JIMI
HENDRIX
- RAINBOW BRIDGE, BAGGY'S REHEARSALS, MORNING SYMPHONIES, LIVE AT
OAKLAND COLISEUM, PARIS/FILLMORE WEST. |
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I
think Phil K. Dick and Jimi Hendrix are the two most prolific
dead artists I enjoy. In Hendrix's short career he release three
studio albums. His best selling album was the Band Of Gypsies,
a live album recorded to fulfill a contractual obligation for
a piece of paper he signed in 1965. Shortly after his death in
1970 two albums made up of material he was working on for what
would have been his fourth studio album, his first since the 1968
release of Electric Ladyland. Both Rainbow Bridge and Cry
Of Love had some outstanding songs, and only confirmed that
Jimi Hendrix was set to launch a new musical direction.
Things
went seriously wrong after that. War Heroes and Loose
Ends, which was never released in the US were only mildly
interesting bits from the vaults and didn't contain any new revelations.
Even worse were the two albums assembled by Alan Douglas, which
added new overdubs to existing tracks. Crash Landing and
Midnight Lightning can only be described as the worst sort
of exploitation. To make matters worse, Douglas showed now respect
for the original tapes, and erased some of the original performances.
After
this, there was a series of live albums, some very good, and some
again tampered with by Alan Douglas. MCA ended up with the rights
to the catalog, and made a few feeble attempts to get things on
the right track. A long series of lawsuits followed, before the
rights to "all" of Jimi Hendrix's material were returned
to his family. The original albums were remastered by Eddie Kramer
and a new series of well considered archive releases has begun.
Through
the Official Jimi Hendrix
Web Site there is now a "bootleg" label, Dagger
Records releasing some of the most interesting vault discoveries
yet. Five of the six cds under examination come from this sanctioned
outlet.
The
first two releases in this series were bootleg audience recordings.
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Live
At Oakland Coliseum
The first release is a full length recording of Hendrix's Oakland
Coliseum concert from Spring 1969. The sound isn't half
bad, recorded on a portable reel to reel deck. It's classic
vintage bootleg sound, from the same venue as the Stones Liver
Than You'll Ever Be. The playing is very good, and Hendrix
seems to be in fine form. Jack Cassidy joins the Experience
on stage for the finale of Voodoo Chile (Slight Return). The
field recording gives no indication of his low note rumblings.
If you are a serious bootleg collector, you'll love this one,
just for the thrill of knowing a taper got his recording released.
Live
At Clark University from March 1968 is a short set with
interviews from the same night added to the disc. One of the
best of these tracks, Fire has also appeared as part of the
Hendrix (the purple velvet) Box.
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The
Baggy's Rehearsal Sessions
Things get considerably more interesting with The Baggy's
Rehearsal Sessions. This is compiled from rehearsals for the
Band Of Gypsies gigs recorded to a two track machine. The sound
a wonderful, but it's the performances that excel. The concert
recordings have been remastered, and the expanded Fillmore
East double cd adds to this. Unfortunately, Microsoft mogul,
Paul Allen owns the multi tracks masters, and didn't see fit to
share them for this release, so the album is a compilation of
rough mixes done by Kramer shortly after the concert. Nothing
wrong there, and you get the a generous helping of the two nights
that were recorded. This expanded version shows how the original
album distilled from these tapes show the band off at their best.
Buddy Miles may be a great R'n B drummer but he has none of the
fluid dexterity that Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell brought
to the table. On the other hand, the Baggy's tapes show
Hendrix, Miles, and Billy Cox running through a large portion
of the set in a beautiful relaxed manner that often surpasses
the live recordings. There is no Machine Gun, or the older hits,
it's the newer material played with care and feeling. Essential
for any fan.
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Live
In Ottawa
This recording
has been on the trading circuit for a long time, but of course
this sounds much better, benefiting from a remaster job by Eddie
Kramer. The early 1968 North American Tour is one of the best
periods for live recordings. Any tidbit is appreciated. The liner
notes suggest that this show was recorded by Hendrix himself,
or at his request. It's not a pro job, but it very good. Hendrix
is in a humorous and the band plays particularly well.
The
set contains two gems worth the price of admission. They open
this, the second show of the night with a rousing version of Killing
Floor, and follow that with nearly eleven minutes of Tax Free.
Almost all of the 8.1 songs are given extended treatments. Wild
Thing just gets started when the tape runs out. Again well worth
seeking out.
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Morning
Symphony Ideas
This one is a different kettle of fish entirely. Rather
than proper songs, this is a collection of sketches, albeit long
ones, of ideas for future use. Either the lest interesting of the
lot, or maybe the best, as it's the only one that completely breaks
away from the familiar song list. Four of these six songs are just
Jimi unloading ideas with Buddy Miles keeping time. Billy Cox joins
in on one. The last two are solo efforts. The "Acoustic Demo"
is a snippet of one of Jimi's home recordings. A few of these have
surfaced are a real treat. Hearing Hendrix at his most relaxed,
out side the confines of the studio and just playing for himself.
Probably for serious fans only
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Paris
1967/ San Francisco 1968
In
1966 The Jimi Hendrix Experience went to France just after forming
to open for Johnny Halliday. Two songs from these early days did
surface on the Experience Box Set. Those show the band already
a serious fighting unit. It would be great to hear some of the
other R'nB covers they were performing at the time like Midnight
Hour. The essential, yet out of print Stages Box included yet
another Paris live session recorded just days before the
Fillmore gig that makes up the second half of this disc. The October
Olympia show has no real surprises, just some great playing. Two
more songs from this night can be found on the Experience Box.
The
Fillmore Show is in fact the last night of a four night stand
in San Francisco. It seems to be one of the tapes from Bill Grahams
recording set up, off the board. It's not nearly complete. The
band seems to be winding down from the long weekend, and don't
reached the height achieved over the previous three nights. Catfish
Blues showed up for the second time in the set list this night, but this is probably the only night that they played Mr Fantasy.
Buddy Miles takes over the drum stool for this loose instrumental
take. A tantalizing taste of a historical weekend.
Having
seen the Friday night's show, I can only say it's a shame that
the whole weekend wasn't recorded. The two sets I saw included
three unreleased nubers: Driving South, Catfish Blues, and Can
You Please Crawl Out Your Window! My friends who went on Saturday
were treated to a screaming version of Sgt Pepper's. Oh well,
I have my memories. |
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The
Rainbow Bridge Concert
Rather
than appearing on the Dagger label, this slightly mysterious release
is on the English Purple Haze label. Tapes of these shows have
circulated for years, but these seem to come from multi tracks.
The sound is very good, but it's hard to say who's responsible.
There is little in the way of documentation. This double cds set
was advertised in major UK monthlies, but it's legality has never
been confirmed. I've actually only seen the one copy that I own,
and a single disc vinyl version.
What
ever the case, it's a stunning set, Hendrix is playing for a few
hundred people and playing very well. If you've seen the film
footage you know the circumstances. The two sets draw primarily
from material that was new at the time. The early show features
four familiar tracks, three from Are You Experienced and one from
Lady Land. The second second set is much looser, with Red House
being the only familiar title. The songs flow together with little
chat between. An incredible document, and one worth owning.
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PINK
FLOYD
-OBSCURED BY CLOUDS
Any
discussion of Pink Floyd usually begin with the clear distinction between
the Syd Barrett era and the rest of the band's career. Then there is
the whole matter of Dark Side Of The Moon. This monolithic concept album
is both one of the biggest selling albums in the universe and one that
is often harshly criticized. The Floyds haven't helped their cause by
becoming pompous fat rich rock stars.
Me,
I do OK until the Wall which does have a few good songs, but is sunk
by Roger Waters incessant whining about his childhood. The Last Cut,
which began as the soundtrack to the Wall film is possibly the worst
album recorded by a band I like.
So
why Obscured By Clouds? This soundtrack to the film La Vallee is a near
perfect distillation of the Pink Floyd sound of the 70's. After Barrett
left the band, they bounced back with the wonderful Saucerful Of Secrets
and their first movie music effort More. The next three albums found
them looking for a new way to present their music. Ummagumma the half
live, half self-indulgent solo efforts, isn't half bad, but it's the
live tracks that do the heavy lifting. Atom Heart Mother and Meddle
are two variations on the same format. A side long "epic"
and a handful of shorter tracks on the flip. The ambitious Atom Heart
was a near miss, while Echoes on the Meddle album became an FM Radio
classic.
For
Obscured, they returned to the straight song format for the first time
in a long while. In retrospect I see it as Dark Side without the concept
or the links. The songs and music stand up on their own in a way DSOTM
doesn't always. Part of it's success lies in the song writing credits.
David Gilmour and Richard Wright both make major contributions alone
and in various combinations. This would be the last album not dominated
by Rog Waters and his "big themes".
I
always felt that this album had some of the down to earth sounds of
contemporaries like Van Morrison. The music is just a simple four piece,
recorded with a stark dry ambiance. Songs like Stay and Gilmour's Childhood's
End are some of the best things they ever wrote. The four instrumental
tracks a equally as engaging. It's all piano, Hammond, and perfectly
understated guitar sounds.
When
we interviewed Dave Gilmour in 1977, I asked him why they only played
the title track live a few times, and none of the others. He shrugged
and said "Richard didn't want to play it". I suppose by the
time it came out, they were already touring with the early version of
Dark Side, which was called Eclipse at one point. Songs from Meddle
took up the rest of the set list. I guess they were more concerned about
the work in progress when they toured in 1973.
Recently
when Deniz and Jim Dickson were in town, the conversation turned to
Dark Side. I mentioned to Ron Craighead that I had a Quad copy of DSOTM,
which I eventually spun for the post dinner crowd. Everyone told an
anecdote about the album, including Deniz. He said while he'd heard
some of the songs, he'd never listened to the whole album in one sitting.
He also mentioned that Obscured By Clouds was one of his favorite records,
and asked if I knew it. Since it's release I've had a Capitol Records
cassette of it that is almost always in my car cassette box. It seems
to be the perfect soundtrack to any trip, especially cross the wide
open spaces of Montana.
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 THE
ACTION
-ROLLED GOLD
In the
late sixties as we were trying to track down records by all the UK bands
we were hearing about, one group managed to elude us, The Action. I
read about them and their plans for recording an album. There was even
a competition to design the album cover.
I had never
heard the Action until Andrew Lauder assembled all the Ultimate Action
Anthology in 1980. Ten years earlier, a friend had turned up a copy
of an album by a band called Mighty Baby. This was a major revelation.
Mighty
Baby were the band the Action had evolved into with the addition of
Ian Whitman and later Martin Stone. I'd known of Martin Stone from his
participation on the first Savoy Brown album. Mighty Baby were heavily
influenced by the west coast guitar bands of the era. The album had
been produced by Guy Stevens and released on the Chess subsidiary Head
Records. It seems Head had folded even before the album was released.
Eventually a few remaindered copies showed up in the bins, but it had
come and gone with no notice at all.
I suppose we had hoped the Action sounded like the Who. I don't know
why, maybe because weâd lumped them in with names like the Creation.
In some ways I suppose they did remind me of the Who or maybe the Move
if either were playing pretty straight Motown Sounds. There were no
screaming feed back guitars, just great singing and a great groove.
In the
mid '80s another bit of Action appeared on a five song mini LP called
Action Speaks Louder. The five songs originate from a period in 1968
when the Action was transforming itself into something much different.
These five sides are all very good, but don't really have the charm
of the Action's singles or the confidence of the best work of Mighty
Baby. These were eventually added to the Might Baby album when it was
released on cd. More recently an album worth of demos also recorded
in 1968 were released as Rolled Gold. Ric Menck from the American band
Velvet Crush has now released it in the States on his own Reaction Label.
These 14 songs are a whole different matter.
This truly
can be called a lost classic. It might be correct to refer to the band
that recorded these songs as Mighty Baby with Reg King on vocals. Reg
King was apparently one of the great singers of the era. This record
supports that theory. The songs on Rolled Gold hint at the complex sounds
the Beatles were making at the time, but there is that over cast of
the West Coast all through it. It also shows what a big influence Simon
And Garfunkel were at the time. The multi voice harmonies and acoustic
guitar give off a scent of folk-rock. Cutting across that is the searing
lead guitar of Martin Stone.
Long lost
demos aren't suppose to sound this good. The sound is a treat. No scratchy
acetate sources here. All the tracks would appear to have been mastered
from the original tapes. You can find a lot of material from the Action/Mighty
Baby circle. The various members did a lot of session work on countless
albums from the late '60s. Reg King released a solo lp at the beginning
of the '70s. Alan King was guitarist for Ace, who had a hit with How
Long. Rolled Gold could actually be the first Action album you might
want to investigate.
If the
'60s pop sounds are what interest you, then the Ultimate Action compilation
would be the direction youâd want to follow. If it's the late '60s guitar
sounds that catch your ear, then Mighty Baby is the variation you'd
want to hear. This one has been on the box nonstop here at the Career
Records world HQ. Available from our friends at ModLang.
- Ron Sanchez |
