Ok, four CD's and DVD from someone who was widely considered to be the greatest guitarist who ever walked the planet (not that I really believe in "greatest" anything when it comes to art and music), what's not to like?
This must be the Holy Grail. Yes? Everyone should run out and get this, right?
Well, yes and no.
First off let's talk about what this release isn't. Unlike say
How the West was Won by Led Zeppelin or
Agartha by Miles Davis this is emphatically
NOT a cohesive set of concert recordings or a fabled lost album that was never released because of an evil record company or backstabbing manager.
So if you are just a casual fan or have never heard Hendrix this release is simply
not for you-either because of the music released or the price (more on that later). Move on......
If you are still reading then you must be a hardcore Hendrix fan or an obsessive completist or some combination of the two.
If you are the the first type of person then this release could be nice to have but I'm not sure it's drop everything and go buy it now. It might depend on the price. It opened at $69 on Amazon and is now fluctuating between $47 and $53. The stripped down version can be had for between $13 and $20.
If you are the second type of person then obviously you will get it no matter what I write but at least pick it up used.
Ok, enough caution, what about the music?
Again that depends.
CD1This features Hendrix as a sideman to early and mix sixties Black American rock-n-roll/R&B stars. If you happen to like this sort of music (and I do) then you will enjoy hearing Hendrix play on cuts by Little Richard, The Isley Brothers, Don Covay, Rosa Lee Brooks, King Curtis and more. If on the other hand you don't know who The Contours were and aren't interested in the differences between The Rivingtons and the Five Du-Tones, this CD will mostly leave you cold. Standouts include an intense Hendrix solo on the Isley Brothers' "Have you ever been disappointed" that is reminiscent of Duane Allman's later similar solo on "Please lend me a dime" and Hendrix's riff on Ray Sharpe's "Help me Get the Feeling", which was later sold to Atlantic, scrubbed of Hendrix's guitar and reworked by Aretha Franklin into "Save Me".
ALL of this HAS been released before so YMMV. There is no a-ha Rosetta Stone moment here but you can hear how Hendrix's "one-man band" approach to guitar and his facility at playing in keys normally associated with horn or piano players came about.
CD2This CD focuses on Hendrix's early work with The Experience.
Just about everything on this CD has been released before in some form. These are alternate versions, Hendrix doing a song completely solo, and acoustic versions. Hendrix had a very heavy Dylan influence and this is seen in his amazing cover of "Tears of Rage", which almost makes this release worthwhile for it alone. Other good work includes a acoustic guitar rendition of "1983", "Little One" (not Little Wing) and a guitar/harmonica version of "Hear my Train A-coming".
CD3This CD covers the transition from the Experience to the Band of Gypsies or as I like to think of it from a frustrated guitarist trying and failing to play bass (Redding)
to an actual bassist (Cox).
This CD is all over the place musically. There is more unreleased stuff here. This includes "Hear my Freedom" with Lee Michaels on organ, live concerts with the Experience from the LA Forum, and incredible 20 minute fusion jam with Larry Young on organ (only an 8 minute edited version was released previously).
Unfortunately this also includes "Mastermind" with Hendrix buddy Larry Lee on rhythm guitar and lead vocals.
Sorry Mr.Lee but if I'm gonna call Redding out for being allergic to holding down the bottom, I have to take you to task for not being able to sing. At all. It's kind of important to be in the proper key and stay in tune. Yikes. This was the only cut that I stopped listening to and pressed next. He was that bad.
CD4This last CD is mostly Band of Gypsies and then the later reconstituted band with Cox and Mitchell and without Miles.
Again, most of what's heard here is alternate takes, extended concert versions, and out of nowhere a few songs that were never heard before which Hendrix was working on at the time of his passing. The CD also includes a long version of "Everlasting First", a song with Love frontman Arthur Lee on vocals. Standouts include "Suddenly November Morning", "Peter Gunn" and "All God's Children".
Final callIn print Jaime Hendrix (Hendrix's step sister) and the executor of his estate has said there's enough material in the vaults to release at least one CD every 12-18 months for the next decade. While I guess that's good for her bank account and future plans I sorta wish that they'd just release all the good stuff now. There's actually a live Band of Gypsies studio jam that I have on cassette tape (taped off radio) as well as a Experience concert in Germany that I was hoping would be on this release. Oh well.
So it is worth it?
To me yes, but I would advise others to please get it used/half price/quarter price-even if you are a Hendrix fanatic. If you're not,
don't spend your money on this.