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Live at Woodstock, Jimi Hendrix’s headlining appearance at the most famous festival in rock music history, is rivaled only by his set at Monterey Pop for sheer legendary status. But the two are very different. The rock guitarist was a virtual unknown in America when he delivered his literally incendiary performance at Monterey in 1967. A little more than two years later he was an established star, picked to close this mammoth three-day show (he was slated to appear on Sunday night, but weather and various snafus pushed that to Monday morning). Introduced as the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Hendrix quickly corrects that to Gypsy Sun and Rainbows, with original drummer Mitch Mitchell and new bassist Billy Cox augmented by two percussionists and a second guitarist (all three are for the most part inaudible, subsumed in the great sonic wash of Hendrix’s wailing guitar and Mitchell’s thrashing drums). The music had changed, too. Hendrix had started moving away from the format of short, poppy songs with the
Electric Ladyland album, and while he still plays "Purple Haze," "Foxey Lady," and "Fire," much of the emphasis in this lengthy set is on extended jamming. Not all of it works, but when it does--as on "Spanish Castle Magic" and a sped-up "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)," which leads into the feedback-drenched re-imagining of "The Star-Spangled Banner"--the performance takes off. Little more than a year later, Jimi Hendrix, still regarded as the greatest rock guitarist ever, would be dead.
Aside from the enhanced visuals and audio track expected with the format, the Blu-ray edition of Jimi Hendrix Live at Woodstock features a wealth of bonus material, much of which is also included in the two-disc standard DVD release. The principal difference is that "A Second Look," a black & white version of the concert shot by an amateur, can now be viewed picture-in-picture along with the official version. The quality is imperfect, but it’s fascinating to see the show from a very different angle than those used by filmmaker Michael Wadleigh and his crew, who focused almost exclusively on Hendrix. Also worthy is "Recording Woodstock," with Hendrix engineer Eddie Kramer describing a process that was haphazard at best. --Sam Graham
Product Description
Studio: Uni Dist Corp (music) Release Date: 11/25/2008
