West Coast Seattle Boy: The Jimi Hendrix Anthology (4 CD/ 1 DVD Collectors Box) [Box set, Collector's Edition]

Jimi Hendrix | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 16, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2010
• Number of Discs: 5
• Format: Box set, Collector's Edition
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Sony Legacy
• ASIN: B003YDZV90
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #39,369 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. The Isley Brothers: Testify - Jimi Hendrix

2. Don Covay: Mercy, Mercy - Jimi Hendrix

3. Don Covay: Can t Stay Away - Jimi Hendrix

4. Rosa Lee Brooks: My Diary - Jimi Hendrix

5. Rosa Lee Brooks: Utee - Jimi Hendrix

See all 15 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Fire (previously unreleased alternate recording)

2. Are You Experienced? (previously unreleased recording)

3. May This Be Love (previously unreleased alternate recording)

4. Can You See Me (previously unreleased alternate recording)

5. The Wind Cries Mary

See all 18 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Hear My Freedom (previously unreleased recording)

2. Room Full Of Mirrors (previously unreleased recording)

3. Shame, Shame, Shame (previously unreleased recording)

4. Messenger (previously unreleased recording)

5. Hound Dog Blues(previously unreleased recording)

See all 13 tracks on this disc

Disc: 4

1. Stone Free [LIVE] (previously unreleased recording)

2. Burning Desire (previously unreleased recording)

3. Lonely Avenue (previously unreleased recording)

4. Everlasting First (previously unreleased alternate recording)

5. Freedom (previously unreleased recording)

See all 13 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

West Coast Seattle Boy - The Jimi Hendrix Anthology tracks Hendrix's remarkable journey from little known R&B sideman to international stardom through an unprecedented assemblage of previously unavailable recordings.

This long-awaited career-spanning box set is not a collection of existing Jimi Hendrix albums but instead 45 unreleased Jimi Hendrix live and studio recordings including demos and alternate versions of songs from Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold As Love, and Electric Ladyland. West Coast Seattle Boy includes Hendrix s never before heard version of Bob Dylan s Tears Of Rage, solo acoustic recordings of Electric Ladyland favorites like Long Hot Summer Night and 1983 (A Merman I Shall Turn To Be) as well as never before heard live performances from Berkeley and the legendary Band Of Gypsys Fillmore East concert on New Year s Eve 1969 combined together with }such new Hendrix songs as "Hear My Freedom," "Hound Dog Blues," "Lonely Avenue" and more.

The crown jewel of Legacy Recordings' monumental Jimi Hendrix catalog project, West Coast Seattle Boy - The Jimi Hendrix Anthology is the first Hendrix collection to bring fans access to a comprehensive treasure trove of previously unreleased recordings -- including demos, alternate takes, live concert jewels and more -- from all phases of the artist's recording career (1964 -1970).

West Coast Seattle Boy - The Jimi Hendrix Anthology offers the most complete collection of Jimi's pre-Experience R&B performances (including his singles with the Isley Brothers, Little Richard, Don Covay, King Curtis and more) to ever be officially anthologized while bringing together the most comprehensive and revelatory set of unreleased, fully realized songs, never before heard live performances, alternate studio takes, acoustic and electric demos and other rarities drawn from every chapter of Jimi Hendrix remarkable life and career.

West Coast Seattle Boy - The Jimi Hendrix Anthology includes the 90 minute DVD Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child, a new documentary directed by the Grammy award winning Bob Smeaton (Beatles Anthology, Festival Express, Beatles: The Studio Recordings). The acclaimed documentary tells Jimi's incredible story in his own words. The documentary features some of Jimi's greatest performances as well as rare and never before seen footage and photos. Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child also includes--for the first time ever examples from the Hendrix family archive of the late guitarist s personal drawings, postcards home to his father, song drafts, sketches, and lyrics. Jimi's interviews and private writings shed new insights within the extraordinary life and career of the greatest guitarist of all time.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

207 of 210 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars For Avid Fans November 18, 2010

By Philip A.Cohen VINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

If the bootleggers had released a set of this quality, fans would be raving about it, but as a mainstream commercial product, it's getting mixed reviews. Let's take this set in the spirit in which it was intended: as an official bootleg for completist Hendrix fans. This is not a place to start discovering Hendrix. If you're a young person new to Hendrix's music, start with the 4 albums released during his lifetime("Are You Experienced", "Axis:Bold As Love", "Electric Ladyland" & "Band of Gypsies"), then check out some of his live albums("Woodstock", "Monterey", "Winterland", "Berkeley"). Here's a rundown of what you get. I won't extensively analyze the "Disc One" of Hendrix's early recordings as a sessionman, since it's not my area of expertise. They're of variable sound & musical quality, some featuring Hendrix more prominently than others. The best tracks are "Testify" by The Isley Brothers and "My Diary" & "Utee", both by Rosa Lee Brooks.
Here's what you get on the remaining CD's:

Disc Two:
1.Fire(a new remix of the released recording. Longer and with a cold ending)
2.Are You Experienced?(an alternate backing track attempt. For fans only)
3.May This Be Love(new remix of the released recording, with a double-tracked vocal throughout)
4.Can You See Me?(an unreleased mono mix of the released recording. For all you Mono-maniacs)
5.The Wind Cries Mary(live in Stockholm 1967.Previously released on the 4-CD set "Stages")
6.Love or Confusion(new mix with alternate vocals)
7.Little One(original instrumental version by Hendrix[guitar & bass] Dave Mason(sitar) & Mitch Mitchell(drums). In 1987, Noel Redding created a modified version of this track, inserting his own bass playing and writing and recording a lyric, and the song became "There Ain't Nothing Wrong With That", released on "Noel Redding-The Experience Sessions". Fans will aprreciate hearing the original, undoctored instrumental, which had no Noel Redding involvement)
8.Mr Bad Luck(the first-ever stereo mix with the original 1967 bass & drums. The recent "Valleys of Neptune" Cd contained a stereo mix, but with 1987 re-recorded bass & drums)
9.Cat Talking to Me(the original instrumental version. Intended to be a vocal number for drummer Mitch Mitchell. In 1987, Mitchell wrote a lyric and sang it and re-recorded the drumming(for release as a vinyl B-side & download track in 2009), but here you get the undoctored instrumental)
10.Castles Made of Sand(an alternate backing track. For fans only)
11-16. Previously unreleased home recordings of "Tears of Rage","Hear My Train a-Comin', "1983(A Merman I Shall Turn to Be)", "Long Hot Summer Night", "My Friend" and "Angel"(experience Hendrix is seriously bending the truth to refer to this version of "Angel" as "previously unreleased", since it has long been available on the CD "Jimi By Himself:The Home Recordings",included with a book called "Voodoo Child:Jimi Hendrix The Illustrated Legend"
17.Calling All The Devil's Children(a popular bootleg track recorded at TTG Studios, but here running approximately 25 seconds shorter than bootleg releases)
18. New Rising Sun( a superb instrumental with Hendrix playing all instruments. Here it is presented at its' complete 7:24, versus the 3:21 edit heard on the deleted "Voodoo Soup" CD)

Disc Three:
1.Hear My Freedom(a track long offered by bootleggers, but here, for unknown reasons edited down from 7:25 to 5:23)
2.Room Full of Mirrors
3.Shame Shame Shame
(Tracks two and three, still with the 1987 re-recorded bass & drums, as on the bootleg "Studio Haze", but now presented as one continuous piece, and not separated into two separate tracks[via fade ups and fade-outs] as they had been on bootleg releases)
4.Messenger(a highly polished backing track recorded at TTG Studios, which had everything, except a lyric and vocal, which Hendrix never added)
5.Houng Dog Blues(a jam on the Elvis Presley hit, similar to, but longer than, the BBC attempt)
6.Untitled Basic Track(the title says it all)
7.Star Spangled Banner(Live at The L.A. Forum 1969. Original 1960's mix)
8.Purple Haze(Live at The L.A. Forum 1969. Original 1960's mix)
(the mixes for tracks 7 & 8 were created for an unreleased 1960's live abum. Otherwise, the same performances as on "Disc Four" of "Lifelines")
9.Hendrix/Young(the jam with organist Larry Young, now presented at 20:56 length, versus the 10"32 edit on "Nine to The Universe" or the 14:26 edit heard on bootleg releases. The liner notes stop short of claiming that this 20:56 version is complete.)
10.Mastermind(written and sung by rhythm guitarist Larry Lee, at studio sessions by the 6-piece "woodstock" line-up a few weeks after the Festival)
11.Message to Love(a 1970 Hendrix/Eddie Kramer mix with the song at its' full length. All later mixes(even ones by Eddie Kramer, such as on the "Purple Box" 4-CD set) are missing part of the second verse, thanks to producer Alan Douglas, who chopped out(and threw out) a section of the 16-track tape in 1975)
12.Fire(Band of Gypsies Fillmore East Dec.31,1969, 2nd Show)
13.Foxy Lady(Band of Gypsies,Fillmore East Dec.31,1969,2nd show)
(tracks 12 & 13 have incendiary soloing by Hendrix!)

Disc Four:
1.Stone Free(Band of Gypsies,Fillmore East,Dec.31,1969,2nd Show. another superb performances)
(incidentally, Experience Hendrix now have quality tapes for these Band of Gypsies tracks and they are newly mixed)
2.Burning Desire(a backing track attempt, different from, but similar to, the attempt heard on the mail-order "Burning Desire" CD)
3.Lonely Avenue(Hendrix & Buddy Miles & a percussionist, but no bassist, in a track which has appeared on bootlegs)
4.The Everlasting First(By the group "Love", with Hendrix playing as a sessionman. a new mix, presenting the song at a longer length than what was previously heard)
5.Freedom(an alternate backing track. For Fans only.)
6.Peter Gunn/Catastrophe(a filler track when it was released on 1972's "War Heroes" album. It still is filler, now presented in a newly remixed unedited version. Hendrix would have been appalled at the idea of this being released)
7. In From The Storm(an early mix made while Hendrix was still alive. It differs significantly from the posthumous mix released on "The Cry of Love" & "The First Rays of The New Rising Sun")
8.All God's Children(a rough and rambling backing track attempt. No doubt, Hendrix would have started all over again, and not built on this take if he had lived longer)
9.Red House(Live at Berkeley, 1st Show. Why dish up the first set one track at a time? Why not a release of the whole first show?)
10.Bolero
11.Hey Baby(New Rising Sun)
(When "Hey Baby" was presented on the posthumous "Rainbow Bridge" album, we were hearing only the second half of the recording. The widely bootlegged, but never officially released "Bolero" was the first half of the recording. Now the two tracks are presented, newly remixed, as a continuous piece)
12.Suddenly November Morning(from a home songwriting tape commonly refered to as "Black Gold". This is a very roughly performed acoustic songwriting tape and the song has some ideas later incorporated into "Drifting")

I hope that this info helps you to make a decision. I'm a Hendrix fan(having seen him play in 1967 when I was 11). I can't get enough Hendrix, and if you feel the same way, then this box set is for you

56 of 64 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars GOOD OVERVIEW OF HENDRIX-BUT NOT MUCH NEW MUSIC November 16, 2010

By Stuart Jefferson TOP 100 REVIEWER

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

Four audio discs-45,71,71,73 minutes each approximately. The DVD is approximately 90 minutes. The sound overall is very good to excellent, depending on the recording source. The attached 54 page booklet has many color and b&w photographs of Hendrix in the studio and on stage. The entire booklet is taken up with track by track information that helps put this music in a better perspective. The discs are snapped in, inside a folding long box of substantial cardboard,and the DVD slips into a paper sleeve by itself.

As even casual fans know, there have been more posthumous Hendrix releases (most of them strictly money making product to cash in on the Hendrix name), than when he was alive. Without a doubt these money spinners left something to be desired, and the same could be said for this new collection. But this set is different because it lays out Hendrix' music from his professional beginnings (1964), through to his incendiary playing (into 1970) with his own sidemen. And with no "new" Hendrix material (the "Black Gold" stuff, the complete Chas Chandler tapes, the Stephen Stills/Johnny Winter/Hendrix tracks, or maybe all the jams with jazz organist Larry Young for instance) being released, the majority of tracks in this set have been heard in different form, on previous live or studio releases. Because of overly familiar material, this set is closer to a 3 1/2 star rating. But on these discs are many scorching performances that haven't been in widespread (legal) release before. The 90 minute DVD adds depth, with Hendrix' life in and out of music. By using not only his music, but personal effects belonging to Hendrix, and his own words (but not his voice), you get some sense of who he was and what he became.

While the collector might groan at the track listing, many others (like me) will find that Hendrix magic throughout these discs. Besides, this is the first collection that traces Hendrix' beginnings as he climbs from sideman to white hot revolutionary electric guitar player, all in one nice, neat box set. But be forewarned, there's a number of fairly weak tracks throughout this set-you have to pick and choose. As Hendrix redefined the electric guitar he continued to refine his own sound, which is evident as you listen to the music on these discs. I suppose you could look at this set as an "unreleased" history of Jimi Hendrix. And that's fine-the more good Hendrix material in his prime the better. But I too, am getting a bit tired of the same tracks more or less, being regurgitated.

On the first disc, beginning with Hendrix as sideman in groups for soul/r&b artists like The Isley Brothers, Don Covay, Little Richard, The Icemen, and others, you begin to hear Hendrix formulating his own sound and approach to the guitar. On the bandstand night after night, or in the studio, Hendrix absorbed everything he heard, and began adapting and incorporating those sounds with his own ideas to forge his own style. And that style sometimes led to him being fired for stealing the limelight from the artist he was backing.

Tracks like "Testify", "Mercy, Mercy", "Move Over and Let Me Drive", and "(My Girl) She's a Fox", are good examples of Hendrix stepping out while still trying to contain his playing in deference to the "name" artist he was backing. The first disc of his early playing is just a sampler of Hendrix before he revolutionized guitar playing. There's many more tracks of Hendrix as sideman still locked away somewhere that haven't seen the light of day for many years, if at all. For instance, I own the Capitol Records vinyl album titled "Get That Feeling Jimi Hendrix Plays and Curtis Knight Sings", which is of course a Curtis Knight album with Hendrix backing him. But you wouldn't know it from the cover-a full color photo of Hendrix in concert, and on the corner, "File Under Jimi Hendrix". Even back then the record companies were shameless in their marketing ploys. But it proves my point about unreleased music that could have been used to fill up a CD.

The remaining discs, through unreleased live, studio, and home recordings, place Hendrix in the spotlight. Yes,as always, there's a number of familiar songs. But taken together this music paints a good overview of Hendrix' short career as an innovator on the guitar. From early stereo ("Fire") and mono ("Can You See Me?") mixes, live tracks ("The Wind Cries Mary", "Purple Haze", "Star Spangled Banner", a tough "Red House" as examples), we hear Hendrix in all his ear-shredding glory. Alternate songs ("Love Or Confusion", "Castles Made of Sand", "In From the Storm"), and promising songs ("Freedom", "Lonely Avenue", "Burning Desire" among others), coupled with home recordings ("Tears of Rage"), all show Hendrix continuing to forge his sound into something new and unique-always searching, never content to remain static.

Personal favorites like "The Everlasting First" (here titled "Everlasting First") with Arthur Lee and LOVE, is heard in a longer, complete (though alternate) recording. Likewise, the finished song "Mr. Bad Luck" is seeing the light of day. As is "Cat Talking To Me", from around the time of Hendrix' second album.

This is the first time a true attempt has been made to present Jimi Hendrix' music from his early sideman days, through his few years as an innovator on the electric guitar. But Janie Hendrix/Sony missed a great opportunity to release some new music-and they're sitting on quite a bit of it. Hopefully more releases will be coming in the near future, with some of the many unreleased live and studio tracks that are known to exist-many in good sound. While the albums released in his lifetime, with his approval, are still the best way to hear his genius, collectors aside, this collection can't really sit alongside those first few albums-it's good-if you like familiar tunes.

99 of 119 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars I Expected More - Could Have Been Much Better November 16, 2010

By Josephine

Format:Audio CD

Sorry guys, I wanted to write a glowing review of this new collection. I've been listening to it all evening. It's good, but nothing like I expected or what it could have been.

I am a sucker for Hendrix material. I will buy anything - like this box set. It is an anthology of his career from the earliest beginnings to the very end. There are a few gems on here, and a lot of songs of lesser quality. I am still glad I bought it, but I'm a Jimi addict. I'll buy anything with his name on it. If you are a long time collector then you probably already have most of the material in this set and I know the boots are almost as good sound quality as these discs.

1) the DVD is Jimi in his own words - I've taped it twice on television. No extra material - 90 min of documentary. I wish they had filled up the DVD with concert footage. There is plenty of it. This documentary is excellent, but no reason to buy the box set. It's on cable a couple of times a month.

However, the documentary itself, Jimi in His Own Words is excellent. Easily the best doc on Jimi in a long time. It's all his own words and you get a deeper insight into the man he was. Also has many rare photos of young Jimi when he was a kid.

2) Disc 1 - the biggest disappointment - Jimi's early years. It's only 45 min long. Discs of early Jimi have been circulating on the net for years - and the sound quality almost as good as these new discs. Why only 45 min? There is lots more material. Why not include Curtis Knight or Lonnie Youngblood? Those showed him playing much more than the cuts on this disc.

You really don't hear much of Hendrix's guitar on these rhythm and blues tracks. They could have EASILY filled up the other 35 blank min of this disc just as other underground Early Jimi discs have. WHY???? I am really puzzled and pizzt.

3) Discs 2 & 3 - most of these are alternate recordings of his hits. It seems like many of the recent Hendrix releases have contained alternative mixes of these same songs. Yes, he often did 20 takes or more of a song. How many of them do we have to hear spread out among bunches of discs? The same songs over and over with slightly different versions. It's getting boring.

There are a few good acoustic cuts, which begs the question of why no official release of just Jimi Alone on solo guitar? Plenty of material exists, I've made a full cd of his acoustic and solo electric playing. Why can't they?

Why did we need 3 more songs from the Band of Gypsys New Year's concert? The first album was magical - but the two disc Live at the Filmore showed how new the band was and how unrehearsed many of the songs were. These three tunes did not make the cut on the first 3 cds of Filmore music so why did they make it here?

There are many concerts that deserve to be released - like official cds of Royal Albert Hall and Maui's Rainbow Bridge concert. I don't understand how these tunes (and Red House from Berkeley) were chosen over other, and most collectors think better, songs from other concerts.

4) disc 4 - I like some of these late in his life gems but they can best be described as "bottom fishing". Several of these are just riffs and practice sessions from home. Some of these were selected because their version was the "last time" Hendrix personally touched the tapes. The songs were later completed by Mitch or Noel and Eddie Kramer, but these mixes were the very last time Hendrix worked on them.

Overall, there are just enough gems to get most collectors to fork over the sixty bucks for this box set. I got it simply because as a Hendrix Addict I HAD TO HAVE IT. But, I won't recommend it to any but the most hard core Hendrix collector. It's not for the new listener, IMHO.

As I write this I realize that I won't be happy until the Hendrix estate puts up a large website with songs we can download for 99 cents. I would download different takes of my favorite songs and full concerts that are hard to find. This dribbling out of "alternate takes" and mixes is getting old. I would probably buy much more in downloads. I would love to burn up my credit line downloading rare songs from an authorized Hendrix site. (Janie, are you listening??)