Yesterday I heard this guy in my class saying: 'What's so great about him? His music is just jazz, funk,... all in one!' Off course I was shocked that he knew Prince but then he got on with his story and it turned out that he was talking about Jimi Hendrix.
I've never had the urge to listen to Jimi so tell me what you think about him.

have a look at my avatar thats the original Electric ladyland cover you're classmate obviously doesnt know about Jimi

Eline said:

If u haven't had the urge to ever listen to the greatest and most innovative guitarist that ever lived by now, well....Look, you'll find there are MANY of folks on here that are HUGE fans of Hendrix, me being one of them, that will praise and rave about Jimi till the cows come home, u dig? U yourself have to have the ears to WANT to listen to Jimi. There's nothing any of us could say that you yourself haven't already heard said about Hendrix. I'm sure u have already read and heard praise about the man as a guitarist, songwriter, and performer.

let's put it this way. Jimi released three studio albums, each of which I'd rank beside anything the Beatles, the Stones or anybody else ever did. Yes his music is a mixture of rock, funk and jazz but it's more than that too. Little known fact, Jimi played piano, harpsichord, bass, and even flute at one point over the course of his albums as well as guitar, and he played drums on the demo versions of his songs (plus he often played lead and rhythm guitar at the same time).

Almost don't know where to start.

Echoing what's already been said here, if you've got about an hour to kill, you might want to read a post I did here...

http://www.prince.org/msg/8/132518

...for my insight on the subject.


"But first...Are You Experienced?"

tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

Those are good points..Jimi played organ,harpsichord,bass,and plastic comb w/ tissue all over "Electric Ladyland". Hendrix is an acquired taste. I know folks that love Zeppelin and Cream, but don't like Jimi.(???) Some folks think Jimi was just about drugs and making noise out of his guitar. George Clinton said it the best; "Jimi used electric noise and took it to church". He had so many moods and vibes in his music and was striving to improve on the guitar all the time. Jimi to me for music was what Jackie Robinson was to baseball. I guess a good place to start w/ Jimi would be the 1st 3 LP's and then "Band Of Gypsys"(my fave). Speaking of the "Gypsys", did anyone hear that ex drummer Buddy Miles is suing the Hendrix estate for unpaid royalties on songs?

SPYZFAN1 said:

Didn't know that this was still going on.

An interesting take on Buddy Miles from a 2001 Eddie Kramer interview...

"We worked very closely on remixing the Band of Gypsys, and he was of two minds about that.
He loved Buddy Miles, but at the same time Buddy tried to grab center stage which was a no-no."


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

jacktheimprovident said:

I didn't know that. I always wondered how he composed all of those songs if all he did was play the guitar. I always suspected that he had some proficiency with other instruments.

The music on Jimi's albums are all top-notch but what sucked me in big-time were his lyrics. As much praise as he gets-- and deservedly so-- he is still underrated and overlooked. Until you listen to Jimi you've got a huge gap in your working knowledge of modern music-- and you're missing out on some great songs/albums.

Nothing else can be said about Jimi
except for, GO GET THE ALBUMS/CD's!!!!!
The music will speak for itself...
Afterwards, get some of his performances
on DVD.....
[Edited 5/5/05 0:20am]

Audience, That Eddie Kramer comment is classic!! There was a comment made by Ermetta Marks (Jimi's background singer on the "Alan Douglas recordings")that Buddy really tried to use Jimi's spotlight as a vehicle for his own stardom. Jimi asked her to sing live on "Message Of Love" during the "B.O.G" recordings, but Buddy wasn't trying to hear it. He wanted to do all of the backgrounds. She said she was repulsed by Buddy and never did the recordings. (lol) If you read the liner notes in "Voodoo Soup", she goes more in details about it.

funkpill said:

I ditto what Funk has said. Jimi was bad guitarist and sexy as hell. I grew up listening to Jimi Hendrix and my mom had me watch perform during the Woodstock Concert, and Montreux Jazz Festival and I have been hooked ever since.

It's all been said here. They even got the comb in. It will probably take the long overdue Hendrix movie to turn the masses onto him. Hope it's done right.

Oh yeah, no one mentioned how good he looks on a tee. That's high-fashion.

drummer/producer Narada Michael Walden once summed up Jimi's importance to him like this: "Jimi---the man could actually play feedback musically--- the fact that he could even take raw noise and shape it into something beautiful...."







...
[Edited 5/4/05 21:00pm]

Listen to Jimi's instrumental "Pali Gap". The sounds are just sick!

anon said:

there is one already its crap really really crap

Raine said:

Is there?
When was this done?
I knew they were making one with that 2000 guy. He might have worked (I remember hoping that he'd pull a Mos Def and surprise everyone with the acting ability). But then I saw who would be making it and I lost all interest. I doubt they would even get the whole Carnaby Street thing. Saw it ending up as more a caricature of Jimi. But I heard that that fell thru. So what's the film you're speaking of?

anon said:

http://play.com/play247.a...g=72&pa=sr

i watched it out of curiosity is the worst thing i have ever seen
DO NOT BUY THIS FILM

Yeah this movie was rough. How did Showtime think they were going to pull this movie off w/out even using Jimi's music? Janie Hendrix holds all the cards. She will not release the rights to the music, and that's what held off the Andre 3000/Hughes Bros. movie.

SPYZFAN1 said:

Exactly. From what I heard, the Hendrix Estate wanted a more qualified musician to play Jimi's part instead Andre that's why she refused to release the rights and that's understandable.

Okay, I have to admit he's good. And to say I never really liked electric guitars.
But how many albums did he actually make? Like in the studio? Because it's not that clear on the net.

Eline said:

In his lifetime, he released Three studio albums (Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold As Love, and Electric Ladyland), one live album (Band Of Gypsies), and a hits album (Smash Hits) with tracks that weren't previously released in the US--- at the time of his death , he was working on a fourth, to be called First Rays Of The New Rising Sun, and he also had hundreds of studio and live tracks in various stages of completion. Since his death, the tracks for "First Rays" (initially under control of Alan Douglas) have been shuffled, coupled with other tracks, different takes, and in some cases altered with different musicians, released and rerealeased again, under different names: Cry Of Love, Rainbow Bridge, Crash Landing and War Heroes , 70's releases, included tracks from the sessions as well as other unfinished songs; they were later compiled and released in the early 90's as Voodoo Soup(There have also been countless bootleg recordings, some ironically with better sound and track choices than the so-called "Official" versions)...
more recently the Hendrix Estate released the tracks on two Cds: South Saturn Delta(1997), and arguably the closest to what Jimi might have intended was released under the original title, "First Rays Of The New Rising Sun"(1997)...

I'm not even sure where to start regarding all of the live stuff that's been released since his death, but there's his live Monterey concert of '67, Woodstockconcert(1970)(it's been released twice officially, and many times of times on bootleg), and the Band Of Gypsies dates (New Years Eve '69 -more recently released as Live at the Fimore East) are a few to check out, if you're interested...




...
[Edited 5/5/05 10:04am]

Eline said:

Are you stupid, the first guy who responded to your ass told you he released 3 studio alnums. I hate people who can't comprehend....okay, okay I guess I'm a lil' irked that someone actually could say they never had the urge to listen to Hendrix so this old thread has me in a bad mood already. I apologize for the stupid comment.

Spy, Raine, thanks for movie info. I'll be sure not to see it. Good thing is that there's so much good Jimi footage out there.

Eline, why don't you pick up a tape/DVD. Jimi is also an incredible visual experience.

paligap said:

Way to lay it out

Hendrix - The Albums...



Now here's where the trouble starts. This was the 1st posthumous release...



...The Cry of Love. I like this record regardless of what anybody says.

To establish a firm footing, the above (maybe adding a few of the cuts from Rainbow Bridge) are the ones that I consider essential listening.

anon made a good point concerning the visual aspect of his early career.
For that,



...Jimi Plays Monterey (VHS) is the way to go.

If you prefer something on DVD, then you have to go whole hog and get The Complete Monterey Pop Festival


The other A/V examples would be a more subdued and musically focused Hendrix in...



...Jimi Hendrix - Live at Woodstock (DVD)

and



...Jimi Hendrix - Band of Gypsys (Live at the Fillmore East)


Another interesting view is...



...Classic Albums - Jimi Hendrix: Electric Ladyland
This is a documentary on the making of the Electric Ladyland record.



tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

theAudience said:[

...The Cry of Love. I like this record regardless of what anybody says.

To establish a firm footing, the above (maybe adding a few of the cuts from Rainbow Bridge) are the ones that I consider essential listening.



lol why dont u just say "Wiz clowns me for Likin this alan douglas fiasco"

TheRealFiness said:

"They don't know..."


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

theAudience said:

betta believe it.. oh man u gotta see the "axis bold as love" shirt i got..

TheRealFiness said:

Gimme some slack.
My main man had left me for the next one...and I was late!
I was , my spirit was wounded. I latched onto the next thing smokin'...The Cry of Love.

Do you hyeah me?

And for the record, The Cry of Love was an Eddie Kramer/Mitch Mitchell project.
Alan Douglas didn't start his "drek of the month" releases (Crash Landing, Midnight Lightning, etc) until the mid-70s.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

TheRealFiness said:

This...




...one?



tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

I liked Cry Of Love And Rainbow Bridge .....