Customer Reviews

Blues

5 star:		(113)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

This compilation of most of Hendrix's best blues will blow the listener away. His heart-felt lyrics as well as incredible guitar solos add a very different dimension to blues music. Tracks such as Hear My Train A Comin' (both acoustic and electric versions) provide incredible examples of why Hendrix is considered the greatest guitarist ever. His cover of the Muddy Waters tune Mannish Boy is wonderful. Songs like Once I had a Woman and Electric Church Red House will keep you listening for years to come. For the first time listener of Hendrix, I guarantee this album will become a stepping stone to a new and awesome arena of music. Anyone who appreciates Hendrix, rock, blues, or music in general should have this album.

Wow! I was most impressed when I first popped this in the cd player. It's great for fans of the blues, or if you like Hendrix. I myself, am a fan of Jimi and the blues so this really is as good as it gets for me.

This CD is the best Hendrix I own, and I've got all of his stuff. The tunes are especially good for road trips and just cruising around town

NOTICE: Insert this disc with blacksmith tongs and asbestos gloves only! In addition, may burn a smoldering, fuming hole in your CD player.

This compilation makes Eric Clapton sound like Tiny Tim picking desperately on a Playskool guitar.

To be sure there will be some who "just don't get it",as a previous reviewer wrote, and won't appreciate or like this very much. But that having been said, this tape is nothing short of amazing. Listen to it at least twice before you really judge just how awesome and Powerful a represention of Jimi Hendrix's guitar mastery it is! You will here and feel, something new and different and be even more impressed the second time. I was and did and I already loved the tape after hearing it once. Jimi plays classic sweet blues riffs with such great feel along with raw, unaduterated, Blisteringly screaming guitar solos and some of the wildest sounds and notes you can play on the guitar and still call it music!! He doesn't really "play" the guitar on this tape as much as he attacks it, with both reakless abandion and pure sweet soulfullness and in some cases both in the same song! I must tell you it's a bit raw and not highly produced at all, with several very raw live songs as well, but over all the sound quality is pretty good. The live songs are really the best ones in my opinion! He sings while playing the Vocal lines at the same time on a couple songs, makes his guitar create wierd, amazing sounds and bends the strings so savagely and beautifully they sound as though they are going to break and cut right though you AND it all sounds great!! This should tape really showcases his unsurpased prowess as a guitarest and a Blues master! I know I am a crazy hendrix nut but if you don't "get it" about Jimi Hendrix after listening to this tape then you never will and forgive me but...You don't truely understand crap about the guitar and Music, sorry, but that's just the reality. They don't call me "fingers" for nothing and I have heard and Played some pretty mean and whaling guitar in my time but this is a humbling Lession in how to have your way with a guitar and If I could play half as well as Jimi on some of this CD I'd be in heaven on earth all the time!! But don't believe me, buy it and hear for yourself just what a God gifted ,creative genious and true Guitar virtiouso he really was! The great thing about this CD is he talks some on it as well and he sounds like he is just so relaxed and having such fun playing all these songs, no wonder it's so good !!

God bless and enjoy!

I actually still have this only on tape. However, it is perhaps one of the best Hendrix albums, and is certainly the best compilation released after his death. MCA got this one right, releasing previously unreleased tracks.

Including Jimi's versions of classic standards like "Mannish Boy," "Catfish Blues," and "Born Under a Bad Sign" are what elevate this to an essential album not just for Hendrix fans, but blues fans at large. The acoustic "Hear my Train a Comin'" is absolutely beautiful, and I think it's a shame that there isn't an acoustic Hendrix album out there somewhere.

The album also contains a couple of live tracks, and you really get a broad sense of how Hendrix approached the blues, how much it meant to him, and simply how darn good he was at making it his own. Some of the more psychedelic guitar solos on the live tracks may not appeal to some listeners, but this is a great album overall.

Many of the compilations released after Jimi's death, on whatever label, have been either badly produced, released fairly mediocre music, or are just incessantly repackaged *best of* compilations. This is NOT one of those. Blues fans, young Hendrix fans, and old school fans will all find this album absolutely amazing, and a testament to Hendrix's talent.

On another note, avoid the *Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues* Hendrix release. It has only two unreleased tracks, while the rest of it is merely taken from either this release or *Electric Ladyland*.

Jimi the innovator. Jimi the space-rock freak. Jimi the voice of the baby boomer generation. The myth, as always, develops a life of its own. Well how 'bout this: Jimi the bluesman.

That's what Jimi has always been to me, more than anything. A bona fide blues artist, whose soul lies in the rich, deep roots that gave birth to his sound. This disc confirms it for me. It is hands down my favorite Hendrix disc of all. Although, the long version of "Voodoo Chile" on Electric Ladyland, my absolute favorite Hendrix performance ever, does best anything on here. But it's all in keeping with the same sound, the same soul.

This is an amazing look into the soul of a man. Jimi Hendrix lived the blues life before he lived the rock life. He was an introvert and an outcast long before he was a legend. Thus his music comes from deep inside.

I place this disc alongside Albert King and Junior Kimbrough on the "blues shelf" of my collection. You should too.