Customer Reviews

West Coast Seattle Boy:The Jimi Hendrix Anthology (8LP Box)

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Over the past 20 years there have been releases of Jimi's work that in my opinion have been quite lacking either in quality, production and just seemed to be for the purpose of making $$ off of his memory. This release is QUITE different. I purchased the 180 gram LPs because as I must explain to youngsters, your ears are ANALOG!

Masterful. The production values are superb, the tracks aren't some BS junk that was recorded without any thought. Needless to say, I have been so impressed with how this release of Jimi's material has been handled.

Worth every penny and brings tears to the eyes of Jimi's fans because it has been far to long that we have been able to sit back and hear the master do what he did the best - music.

First, I really have to brag on Amazon. This was sent with the free shipping, yet I had it in my hands three days from the time I ordered it!

As for the LP box set itself, WOW! The packaging is beautiful, and well done. Details like plastic lined sleeves inside the covers of each album are a plus. The vinyl is whisper quiet, as good anything I have heard. $66, are you kidding?? The Dylan Mono box, also eight albums/180g is $167 on Amazon. The first LP and 1/2 give a good background of his early work while still developing his sound. The versions of his songs are fantastic. I agree with another reviewer in that I like them a little better than the album versions. This set is particularly good if you have read "Room Full of Mirrors", the Jimi Hendrix bio by Charles Cross, as this provides a great soundtrack to the book. Well, well worth the money.

Pristine sound, gorgeous packaging, and unbelievably cheap. If you love the warm sound of vinyl and you love Hendrix, you cannot go wrong...

Wow. Just... WOW! $67.13?! Are you serious? This is an insanely good deal for some previously unreleased Jimi Hendrix vinyl. And you get 8 LPS. Yes, 8 LPS! And each in it's own unique sleeve. It's been a lot of years since I opened up a brand new record and was hit with that fresh new mint vinyl smell! In this day and age of lossy MP3 downloads and sterile sounding CDs, it's quite refreshing to listen to good old fashioned rock and roll in STRAIGHT ANALOG. And there's nothing quite like dropping the needle on fresh new minty vinyl for the first time. The first LP focuses primarily on Jimi Hendrix early works in R&B and then transitions to his signature sound we're all mostly familiar with by the time you get to the second LP. The music on the entire collection is just incredible, but you don't need me to tell you that. This is Jimi in raw form, so all you need to do is block off a Saturday or Sunday morning, find a nice cozy chair, grab your headphones (if applicable) and a nice hot cup of your favorite beverage and just marinate on these recordings. Not since Bob Marley's Songs of Freedom have I been more impressed with a great collection of music. However, I want to focus more on the presentation of this collection, which is nothing short of phenomenal. All 8 LPs come in a nice sturdy quality smooth surface box, and as stated previously you'll get all 8 LPs in individual sleeves that are graced with amazing photos of the legend himself. The book that's included with the set is filled with loads of background information and more incredible photos of the West Coast Seattle Boy. If you're the kind of guy/ gal who likes to listen to music while reading the liner notes, you'll be more than satisfied with the book included in this set. Passive Hendrix fans will probably want a few tracks off this album and may opt to download individual MP3 files. Their loss. But it would be folly for any true hardcore Hendrix fan to not splurge on this incredible limited edition collection, especially at it's current price! I might just pick up an extra copy to keep mint just in case (God forbid) something terrible happens to my current one. You owe it to yourself as a Hendrix fan to treat yourself to this collection.

As someone who was never a die-hard Hendrix fan, I always respected him and recognized the greatness he brought to the world of music. With my recent purchase of a turntable, I was looking to expand my music and figured, why not take a chance on this 8 album box set. Wow, was it ever the right thing to do! Besides being a beautiful box set with a full-color 32-page liner note insert, you get to hear songs that nobody has ever heard (until now). While not every track is a home run (it really picks up in the 4th album and on) there are songs simply to die for. What you get when listening to this box set is a human being, Jimi Hendrix, sitting in the studio, going off into his own world and just playing his music. I'm not sure if it's the same with CD's but with the LP box set, you can just see Jimi sitting there on a stool, in the studio, getting into that "zone" and playing what comes from his heart. You are right there with him, listening to the music he is creating and experiencing it, first hand. The emotions an feelings that come through his music is just amazing. From this album, you know that Jimi Hendrix was a rare, talented person that only had a brief moment to shine, but shine like the sun he did and this box set confirms it.

What can one say other than this is Hendrix and it's on vinyl, there is NO substitute. Most people will already have a selection of tracks on this set, however, this collection contains some real beauties unavailable elsewhere. This is not just a "run-of-the-mill" set produced just to extract more money out of Hendrix fans, (although profit naturally does factor in) it is much more than that.

If you are a UK resident then purchase this set from amazon.com it's half the price and only take 4 days to ship from the States! Buy it, you will not regret it!

Forget how cheap this box set is. Ok, don't forget it, order it just because of the price. But even if it cost more it would be worth it. The sound quality is great, The songs are great, This is just a fun box set. The ONLY complaint I have is that the holes in my records were not punched very cleanly. I have had to take a knife and ream the flashing out from the holes in all 8 records, and the bad punch left the label on each side a bit torn, again on all 8 records. Annoying but I do not plan to stare at the records I plan to listen to them. Others may see this as an issue if they require absolutely pristine labels.

ALSO: The included book has information on each of the songs to provide context. HOWEVER the songs are NOT listed in the same order as they are played on the records, so you have to turn pages back and forth to find the information on each song.

This is an astounding value! It's some of the best vinyl quality, especially considering some of the source material. If you read the list of songs on the album and think it's just another ploy to get money from a dead artist - these are all DIFFERENT versions than those found on the released LPs. After listening to Hendrix's albums for so long, sometimes you forget that those were the takes that sounded the best, and that there was an incredible amount of improvisation and creativity in his songs. Live albums show this, but their audio is a mixed bag of quality (with the notable exception of the Winterland live album, which is getting released this September). Lay down the cash for this one, and think of Jimi as an incredible artist again, not just a t-shirt.