Customer Reviews

Smash Hits

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I'm amused at some of the reviewers trashing this compilation because in their great wisdom it is superfluous. Well, there's quite a few of us who grew up with Hendrix who remember when "Smash Hits" was originally released, and for us it served as a nice, curt compendium when we didn't want to be accosted with Jimi's more mind-blowing noodle sessions, or be subjected to an entire double album. Back in the day, Rolling Stone suggested this CD was the "tightest" hits compilation, and I tend to agree. If you like Hendrix at his most concentrated 3.5-minute-per-cut best, this may be for you. To suggest that any CD that contains a dozen of Hendrix's best and most memorable recordings is worth a single star review solely because you like the way other alternatives are compiled is a disservice to the readers of these reviews, as well as to the memory of Jimi Hendrix.

Please ignore the rantings of so many like "why another compilation" and "it's too short" -
This is simply a straight reissue of the great 12-song LP that was in every record store in America for 20 years after it's 1969 release, introducing millions to Jimi's music.
This was THE Hendrix collection while he was still alive.
If you didn't hold the records in your hands back then, and cherish the 30-40 minute LP format, you can't understand.
You're too young, you don't get it, and you shouldn't be reviewing music that was made before you were born.
**Only 2 Hendrix albums have gone Double-Platinum in sales :
Are You Experienced? and SMASH HITS.

With all the Hendrix collections available now, the re-release of 1969's "Smash Hits" seems a little irrelevant except for the historic fact that it was the first actual compilation of the Jimi Hendrix Experience and its been out of print for many years. I read somewhere that this is the first time "Smash Hits" has been on CD, which is not true because I used to own it. Also this is different from the original "Smash Hits" CD. The original had 14 songs, all 12 included here + "51st Anniversary" and "Highway Chile". For some reason these two were removed for this remaster. So this isnt even the same "Smash Hits"! What's the point?

I recommend buying the 17 track remaster of the first Jimi Hendrix Experience album, "Are You Experienced?", which this version of "Smash Hits" borrows 10 songs from, not to mention includes the two previously mentioned ommissions from the original "Smash Hits". The other two, "All along the Watchtower" and "Crosstown Traffic" are on the third Experience album, "Electric Ladyland". Something I never understood is why there is nothing on "Smash Hits" from their second album, "Axis: Bold as Love", but that's not important because that album is essential in itself. I can't recommend "Smash Hits" for two reasons: 1. Its just another collection, who cares if its remastered? and 2. The ommission of the two original tracks take away the historical relevance.

If you want the true best of Jimi Hendrix, start out with the first three Experience albums mentioned in this review. Want more? Try the 17 track "First Rays of the New Rising Sun" (which includes proper versions (without the dubbing and tampering of the embarrasing "Voodoo Soup" album) of Hendrix classics like "Freedom", "Izabella", "Room full of mirrors", "Ezy Rider", "Stepping stone", the list goes on.) If you go further, check out his best "live" recordings, like "Band of Gypsys" (made without the Experience and is the only "live" recording that was authorized by Jimi before he died.), "Live at the Fillmore East", and either "Jimi Hendrix: Woodstock" or the complete 2 disc concert on "Live at Woodstock" for his mind-blowing performance there. Both albums contain the complete "Star Spangled Banner" if you're interested.

The 1969 "Smash" Hits was the first Hendrix LP I owned and a great introduction to the legendary guitar genius. The remastered sound is brilliant. That said, though, this collection has been surpassed by several other CDs that cover Hendrix's career more fully ("Smash Hits" was released while Hendrix was still alive and recording, after all). "The Ultimate Experience" is the best single-CD compilation available, and the recent "Voodoo Chile" double-CD is even better, and both include the same great remastered sound. Start there if you're looking for an overview or an introduction. "Smash Hits" is more for those of us who are feeling nostalgiac about our old LPs.

This collection, when it came out, was the first (and only) "greatest hits" compilation during Jimi's lifetime. So, it doesn't compare (in volume) to later releases and packages.

Jimi IS the greatest guitarist ever. Period. It's been said a billion times by fans worldwide and guitar legends like Clapton, Page, Perry, Vaughan etc. etc. People whom I'm sure know just a tad more about musicianship that some boob that calls himself "Super Pimp." Can anyone guess that this is some loser white trash that wears his pants down below his rear end and his hat on sideways? GEE...I WONDER!!!

Some simple-minded moron like "Super Pimp"(???)...who no doubt has an IQ in the single digits...that can barely form a complete sentence without help I say this: Go listen to your beloved white-trash Slim Shady back in your trailer and leave reviews to people who appreciate good music that doesn't involve explitives every two seconds and doesn't contain the term "YO" or "peace out" or any of that other lame-ass wigger wanna-be garbage. YOU are a loser of highest degree..."Super Simp" Now fix your hat and pull up your pants!

No, this album is not a bit outdated, and no, it doesn't have every single Hendrix song anyone could ever want. These are the hits that made Hendrix's reputation. They're the songs that people loved back in the late '60s, and they're the songs that you hear on the radio station today. The true hits -- not 1998's "Experience Hendrix: Every Good Song Hendrix Ever Made." More for the Hendrix purists than the casual fans (although even the most casual of fans should find thorough enjoyment from this album), and more for LP nostalgia than for the "Best Of" collections on CD shelves today, this album is Smash Hits, as Hendrix saw them.

If you want the bare-boned, can't-miss, really rockin' Jimi Hendrix Experience tunes, start here. If you want more bang for your buck, go for "Experience Hendrix," but there's probably a reason that Jimi decided to leave "Castles Made of Sand" off of his "Smash Hits."

I can never slam ANYTHING that Hendrix has ever done,but the only purpose that 'Smash Hits' is likely to serve for anyone is to introduce a new(is there anyone on the planet that hasn't heard Hendrix's music by now?)fan.Okay,MAYBE a young teen that wishes to enjoy some of his parent's(or even grandparent's)music of days long gone.The cuts here have apparently been remastered.Tunes that I could never grow too tired of are "The Wind Cries Mary","Fire"(one of my all-time Hendrix favorites),Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower","Crosstown Traffic" and "Manic Depression".For die-hards OR new fans.

"Smash Hits" was the fourth album by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, the classic trio created in England during September, 1966. Formed a few short months after another legendary trio, Cream, The Experience also broke up not long after Cream's "Goodbye" album was issued, around the beginning of July 1969, following an uneven, chaotic, but lucrative final tour. It was the same month that Reprise Records and the group issued this slightly odd but classic compilation.
The 12-song set contains a somewhat top-heavy 6 (out of 11) tracks from the U.S. version of the group's debut, "Are You Experienced?" (eschewing the longer, more exploratory cuts), and none (!) from their extraordinary follow-up, the fleet, near-flawless, and lyrical "Axis: Bold As Love." We also get the two singles taken from "Electric Ladyland," both recorded before Hendrix took over production reigns for the sprawling double album. This album is a fleet snapshot of the Jimi Hendrix Experience during their first year as a recording unit, when they were bursting with energy and ambition. What makes "Smash Hits" more than a throwaway "hits" set was the inclusion of four hitherto unissued-in-the-US gems that have since become classics in their own right: "Red House," in 1969 was a very rare 12-bar blues original; "Can You See Me" and "Stone Free," are both concise, explosive Who-style rockers; and the mid-tempo, loping, "Remember" is reminiscent of the moody, deliberate music of the band Free. Like most of this collection, these tracks display a band (together less than a month when some songs were recorded!)at an early, high-energy peak in varied styles alike only in their relative brevity. Like a jazzier version of Keith Moon, Mitch Mitchell was nearly as inventive as Hendrix,who here is most concerned with creating energy, flash, color, and mood within tight structures rather than improvisation. Noel Redding provided the bedrock (and the English accent!) on which Hendrix and Mitchell (and, it should be added, ex-Animal/producer Chas Chandler) built their two-and-a-half minute firecrackers and jazzy, pensive, dreamy ballads. "Smash Hits," issued at the start of Woodstock summer, really looks back on an earlier era, mostly 1966--67, the cultural turning point when pop was turning into rock and singles still mattered as much as albums. (When the earliest of these tracks were recorded the Beatles' newest was "Revolver," the Stones' was "Aftermath," the Who were primarily concerned with singles and Wilson Pickett was hitting with "Mustang Sally")
There would be numerous later compilations that covered the entire span of Hendrix's legacy more comprehensively (though why one would bother with any of them rather than the original albums is beyond me), but "Smash Hits" - the only anthology issued during Hendrix's lifetime - captures a real band exploding onto the scene, astonishingly tight and exciting. To sit down and really listen to it again on meticulously remastered disc (or 180-gram vinyl)is to hear classics fresh - and not in the background while playing on the radio or in tv commercials.
The original packaging deserves to be mentioned: to see the trio in faux-cowboy drag (posing with what now seem like such small guns!)is to be reminded of Bo Diddley's classic 1960 "Gunslinger" album. The trio appears to be playful, self-deprecatory, rather than indulging in macho posturing. The marvelous booklet, in addition to its superb track-annotation and repro of the original cover, adds newly recovered, rare photos from the same shoot and an alternative, unused cover design.

Along time ago, I heard of this guy Jimi Hendrix. Since the best way (usually) to get to know an artist's works is to buy their "greatest hits" compilations... or at least I believe so. So, back then, I bought this (in cassette form) and was so excited by his music, that my collection of Hendrix albums and CDs soon reached 3 digits (after years of collecting, it continues to expand). This is a perfect JHE starter. Are there better? Sure, but when you get down to it, this album/tape/CD lit a flame that still burns after over 15 years (just as his music still does after 35 years). I have my doubts that the musically curious wouldn't enjoy it as much as I. As for favorite CDs... there are so many. Just look around at used record stores and record conventions... your average collector knows what I mean. Its good for new and old fans... like one reviewer said, for the old fans, it brings back memories regardless... for the new, it will make memories.

Originally released in 1969, Jimi Hendrix Experience "Smash Hits" included the classics songs "Purple Haze", "Fire", "The Wind Cries Mary", "Can You See Me","Hey Joe", "All Along The Watchtower", "Stone Free","Crosstown Traffic", "Manic Depression", "Foxy Lady", "Red House" and "Remember". The sound quality is superb and the original artwork is included as well. Granted there are several other "Best Of" compilations which include more songs, but this is the "original" hits album. The legend of Jimi Hendrix lives on with each and every song on this cd, and I highly recommend this cd to not only classic rock lover's, but to all up and coming guitarist as well. Listen and enjoy.