio. Anyway, you might want to check it out. Here's the Link. .
                            Thanks, Keith!
                            I have a list new music ready to buy, but need to re-fill the coffer since I have purchased a new ( to me ) amp and a set of tubes for my pre.
                            Hope to have the new tunes by the end of the month.
                            _


                            Bill

                            Practicing Curmudgeon & Audio Snob
                            ....just an "ON" switch, Please!

                            FinleyAudio

                            Comment

                            • Danbry39
                              Moderator Emeritus
                              • Sep 2002
                              • 1584

                              #15
                              wk,
                              Doesn't the waiting just kill you!!!
                              I'm so impatient sometimes, so I admire yours.

                              Chris,
                              Yes, I was wondering about the alternate takes. In fact, I was tempted to buy, at that price, just for that reason. By the way, while I love Burning of the Midnight Lamp, I think Bold as Love as one of his finest, so I agree in that respect. One of my favorite Hendrix lyrics is (hoping I get them right from memory) "My yellow in this case is not so mellow/If fact, I'm trying to say it's frightened like me." Just the words and his delivery of those words is one of prime Hendrix. Personal, soulful, and passionate.

                              Dave,
                              How's it going up there (I haven't been up there at all since we bought the property). I am envious that you get to listen to Hendrix on the original vinyl. I remember an interview with Hendrix's original engineer, who stated that the initial releases were done very poorly. I had been thinking the same thing as the CD's I owned sounded somehow colder and impersonal. Hope all is going great with you.
                              Keith

                              Comment

                              • dave
                                Senior Member
                                • Aug 2003
                                • 434

                                #16
                                I would have to agree that for the individual who isn't interested in spending a ton of $$$ on phono pre-amps etc. Your on target with what the average guy is satisfied with. However when you spend around $2700.00 for analog gear the music tends to
                                flow easier and with better soundstaging etc. Check out Dynavector products...

                                Things have been better Keith, You still own that property???

                                Dave...
                                Dave...

                                Comment

                                • Danbry39
                                  Moderator Emeritus
                                  • Sep 2002
                                  • 1584

                                  #17
                                  Yes we still own it, Dave.

                                  And, definitely, I'll be thinking about you and hoping anything not going well will turn around soon. Guys like you deserve the BEST!!!
                                  Keith

                                  Comment

                                  • dave
                                    Senior Member
                                    • Aug 2003
                                    • 434

                                    #18
                                    Thank you for the kind words.
                                    I am pleased to hear that that property is still yours.
                                    look me up when you're ready for Millwork installation.

                                    Dave...
                                    Dave...

                                    Comment

                                    • 2bluechris
                                      Member
                                      • Oct 2005
                                      • 77

                                      #19
                                      alternate takes or more alternate takes, and more Live !

                                      Originally posted by Danbry39
                                      Yes, I was wondering about the alternate takes. In fact, I was tempted to buy, at that price, just for that reason. By the way, while I love Burning of the Midnight Lamp, I think Bold as Love as one of his finest, so I agree in that respect. One of my favorite Hendrix lyrics is (hoping I get them right from memory) "My yellow in this case is not so mellow/If fact, I'm trying to say it's frightened like me." Just the words and his delivery of those words is one of prime Hendrix. Personal, soulful, and passionate.

                                      .
                                      Hi Keith,

                                      I like those lyrics also, and I was a bit surprized he sang such then, but perhaps he was simply being naively honest, or maybe he extended that line to additional fears he'd had and remembered, and simply sang that there for himself, not intending anyone would analyse them, and maybe I won't !
                                      I'll listen to all the lyrics next time so as to hear those in context, some of which I've forgotten.

                                      The alternate takes :-

                                      well, looking at a copy of the purple box set which Dave mentioned, it seems to contain all the tracks - studio alternates and live concert - that are in the "Voodoo Child" set you Linked for, plus several more - some of which I've heard and are very good, thus for the Hendrix enthusiast I recommend the purple box more so than "Voodoo Child" set.
                                      The "Voodoo Child" set seems to be simply a sampler from the purple box.

                                      For interested people who haven't heard much Hendrix I think it is better to first hear the first issued versions of those songs, such as from his 1st ; 2nd ; 3rd albums, OR , buy one of the Best Of type compilations if one wants only a few songs.

                                      "The Best Of Jimi Hendrix" contains a well thought-out selection of 20 songs from his four original release official albums, and includes the band's first hit single, "Hey Joe".
                                      I recommend this CD for anyone who wants only one CD, but with a good selection from his very best material.

                                      "Smash Hits" contains only 12 tracks. These are the A and B sides of the band's first few singles plus a few good tracks from their 1st and 2nd albums, only.
                                      I recommend this CD to anyone who wants only a good selection from the band's early material, or to anyone who has "Electric Ladyland" and wants only one more CD, but with all good representative songs from the earlier material.

                                      Chris.
                                      Last edited by 2bluechris; 19 September 2007, 06:51 Wednesday. Reason: to add 2 titles

                                      Comment

                                      Working...
                                      😀
                                      😂
                                      🥰
                                      😘
                                      🤢
                                      😎
                                      😞
                                      😡
                                      👍
                                      👎
                                      Searching...Please wait.
                                      An unexpected error was returned: 'Your submission could not be processed because you have logged in since the previous page was loaded.

                                      Please push the back button and reload the previous window.'
                                      An unexpected error was returned: 'Your submission could not be processed because the token has expired.

                                      Please push the back button and reload the previous window.'
                                      An internal error has occurred and the module cannot be displayed.
                                      There are no results that meet this criteria.
                                      Search Result for "|||"