Customer Reviews

Voodoo Child: The Jimi Hendrix Collection

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Has any artist been more shoddily treated than Jimi Hendrix when it when it comes to posthumously released CDs? Fortunately with the formation of the production company Experience Hendrix by surviving relatives, Hendrix's releases have vastly improved from the days of LPs like Crash Landing and Midnight Lightning. This latest 2-CD release is another welcome addition to the Hendrix catalog, including both familiar studio versions of classic songs like "Purple Haze," "The Wind Cries Mary," and "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)," along with alternate takes like "All Along the Watchtower," "Highway Chile" and "Stone Free." The last two taken for last year's excellent Jimi Hendrix box set.

Which raises the issue, how much of this material will be new to the die-hard fan. The quick answer is, probably not much. Only one song is listed as "previously unreleased," the live version of "Foxey Lady" taken from a 1970 concert in Maui less than two months before Hendrix's untimely death at 27. Five tracks from the live disc are listed as "previously unavailable," including "Fire," "Hey Joe" (both from a 1968 Winterland concert), "Red House," "Freedom" (from an Isle of Wight concert) and a nearly eight-minute version of "Wild Thing" from 1967's Monterey Pop Festival. Except for the three tracks just mentioned, all of the live material comes from 1969 and 1970. While liner notes author Kurt Loder sees this period as an era of decline--"the group seemed alarmingly played out," he writes--these live tracks leave the listener with the question "What if...?" Unfortunately, that question will stay unanswered. The best we can hope for is the continued release of quality Hendrix material like this for the next generation to discover and enjoy. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Previously unreleased material ~ alternate takes ~ never before available ~ are some of the coming attractions to this 2-CD-Set collection ~ "VOODOO CHILD/THE JIMI HENDRIX COLLECTION" ~ packaging is first class quality.

Disc one is a studio recordings ~ featuring "Izabella" and "Stepping Stone" (original Band of Gypsys single version) ~ "Highway Chile", "All Along The Watchtower", "Spanish Castle Magic" and "Stone Free" (all alternate versions) ~ these bonus and alternate takes are priceless ~ sharing the God-given-talent of this legendary artist.

Disc two are the "live" performances ~ featuring "Foxey Lady" (never before released) ~ "Fire", "Hey Joe", "Red House", "Freedom", "Wild Thing" (all unavailable versions) ~ thanks to some knowledgeable people in the music business ~ still feel you've heard it all for the first ~ and you have.

A lot of credit goes to ~ Janie Hendrix & John McDermott (compilation producers) ~ Eddie Kramer (mixing/engineer) ~ George Marino (mastered) ~ MCA (Universal Music) and Experience Hendrix as we journey back to the "free soul" and "pure rock" of an artist/musician who made the difference ~ JIMI HENDRIX!

Total Time: Disc One 69:36 on 18 Tracks & Disc Two 76:58 on 12 Tracks...UTV Records 088 112 603 2...(2001)

Now, if you are a huge Jimi fan - and I am - please read the review before clicking the "not helpful" button.

First of all, the digipak packaging for this release is by far the worst I have seen. The manufacturer's plastic pegs wear down (they don't break) and eventually the discs won't stay on the spindles. The plastic just "feels" really really cheap - like it was vacu-formed. The booklet is glued into the packaging so even if you want to change the CD box, you can't. Experience Hendrix should have looked at the digipaks that Impulse used for their John Coltrane remasters or those used by ABKO for the Rolling Stones remastes. I cannot stress enough just how lousy this packaging is, perhaps the worst I've seen in all my years collecting CDs. Even the paper in the booklet feels flimsy. It's clear that they put this package together on the cheap like a KTEL or Ronco release.

Disc one has a good selection though if this is truly a best of collection aimed at a new generation of buyers, I don't know why the track selection includes alternate takes rather than the masters of some of Hendrix's better works like All Along the Watchtower and Spanish Castle Magic. Now, that said, I find them interesting but there is a reason they are alternate takes. Jimi was a perfectionist in the studio and these alternate takes don't represent his best work. So again, for that new generation of buyers that this package claims to be aimed at, this seems wrong headed to me.

Disc two has a great selection of Jimi live; however, I can't for the life of me understand why they are not presented in chronological sequence the way the studio stuff is. My only guess is that when you hear the stuff from late spring and summer of 1970 it is very clear that Jimi was tired of the rock star thing. His singing is really pretty terrible in these later tunes. His playing, though pretty wild is also very noisy and sloppy. Maybe it's out of sequence in order to diminish the impact of these sub-par (with respect to Jimi's other live work) performances? I used to have an Lp when I was a young man called 'In the West" that seemed a far better representation of Jimi's live work. Actually, the photo on the cover for this set looks very similar and might even be the same photo from "In the West" To be quite honest, I have not found another Hendrix live release that is anywhere close to as satisfying as "Band of Gypsys", one of the great live recordings of that era.

If you are interested in Jimi, what you really want to do is buy the remastered CDs in this order:

1. Are You Experienced
2. Axis Bold as Love
3. Electric Ladyland
4. Band of Gypsys (always bugs me that the plural of Gypsy is spelled incorrectly on this release!)
5. First Rays of the New Rising Sun
6. Live at Fillmore East with the Band of Gypsys (outtakes from BOG)
7. South Saturn Delta.
8. Live at the BBC

Then move on to some of the other stuff like Jimi Plays Berkley and Live at the Fillmore.

Personally, I believe this 2 disc set is a dis-service to this remarkably gifted artist's legacy but I've been listening to Jimi since 1969 so maybe I'm just not getting the marketing angle.

This is a great set to buy if you are just getting started on Hendrix music for one simple reason... it has a little bit of everything you will encounter once you begin to buy more of Jimi's albums. This is an excellent set because not only does it include some immortal hits, but it also has alternative takes that surface in Hendrix' catalog more often than any other artist (probably because Jimi was always coming up with a better version). Another plus is that disc 2 is completly live. I am a big fan of live music, wether you're actually there or if it's recorded, and of all the live recordings I have heard Jimi always dominates the top ten. The quality of Jimi's preformances must explain the plethora of live albums Experience Hendrix has published. All in all this is a great collection.

CD 1, Studio (69:15/76:05 UK min.):
1. Purple Haze - 2:50 (San Diego 05-24-1969, Stages and box set version)
2. Hey Joe - 3:30
3. The Wind Cries Mary - 3:20
4. Fire - 2:43
5. Highway Chile - 3:39 (stereo mix, box set version)
6. Are You Experienced? - 4:14
7. Burning Of The Midnight Lamp - 3:39
8. Little Wing - 2:24
9. All Along The Watchtower - 3:59 (Olympic mix, on South Saturn Delta)
10. Crosstown Traffic - 2:12
11. Voodoo Child (Slight Return) - 5:12
12. Spanish Castle Magic - 5:48 (studio rehearsal pre-02-18-1969, box set version)
13. Stone Free - 3:43 (re-recording 1969, box set version)
14. Izabella - 2:46 (single version 1970)
15. Stepping Stone - 4:07 (single version 1970)
16. Angel - 4:21
17. Dolly Dagger - 4:44
18. Hey Baby (New Rising Sun) - 6:04
19. Third Stone From The Sun - 6:52 (UK version only)

CD 2, Live (70:05 min.):
1. Fire - 3:33 (Winterland 10-12-1968, 1st show, on Concerts)
2. Hey Joe - 6:46 (Winterland 10-12-1968, 1st show, on Live In Winterland)
3. I Don't Live Today - 6:45 (LA Forum 04-26-1969, Lifelines and box set version)
4. Hear My Train A Comin' - 11:00 (Berkeley 1970)
5. Foxy Lady - 4:25 (Maui 07-30-1970 unreleased)
6. Machine Gun - 11:36 (Fillmore East 1970)
7. Johnny B Goode - 4:45 (Berkeley 1970)
8. Red House - 8:00 (Randalls Island, NY 07-17-1970, on Concerts and Variations on a Theme)
9. Freedom - 4:06 (Isle Of Wight 1970)
10. Purple Haze - 3:55 (San Diego 1969)
11. Star Spangled Banner - 3:43 (Woodstock 1969)
12. Wild Thing - 7:41 (Monterey 1967)

His family is looking to make a fortune from reselling and reselling the same music. If you have Jimi's first three albums you have all the music on Disc 1, if you purchased the Box set that came out last year you have most of the music on Disc 2, there are only about 2 or 3 new songs or different versions on this set and for $20+ its really not worth it. If they are going to put out new Hendrix music make sure it's nt available on some other CD. I love Hendrix and his music he IS the greatest musician, artist, guitarist of all time but I bet money he would not be happy with the way his so called step sister and extended family(not his father but cousins) are out here trying to resell his music to keep their pockets phat, he's probably rolling over in his grave. Jimi never cared about money just music it seems to be the other way around for his so called family.

Well one thing that can & cannot be said regarding the latest Jimi Hendrix offering Jimi Hendrix Voodoo Child -The Jimi Hendrix Collection (MCA/Experience Hendrix) is that... #1: The Hendrix estate is pulling every drop of blood and $ from both Jimi’s vaults and the fans pockets. #2: This new 2 CD collection is not all that bad and was worth the effort to get out and is worth the $ to pick up. Why? It is a good starting point for new Jimi fans because you got a lil’ bit of everything here spread out of 2 CD’s. CD #1 is the best of Hendrix in the studio, which houses 18 of his greatest tunes. 12 are in they’re original form 4 are alternate takes and you have you have the original Band Of Gypsys only single ever here "Stepping Stone/Izabella". CD #2 is all live recordings. Of the 12 tracks, only 6 have been previously issued, 5 are alternate tracks and there is 1 unreleased track. The 20-page booklet is well documented and includes a good number of rare photos. The CD’s are color pix discs of Jimi to top it off. As with all the recent Hendrix (MCA/Experience Hendrix) CD’s...The sound is awesome.

If you're reading this, no doubt you are looking for the best Hendrix album, whether to start out or "complete" your collection. I have seen several attempts to distill Jimi's musical legacy with varying degrees of success. This is the ONE, folks. Often with these compilations, something is ignored. Not this time. Hendrix's live work is featured quite well; The Star Spangled Banner was only the tip of the iceberg.
The studio disc has the usual standards (of course). A real treat, though, was the last tracks. I am very picky about my Hendrix records,and I don't want to get the same thing over again. But finding "hey baby/land of the rising sun", was interesting- very interesting. As I had not known it even existed in such a complete form, I had to get it.And the alternate takes of "spanish castle magic" and "all along the watchtower" didn't hurt either.
To sum up: new Hendrix fan: this is a good start. Old Hendrix fan: if you don't have this, what's taking you so long?
Now, if they could re-release the movie "Jimi Hendrix"...

This is the Best Album I have... I honestly mean that.

With Music in here to fuel all sorts of emotions...
And a Life Story booklet inside helps you feel what was behind the music.

Created by the production company formed of Hendrix's own surviving relatives, this album is aimed at giving the Gift of Hendrix to people like myself who was too young to experience him 1st hand, and also to re-live the obvoius power Hendrix's work included.

From Hey Joe to almost get you to tears, to Fire to get a good mood, to 3rd Stone From The Sun to expand your mind.

I honestly can say this is the Best Album I own(I'm listening to it as I type this.)
This Album, was created with so much care "took 5 years to make I belive" that it's almost like a gift from Hendrix himself.

When will they get off the dime and make a true Jimi Hendrix Anthology?98% of these songs can be found on any other Jimi Hendrix Greatest Hits type cd collection.Look,a true Jimi cd collection would include choice cuts from Electric Ladyland,such as Rainy Day,Dream Away,And The Gods Made Love,House Burning Down,cuts from Jimi Hendrix Blues{which Here My Train A-Coming done solo on 12 sting guitar was really first issued on the soundtrack to the film "Jimi"}.Will it take a 3 cd set to get it all,you bet,but this guy deserves a 3 cd set,and not just a box set of alternate takes and what not.This guy was and is still the rock guitar God that those in the know see him as.Lets show some respect,once and for all!