Customer Reviews

'Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky: The Life of Jimi Hendrix

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As rock bios go, this one is the worst I ever made the mistake of buying. Being a Hendrix fan, I had a genuine interest in the subject at hand, but the "with it" 60's slang that David Henderson insisted upon using throughout the book was irritating, and worse, distracting. His use of "creative license" whereby he supposes himself inside Jimi's mind as he lay dying is not only disingenuous, but creepy. Avoid this one unless you're an acid casualty yourself.

In reading the other reviews of this "Biography", I have to wonder if they all read the same book that I did. Some even went so far as to state that this is the best biography about Jimi that they have ever read! Please! No way.

Perhaps I am being too harsh as it was written almost 25 five years ago, and it shows with the language that is used in the book. Alot of slang from the 60s. And I also found very wierd and disconcerting how Mr. Henderson writes as if he knew what was going through Jimi's mind when he lay dying, when he was arrested for drug possession in Toronto and when he was performing at his most famous concerts. I understand from reading something about Mr. Henderson that he knew Jimi, how well I couldn't really ascertain. He is also an African American. Now what importance you may attach to that, I don't know. I happen to believe that you don't have to be an African American to write a credible biography about Jimi because if that were the case, most of the biograhies about him would have remained unwritten. And just because Mr. Henderson is black does not give his book anymore credence than say the ones by Murray, Lawrence, Cross, Shadwick etc. I would say that Mr. Henderson wrote this book from his own perspective as a black man, but not from Jimi's. Yes they are both black but that should not mean that their experiences were the same. From what others who knew Jimi have said in other biographies, Jimi was only concenred about the colors in his music not the color of his skin or anyone else's. Not that he was unaware of racism, but that like any other problem in his life he simply believed that everything would turn out for the best. He was not militant, in fact most of his friends often noted how apolitical he was.

Also many of the "facts" is this book are incorrect which indicates to me that Mr. Henderson did not research his book very well. Some of the facts about Jimi's concerts, his feelings about the JHE, his various women, his friends are not correct. I would think that even ten years after Jimi's death (which is when Mr. Henderson wrote this book) most of these facts were known. He also does not include a Bibliography listing his sources. Mr. Henderson gives nary a mention about Kathy, his girlfriend in London, but goes on and on about Devon Wilson and her relationship with Jimi as if this was the only female relationship of worth that Jimi ever had. It is true that Jimi knew Devon for at least 4-5 years, but he also knew Kathy since he went to London in 1966. Also this is just a minor detail, but the song lists of various concerts are often incorrect, such as the one for Monterrey Pop. He also noted that the Grateful Dead went on after JHE but as everyone knows they played between The Who and JHE.

To me, Mr. Henderson wanted to portray Jimi as some sort of hip, antiestablishment "Superspade". This is a disservice to Jimi as he was much more than that. In fact he was such a complex, enigmatic, and original person that even the best biographies about him cannot adequately portray him.

I wanted to read this biography because it was one of the very first ones ever written about Jimi, so I do not regret buying it, but there are much better biographies about Jimi out there, like ELECTRIC GYPSY, JIMI HENDRIX MUSICIAN and the ones by Sharon Lawrence, John McDermott, and Charles Murray.

I will agree with one reviewer that stated Mr. Henderson should have written a novel about Jimi, but as a credible biography about Jimi Hendrix, this book just doesn't make the cut.

Frank Zappa once said, "Rock and roll journalism is stuff written by writers who can't write, about musicians who can't play music, for readers who can't read." This is an exception, in that it is a highly readable and well-written book. The author has very good academic writing credentials, the like you almost never see among rock journalists. A fat book, that I read quickly.

When I was in a bookstore one day I saw this book and I just had to get it. It was the first time I had ever seen a Jimi Hendrix book before. This book explained so much more than any web site or any article could. It really tells alot about Jimi's experience in Europe. My favorite part about this book is that it describes in such detail all the songs that Jimi wrote, all of concerts, and especially all the jam sessions with Buddy Guy, B.B. King, and Eric Clapton. If you are into reading about every aspect of somebody's life, then this book is for you.

Not a bad read about Hendrix. You learn some interesting things about him and his passion for his music. Especially good is how the Jimi Hendrix Experience was formed to appeal to white kids and was mostly a P.R. effort instead of letting Jimi go in his own direction as he did later with the Band of Gypsys. How many times have we heard about the recording industry moguls stifling some truly great artists.

This book started off a little slow but after a few pages you got right into it. It was the inside-out details that got me turning the pages. From his remarkable preformance at Monterey with "the expierience" to his last months in his own recording studio "electric ladyland" with "band of gypsies." His life was filled with turns and dave henderson does a remarkable job writing in words what jimi has done with his guitar. It goes through jimi's childhood happyness to his adult acid adictions. Tripping left and right jimi hendrix brought us a sound we would never forget. After this book I will never forget jimi and as soon as you read it im sure you wont either!

Excellent account of Hendrix's life (drug use and all) with the only critique that I might add is how can Henderson know or even speculate what thoughts went through Hendrix's mind particularly when he lay dying? There is a lot of this type of verbage here, but if you can get around that, this is an invaluable story that definetly puts you into Hendrix's life (a big strongpoint of this book) particularly during the major events (Monterey, Fillmore, Woodstock...) and is well worth the read.

THE FIRST THREE PAGES OF THIS BOOK SHOULD REGISTERED AS A PHARMACEUTICAL SLEEPING AID. THE OVERPOWERING URGE TO CATCH SOME ZZZZ'S NEARLY OVERWHELMED ME AS I WAS BOMBARDED BY AN OVERUSE OF METAPHORS. DAVE HENDERSON, IN MY OPINION, MAKES A VALIANT BUT OVERZEALOUS ATTEMPT TO HELP THE READER VISUALIZE THE GOINGS ON AT THE END OF JIMI HENDRIX'S LIFE. WHILE VERY INFORMATIVE, YOU REALLY HAVE TO FIGHT HARD TO STAY WITH THE BOOK THROUGH THE FIRST FEW PAGES.

This is probably the best book that's been written on Hendrix, but it's not among the best music biographies...just the best on Hendrix. I've read the book a couple times, and it does contain good information. Sadly, the good information is scattered between too much slang, '60's hip talk, and artificial seeming dialect.

As far as the information in the book, it is a pretty thorough look at Hendrix's short life. It includes a lot of good pictures, and more about his time in the Army than any other source I've read. It's not bad for that.

I just wish Henderson wouldn't have used so much dialect and slang. It spoiled the entire experience. It turned a good book into a mediocre one.

This is a terrible book and it came at the very last minute and the book wasn't even worth reading. I have read many biographies about Hendrix and this one was the worst so far.