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105 of 117 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not bad for an Alan Douglas release, March 16, 2002
This review is from: Blues (Audio CD)
It is ironic that Steven Mirkin would begin his review with: "After the disorganized and often unlistenable Alan Douglas-produced reissues in the '70s and '80s, MCA has been releasing the vast Hendrix archives in an intelligent and methodical manner. Blues is a perfect example..." Why is this ironic? Because Blues is very much an Alan Douglas production and, while he had at least temporarily overcome his habit of overdubbing Hendrix's sidemen (he would backslide on the next MCA release, Voodoo Soup), there are still plenty of Douglas-isms on the album. I give the album three stars in spite of Douglas' tampering, which I would never grace with adjectives like "intelligent" or "methodical." Douglas was a butcher and he lives up to that title here. Examples: "Voodoo Chile Blues" is a composite of three different takes sewn together with the usual Douglas subtlety (think nails on a chalkboard.) The following cut, "Mannish Boy", is likewise stitched together from various takes. That leads into "Once I Had A Woman" which, while at least only one take is used, has had its section order completely (and needlessly) altered. There are other examples (the spoken intro preceding "Electric Church Red House" comes from a recording of "Electric Church" done eight days before the take of "Red House" it segues into here; the "Electric Church" jam is omitted altogether) that serve to show that this album was not the Douglas-free zone Mr. Mirkin believes it to be. Also, the fantastic live version of "Hear My Train" suffers from an embarrassing burden of posthumous studio effects. Compare it to the version Eddie Kramer prepared for "Rainbow Bridge" and you'll see why people hate Douglas so much. Luckily, the earlier version is once again available on "Voodoo Child: The Jimi Hendrix Collection." It's worth a listen (and nowhere near as bad as the out-of-print Midnight Lightning), but hopefully Experience Hendrix will soon pull this album in favor of a more accurate representation of Jimi's blues playing. This should be the last of the currently available titles on anyone's Hendrix list.
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93 of 106 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely worth it, March 15, 2000
This review is from: Blues (Audio CD)
Very simply put, I got this cd as a gift and expected it to be good, but not nearly this good. It really lets light shine on Jimi's personality and at points makes you grin. At other points it haunts you with his memory, and at others it just puts you in awe. The beginning song is incredibly genuine Hendrix with a 12 string acoustic and the Voodoo Chile blues is a freaky blues song that is not a lyrical take off on Voodoo chile slight return. The most of the songs show a quirky funloving Hendrix that is just getting into the music the way it should be, and Born Under a Bad Sign shows up and shows off Jimi's talent for melody and never ending notes that ride halfway across songs. This is an album full of brilliant and vivid long blues progressions and ends with the best I've ever heard Hendrix play, doing Electric and live version of Hear My Train a'comin and it is utterly awesome. And as an added bonus, the booklet that comes inside the cd cover is literally a booklet as in a mini-book. It's a Hendrix bio that is worth the price of the cd itself, and you'll probably read it a few times. This is an amazing cd, and shows The Hendrix style of real blues, the way blues should be played. It's an amazing wave of Jimi's best and most heartfelt sounds.
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39 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hendrix's best? Best blues album?, March 21, 2000
This review is from: Blues (Audio CD)
Where did this come from? Many of the past Hendrix archive albums have been pretty bad, something only a fanatic Hendrix fan would want. This is an excellent blues collection throughout. On top of this, I don't think any of this material is available anywhere else. It amazes me that someone could go to the archives and pull out 70 minutes strong blues material. Jimi Hendrix had many talents and could play in many different styles. He is as good of a blues player as he is anything else. Here he takes blues standards and updates them in his own style. It should be noted that the sound quality isn't perfect throughout and there are some pretty rough mixes to some of the songs. There is some background noise and hissing in some songs, and one song sounds like it was spliced together. This was material that wasn't originally intended for commercial release, but has been remastered well enough to make an amazing CD. Afterall, it's the Blues, it isn't supposed to be pretty.
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