Customer Reviews

Live at the Fillmore East

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Ok, let me just say that to anyone who hasnt heard this, disregard EVERY review you see that says its uneven, or out of tune, or any other such pretensious notion.
This album along with the original Band Of Gyspies album, are some of the most amazing music you will ever hear. Jimi Hendrix with bandmates Billy Cox on bass and Buddy Miles on Drums, take one of the greatest musical forms: Blues, and mix it with soul, funk, and even a touch of jazz (or jazz influence rather). The finished product is genious. i dont know any other way i can say it, jams on Stone Free, Machine Gun, Izabella, Voodoo Chile, and others just show a young brilliant Hendrix in good company playing the type of music you know he was feeling with all his soul.
This album is enough to make you cry, smile, laugh and drop your jaw. Pure soul, sure its a little uneven in the traditionalist sense, but the raw soul energy coming form this trio is well enough to make up for any minor, insignificant details.
Open your mind and let it in, youll hear it, i promise

-ian

The music on these 2 CDs is incredible, especially considering the BOGs didn't have much time to write and/or rehearse new and old material. Being that the music is so great, the CD layout itself is a dissapointment.
The 4 shows at the Fillmore were all recorded in their entirety, and should have been released that way. The chopped-up order and deleted songs are an insult to the band and listeners. Bootleggers have done a better job on this material.
This CD is the left-overs from the shows that were recorded to get out of a contract Jimi signed with Capitol before the Experience. Wanting to legally fulfill his obligation, he recorded his 4 shows at the Fillmore in NYC and picked a few songs to make up the Band of Gypsies album.
With that said, it's still worth buying. The alternate versions of "Machine Gun" alone are worth the price. When Jimi kicked the Fuzz Face and Uni-Vibe on, his guitar took off even farther than before.
I think a special mention should go to Jimi as a person. There he was, a super-star with unparalleled abilites, and he still shared the mike and songwriting with Buddy Miles. Very honorable.
Jimi's playing on all 4 sets was excellent, and the technical difficulties that usually plagued him were kept at bay. Buddy Miles' drum kit was solid, and his presence lended a smooth vibe to Jimi's music. Although I've seen criticism on Billy Cox's bass playing, I feel it was perfect for Jimi. With Jimi's playing style of doing both lead and rhythem work, Billy was an excellent anchor for the music. You can't have everyone flying all over the fretboards and come out with anything that sounds like solid music.
Buy this along with the Band of Gypsies album and you'll have a nice archive of a short-lived but important piece of Hendrix (and musical) history.

I put off buying this CD because of the negative reviews I had read. What a load of rubbish.

Band of Gypsys is one of the great live recordings released in the 60's and 70's. I always loved the Gypsys rhythm section as opposed to the Experience and always wanted to hear more from this line-up. On these Fillmore concerts, Buddy Miles is right there on the beat, there's no hesitation, no pussyfooting around, he's commital and right there on the beat, rock steady - folks in the Hendrix circle used to call him "the funky cememt mixer". Anyway, I figured if Band of Gypsies was so stunning, how bad could the out-takes from these concerts be?

I'm really amazed that it took until 1999 to get this material out to the public, especially considering all the marginal material that was peddled off to the fans. This is a great, great find for Hendrix fans. If you enjoyed Band of Gypsys then you definitely want to purchase this. I really have no criticisms at all. I am "tickled" that this is so good. Sure, Machine Gun isn't quite up to the same standard as the landmark version that appeared on Band of Gypsys, but both versions are still good. Stone Free is incredible, the "New Rising Sun" material sounds great live and the band is very tight. The Gypsys are a far tighter sounding band than Experience sound on their live releases. This is not just a jam band folks. Michael Jeffries was a complete idiot for working to destroy this lineup.

Let's face it, Jimi's live releases, apart from Band of Gypsys, are very much hit or miss affairs, track back track, CD by CD. Band of Gypsys is the fantastic exception and Live at The Fillmore isn't that far off the mark. It's grrrrrrrrreat! Buy at once!

This is why Hendrix fans are forced to turn to bootleggers and those people get rich. You want to hear to the full, unedited performances of Hendrix at the Fillomre east? Easy, go get the bootlegs. If you want an artifical, bad sequenced, edited performance, get the official release. Experience Hendrix has mostly issued great CD's by Hendrix, but this is an exemption. When Hendirx was here, HE decided to edit some tracks and release a partial performance as Band of Gypsis. That is fine, HE was the artist and we all love and cherish that album. But now that he is gone, NOBODY can make such decisions. So the only right thing to do is release those recordings as they were recorded. Dont get creative people, remember Alan Douglas and all the hell Hendrix fans had to take for 20 years.

"Live at the Fillmore East" was one of those long-awaited purchases for me. After having heard "Band of Gypsys" almost 20 years ago on cassette and again on CD, I was excited to hear about the release of more footage from one of my favorite concerts ever.

When I finally did get it, I felt disappointed at first. Edits sounded clumsy, the microphones are way off on some tracks (because of technical problems, I learned later), and the performances are variable or take some getting used to, at least.

Highlights: my favorite is the jam on "Auld Lang Syne", even though the sound quality is bad and takes some getting used to, Jimi and company bring the 1970's to New York in style. "Hear My Train A Comin'" is the most intense version I've heard yet of Hendrix's deeply personal song, and "Izabella" has more life than his version from Woodstock. "Who Knows" takes some getting used to if you've heard the excellent version on the "Band of Gypsys" CD, because it departs quickly into a jam session, with Jimi even apologizing to the crowd. But on its own, no apologies are necessary, and you call tell that the band is tight and having fun. "Stepping Stone" also translates well with vibrant intensity on stage.

Indifferent: Two versions of "Machine Gun" are interesting to hear, and good performances, but nowhere near the version on Band of Gypsys. (Then again, how can you come close to that definitive version?) "Earth Blues", "Stop", "Voodoo Child" and "Changes". The last one ("Changes") starts and sounds almost identically to the "Band of Gypsys" CD version until it reaches a part where Buddy Miles improvises vocals. I prefer the other version with fewer vocals.

Not so good: Sound quality and the remaining tracks. Even the weakest songs aren't that bad though.

Overall, I have to say that I prefer the Band of Gypsys ensemble over The Experience. Nothing against Noel Redding or Mitch Mitchell, but Billy Cox and Buddy Miles provided a more cohesive sound and I always got the impression that Hendrix-Miles-Cox love the blues, which is a must if you were to play with Hendrix. In addition, with the Band of Gypsys group, the music is more 'simple' (if you want to call it that), but it is the music, rather than showmanship, that take center stage. I think that Buddy Miles made an excellent foil to Hendrix, with the additional talent of having lead and backup vocals that worked well with the music, allowing Hendrix to focus more on his guitar.

I'd recommend this to fans of later Hendrix, but I'd recommend people to get the "Band of Gypsys" CD first, since it contains the definitive performances and is also less expensive, being one disc versus two. Only then should you venture into "Live at the Fillmore East", and with the strong caveat that the sound travels into uneven territory that is unexpected from a digitally remastered release.

After a friend demanded that I buy only one Hendrix album (this was a while ago before cds), Are You Experienced, another friend told me that Band of Gypsies was Hendrix at his peak live. I bought the record and was convinced. Years later, I tracked down the cd, which was an import, that has 3 songs that never appeared on any domestic vinyl or cd release of the single disc edition. To this day, one of those 3 bonus tracks has ever been offically released in the US. As a owner of all 4 shows from the Filmore EAst, I can tell you that it's a shame and a crime to watch material trickle out and premium dollar. Yeah, this set rocks. But what waits in the vaults would really amaze.

No..."Band of Gyspys" is a better album between the two but like Amazon's review says, this album does offer some cool revelations and is worthwhile for a Hendrix completist. I haven't read one review mentioning how awesome the featured version of "Stepping Stone" is here. What were Jimi, Billy, and Buddy trying to do, invent punk rock before there was such a thing? I mean how many Jimi Hendrix songs (live or studio) would be at home in a mosh pit? Jimi was the greatest and his talent for reinventing his material live on stage was limitless.

Let me begin by stating that, in my opinion, "Band Of Gypsies" (BOG) was one of the greatest albums ever released. And, the recently re-engineered CD version of that album is awesome. So, after reading all the positive reviews concerning "Live at the Fillmore East", I couldn't wait to give it a listen.

Sad to say, I was disappointed. The sound quality of this double CD is so far below that of BOG, I am surprised that the producer of BOG, Eddie Kramer, who has an excellent reputation in the industry, allowed his name to be associated with it.

You would think that, at the very least, the well-mixed tunes from BOG would be copied intact. But, no, even those performances are remixed horribly on this CD. Shame on you Kramer. Even if Jimi's family needs the money, Jimi can't be happy about this one.

Still, dead-hard Hendrix fans will enjoy this one, if for no other reason than to hear the spooky way he plays "Taps" at the end of "Machine Gun", which wasn't captured on the BOG album. There are two versions of "Machine Gun" on this release, and isn't is amazing that Hendrix apparently never played the song the same way twice.

I don't understand some of the low votes for this great album, even if some just don't like the editing. As others have said, bootlegs exist for those who want the shows in their entirety but this more commercially viable 2 CD set provides a sensible alternative. Because it is so much longer than the original classic, which also has a version of 'Machine Gun' which is undisputably better, it does not seem to have the same impact as that one does, but the music's just as good, if unsurprisingly with a different, but equally good sound mix. I'm surprised at complaints about sound quality. I have hundreds of live music CDs from this era and the sound quality is up there with the best. To anyone considering getting this, first try the original Band of Gypsys, preferably the 3 track extended version if you can track it down without paying too much. As it's a matter of taste, and many people who enjoy plenty of other Hendrix concerts may not like this one, see if you enjoy the single disc first before investing in this one. And if you're not outraged by the sound quality of the 3 bonus tracks (I believe 'Hear My Train' was lifted from videotape) of the original, you'll be more than pleased with the sound quality here.

I'm astonished that some people criticize the fact that some songs on the first album are not on this one. I would have been annoyed to find too much overlapping of songs on the 2 releases, and the choice as to whether to put an unheard version of a song on the album as opposed to a classic version available everywhere for over 30 years should be a no-brainer.

Whatever one may say about Buddy Miles, whose singing personally I find great but vocal scat singing and screaming intrusive, the fact is that there is far greater, more sophisticated playing from Hendrix here than on many earlier Experience concerts like Monterey for example, which were really exciting visual experiences but whose audio tracks may not contain as much great playing as a show when he was focusing more on the audio than the visual side. Even the version of 'Wild Thing' presented here has more in it musically than the early ones.

Some may have problems with Experience Hendrix, but one must admit that their releases have been light years ahead of most of those released since Hendrix died. Remember the awful mixes and edits of the Alan Douglas era, the space cadet liner notes of Michael Fairchild, Douglas's sidekick who wrote a book that pulls quotes out of Hendrix songs to prove that Jimi was on a mission to Earth to warn us of our impending destruction by a giant asteroid, and even some of the weird cover art. Now we have great clean mixes, no horrible echo or obtrusive studio effects, sensible informative liner notes, and great photos and overall artistic sensibility, extending also to their Dagger Records range of releases. So thank you Experience Hendrix, you're doing a great job, and are criticized only by those who have forgotten or have no memory of how the Hendrix legacy was handled in the past.

to all those who rated this album poorly i must say that you just merely heard this cd but you didn't listen to it. this collection contains some of the most electrifying performances ever recorded. besides jimi's mind blowing guitar you have the soulful dancing bass lines of billy cox who is one of the few musicians capable of hanging with Hendrix note for note. if you don't believe me just listen. as for the songs themselves, i dare you to find a better version of stone free. we are also treated to two versions of jimi's classic guitar showcase machine gun. but probably my favorite thing about this album is the lesser known material, such as the soul soaked stop and the hard rockin' earth blues. the band of gypsies was by far jimi's best band and there are precious few recordings that feature this funky, soulful, bluesy group of stellar musicians. don't listen to the naysayers, buy this album and listen. if you do this you will be absolutely blown away by the hendrix/cox interplay and the solid drumming of buddy miles.