Jimi Hendrix- Best Live Performances -Part 1

There is a large amount of live material found among the officially sanctioned releases from the Hendrix family estate with more coming every year. I had the pleasure of meeting famed engineer Eddie Kramer a few years ago and as he is now involved in the repackaging of the Hendrix archive I asked him how much was out there still to come- a ton of stuff apparently. The only live stuff released during his life was the 45-minute Band Of Gypsy’s, and the 15 minutes, which close the Woodstock soundtrack album. In the late 1990’s, the Hendrix family used their wealth to buy up Jimi’s archive and create new releases with proper sound and packaging, restoring a measure of dignity to Jimi’s legacy. As Hendrix reinvented the way the electric guitar is played the live material is critically important. So far complete or near complete concerts are available for Monterey ’67, Woodstock ’69, Fillmore East ’70, Berkeley ’70 and Isle of Wight ’70. Others yet to surface are Winterland ’68, Royal Albert Hall, London ’69, Los Angeles Forum’69, San Diego’69 and Atlanta Pop Festival‘70. There are others which I consider sub-par and won’t mention here. Here is Part 1 of my list of the absolute killer live Hendrix moments. The order is chronological.

1. Wild Thing-June 18, 1967- Monterey Pop Festival, Monterey, CA

Jimi’s U.S. debut culminated in his outrageous version of the Trogg’s Wild Thing during which he smashed and then lit his guitar on fire. Check out D.A. Pennebaker’s film Monterey Pop and note the reaction of the girls in the front row. They look like they have seen the antichrist. The Experience opened for The Monkees that summer but got kicked off the tour (awesome publicity tactic), probably by freaking out teenyboppers with Jimi’s guitar humping. [found on Live at Monterey and Voodoo Child: the Jimi Hendrix Collection]

2. Fire- October 10-12, 1968- Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, CA

Showcasing the typical Hendrix sound as they barnstormed North America in 1968, Fire was the classic concert opener for nearly all the Experience gigs in 1968-69. [found on Voodoo Child: the Jimi Hendrix Collection]

3. Manic Depression – same date and location as above

Awesome, only known, live version of this great tune from his first album. [found on Rycodisc’s Live at Winterland now out of print]

4. Hey Joe- same date and location as above

Though Jimi did this song at probably every concert, this version has an outrageous, operatic, thundering introduction which lasts through the first minute and which is beyond description. The only time I am aware of him doing this intro. [found on Voodoo Child: the Jimi Hendrix Collection]

5. Stone Free- February 24, 1969- Royal Albert Hall, London, England

I’m still waiting for this concert to be released properly; it was filmed for a movie and released as two import albums in 1970. This was an important enough gig for Jimi to hold rehearsals- unusual at that point.  This version of Stone Free is unusual for the solo, which has Jimi in rhythm mode going off into space for several minutes then taking a break (probably to light a cigarette) which Mitch covers a drum solo. There are several other great versions of this song (especially Berkeley ’70) but this one is the best. [found on The Jimi Hendrix Concerts –now out of print]

6. Little Wing- same date and location as above

Breathtaking-definitive version of the song from Axis: Bold As Love. [found on The Jimi Hendrix Experience Box Set]

7. Voodoo Child (Slight Return)  -same date and location as above

One of Jimi’s greatest achievements,  nothing beats the original studio version which closes Electric Ladyland. This live version is faster than most but incredible, with an amazingly lyrical-quiet section near the end. [found on The Jimi Hendrix Experience Box Set].

8. I Don’t Live Today- San Diego Sports Arena May 24, 1969

Similar but far superior to the Los Angeles Forum version from the month previous found on the box set and Voodoo Child. [found on The Jimi Hendrix Concerts, and Stages now out of print].

9. Red House -same date and location as above

This is another song Jimi did practically ever night, (I have 9 versions) but the San Diego version is much different from the usual way he played this slow blues. Widely known as the best of all. I totally agree.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience broke up after the Denver gig a month later. Next week I’ll continue with the best from the final 12 months of Jimi’s career.

 

Buddy Miller

Last weekend I had the great pleasure to see Emmylou Harris at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom. It was my first time (seeing Emmy and going to the ballroom) which was a surprise considering I have been a fan of hers since 1975- back in my solo-drives-across-the-country days. As good as Emmylou was (as good as ever at 62!) the revelation of the evening was seeing her friend, guitar player and opening act Buddy Miller. Buddy is only 2 months my senior but sounds like the penultimate American sage. He won the Americana Music Association Album of the year  award in 2005 for Universal United House of Prayer a steaming concoction of rootsy gospel and blues. I’m taking his version of Mark Heard’s  I Worry Too Much as my new theme song. How can I not love a song with a lyrics like “it’s these sandpaper eyes. . .it’s the way they rub the luster from what is seen” or ”it’s the way we beat a hot retreat and heave our smoking guns into the river” or “it’s the way there’ll be no muffled drums to mark the passage of my generation. . ”  Whoa.  Coming to the gig a few minutes late we could hear Buddy’s voice and guitar coming though the venue’s walls from across the street in the parking lot. I totally recommend the above album and the newer Written in Chalk which he did with his wife June. These are readily found on iTunes and Amazon. He was the guitar player on the Alison Krauss-Robert Plant tour last year. You can find him on YouTube as well. Check it out.

[ Buddy Miller Lyrics are found on www.songlyrics.com ]

A New Beginning

It’s been nearly a year since i blogged. I needed time- not that much time- to figure out what I was doing and why I need to do this. Now that is out-of-the-way, I hope to make more frequent posts, not try and get bogged down thinking how bad my writing is and relay musical discoveries or recount inspirational moments from my past. It will continue to be only about music.

Juke Joints and Garage Bands

I spent last night at Dave’s Juke Joint in the Uptown section of Minneapolis watching Corey Stevens and his excellent blues band (more about Corey here).  The band was a delight, Corey a compelling blues guitarist and Paul Testa handling the Hammond B3 with capable hands, but mostly, it was a treat to hear good live music. A goal of mine is to find great blues clubs (Kingston Mines in Chicago for example). The only way to see the blues is in the intimate setting a club affords. I’ve been fortunate to have had some wonderful “blue” club moments over the years seeing: Albert Collins, Robert Cray and Gatemouth Brown at Hunts in Burlington Vermont; JB Hutto in a hotel in White River Junction VT (of all places); Ma Rainey at in Memphis; Freddie King in Greennich Village; James Cotton and Mike Bloomfield (unfortunately past his prime) in Seattle; Indigenous at the Paradise in Boston; The Nighthawks at the House of Blues in New Orleans as well as ZZ Top, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, Jr.Wells and BB King at larger venues. Dave’s Juke Joint may be the best place for blues in Minneapolis. It is actually part of Famous Dave’s Bar-B-Que, a national chain which offers a wonderful experience and even if it is faux authentic, the décor is a lot of fun and the food is awesome. My daughter Emma turned me on to Famous Dave’s. I’ve been on a BBQ mission since my first trip to Memphis in the 70’s. This is the first Dave’s I have found with live music. What is it about New England that is bad for the blues? Proximity to Chicago could be a factor. It is a crying shame Boston can’t support a blues club. A House of Blues is going in across from Fenway Park in a few weeks, we’ll see how well it does. The crowd in Minneapolis was an older crowd, but it was a crowd.

What came to mind last night was how much a part of my musical education came from watching bands live and what an important social experience it was to go out and hear live music when I was younger. We just don’t do this enough anymore.

When I was old enough to walk downtown with my friends on a Friday night (fourteen in 1967) I was living in Rutland Vermont. We’d go to the “Rec” Center (God bless who ever came up with this idea for teens) where we’d hear live bands like “The Rejects.” They usually weren’t very good but pickup bands performing covers were everywhere then. The sets would include stuff like Midnight Hour, Walkin’ The Dog and Susie Q. The main objective was to get girls to dance in the hopes that they’d eventually fall for the line “let’s go outside and cool off” and become victims of our lame kissing attempts. The absolutely worst song to dance to was “Keep Me Hanging On” which at the time, everybody did in the Vanilla Fudge version. This was a huge hit amazing to consider now. The Fudge turned this above average Motown tune into some sort of bombastic tour de force. The height of teen awkwardness was figuring out how to approach this tune dancing? Is it fast? Is it slow? solo organ part forced you to stop and watch the band undoing any progress you made connecting with your dance partner. You had a 60% chance she would walk off the dance floor right then and there. Check out this clip of the Fudge doing KMHO. Note  the band’s “heavy” attire and watch how the go go girls deal with the problem of the tempo.

When we turned 16 we got driver’s licenses, which greatly increased our live music options. Rutland was the halfway point between the under 21, non-alcohol bars like The Wobbly Barn on the Killington access road to the east and the dives over the New York border (where the drinking age was 18) to the west. The classic venue “over the line” was the legendary Hampton Manor. We’d hear about “The Manor” from stories passed down from our older brothers. Either way we got to hear a lot of bar bands, a lot of live music, much of it badly played but at the least  we usually got a fun night full of anticipation. 

 

Neil Young: Sugar Mountain

I got into Neil Young in a big way this weekend. His “new” album, the third release in the Neil Young Performance Archives series, was released Tuesday. Sugar Mountain, Live at Canterbury House 1968 is a live recording of Neil doing a solo acoustic set in Ann Arbor, Michigan on Nov 10, two days prior to the release of his first solo album Neil Young. Like the second album of the Series, Live at Massey Hall 1971, we get to hear stripped down versions of songs from Neil’s previous and upcoming albums. What makes this set significant, is that the original versions of these songs were (for the most part) grossly overproduced – especially those on Neil Young -a commercial and critical failure. The fact that the year was 1968 has everything to do with the overproduction. This was the year everyone from Simon and Garfunkle (Bookends) to The Young Rascals (Once Upon a Dream) were trying to come up with their own version of Sergeant Pepper’s. Many of these overly ambitious projects were terrible. Notable exceptions were Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland and the Who’s Tommy, which was recorded over the course of the year although released in ’69.

In order to full appreciate the material on Sugar Mountain I spent the week steeped in Buffalo Springfield, after discovering my embarrassing lack of experience with anything not on their greatest hits album. This should really be another post altogether, but the short version is the second album “Again” is what you want to have in your record collection. The third album Last Time Around suffers from nineteensixtyeightitis combined with the fact that the group was largely absent and broken up long before it’s release. The songs were recorded by two or three members at time. There were a few great tunes. Still’s Question, Young’s On The Way Home, and  I am a Child, Richie Furay’s Kind Woman, but I digress. . .

The song Sugar Mountain, one of Neil’s earliest (written in 1964), is a lament to lost youth and was the inspiration for Joni Mitchell’s Circle Game. It was released as the B-side of The Loner, a single from Neil Young and the B-side of Cinnamon Girl, from his following album. Both of these versions and the Live at Canterbury version are the same recording. Neil also performs a beautiful version of Birds which wouldn’t end up on an album until ‘71.

On The Way Home, Mr. Soul, Expecting To Fly, Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing, Broken Arrow and Out Of My Mind are the Springfield tunes covered on Live at Canterbury.  The Last Trip To Tulsa, The Loner, If I Could Have Her Tonight, I’ve Been Waiting For You and The Old Laughing Lady were songs from Neil Young that can now be assessed without the weight of the strings and gospel singers. It is a treat to finally hear these songs stripped down. The disk comes with a DVD version for optimal sound. There is no video other than a great bonus (on the DVD), a must see preview of Neil’s archives box, which will prove to be the mother of all box sets. It is already listed on Amazon, (here) you can preorder for $324. Unless my marriage fails between now and Feb 24^th  I won’t be preordering but I am hopeful most of this stuff will be available as single downloads at some point. The preview is really well done and a lot of fun.

The disk includes all the stage banter between each song- a great insight into Neil back then but each is segmented into it’s own track so you can program the banter out later when you just want to hear the songs. The casual fan might find the solo acoustic style lacking in dynamics and the recording and performance not a match for Live at Massy Hall. All in all, this is a remarkable missing piece into a critical period of Neil Young’s life and one I whole-heartedly recommend for serious fans.

Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Singers of all time

It is always a blessing and a curse when Rolling Stone does a special Issue. The 100 Greatest Albums, 100 Greatest Songs, 100 Greatest Live Performances have now been joined by 100 Greatest Singers.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/24161972

These issues are great for the most part but for the more fanatical of us out here, they also disappoint. Consumer magazines need to cater to a wide audience and so make every attempt to please a majority. What is really bad is when they fob off research on editorial interns who are arn’t old enough to have even a limited interest in the classic artists. This seems to increasingly be the case with Rolling Stone. Note what they list as “Key Tracks” for these musical icons. Most look like they came directly off Wikipedia. If Jan Wenner had the time he could have done a better job coming up with these off the top of his head.  And so I’d like to submit to you my additions, in case you were thinking of putting together a 100 Greatest Singers of All Time playlist. [Note, the order is Rolling Stone's and not my personal order, if a number is missing it is because I didn't have any additions to their Key Track list, this post only deals with the first 50 of the greatest 100]. I got carried away on a few artists (how do you pick 3 Dylan or Lennon songs?) and tried to just consider great vocals. . .

1. Aretha Franklin- (Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You’ve Been Gone, Until You Come Back To Me

2. Ray Charles- Drown In My Own Tears, Hallelujah I Love Her So, Tell Me How Do You Feel

3.  Elvis Presley-Anyplace is Paradise, Treat Me Nice, Little Sister

4.   Sam Cooke- Cupid, Chain Gang, Twistin’ The Night Away

5.   John Lennon-Twist And Shout, Leave My Kitten Alone, You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away, The Word, Tomorrow Never Knows, A Day In The Life, Hey Bulldog, Mother, I Found Out

6.   Marvin Gaye- I’ll Be Doggone, Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, Your Precious Love, Where Are We Going?

7.   Bob Dylan-Girl From The North Country, Seven Curses, Tomorrow Is A Long Time, Positively 4th Street, Most Likely You Go Your Way, Idiot Wind (session), Black Diamond Bay, High Water (For Charley Patton)

8. Otis Redding- Can’t Turn You Loose, I’ve Been Lovin’ You Too Long, Hard To Handle, Trick Or Treat

9. Stevie Wonder- Uptight, Superwoman, Creepin’, Knocks Me Off My Feet, As

10. James Brown- It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World, Get Up (Sex Machine), Living in America

11. Paul McCartney-Things We Said Today, She’s A Woman, Monkberry Moon Delight, Ballroom Dancing

13. Roy Orbison- Crying

14. Robert Plant- How Many More Times, Ramble On, That’s The Way, Hots On For Nowhere 

15. Mick Jagger- Under My Thumb, Back Street Girl, 2000 Light Years From Home, Jigsaw Puzzle, Monkee Man, Fingerprint File, Hand Of Fate

17. Bob Marley- Hammer, Rat Race, War, Who The Cap Fit, Satisfy My Soul

18. Smokey Robinson- Mickey’s Monkey, The Tears Of A Clown

21. David Bowie-The Jean Genie, Golden Years

22. Van Morrison-Mystic Eyes, T.B.Sheets, I’ll Be Your Lover, Too, Into the Mystic, You Don’t Pull No Punches, But You Don’t Push The River, Tir Na Nog, Pagan Streams, Lonely Avenue   

23.  Janis Joplin- Ball and Chain,Try (Just A Little Bit Harder), Half Moon 

24. Howlin’ Wolf- Howlin’ For My Darling, Shake For Me, Hidden Charms, Worried About My Baby 

25. Bono-Two Hearts Beat As One, Bad (Live), Desire, Bullet The Blue Sky (Live), 

26. Steve Winwood-Can’t Find My Way Home, Freedom Rider, Dream Gerrard, Spanish Dancer

27. Dusty Springfield- Wishin’ And Hopin’, The Look of Love

28. Bruce Spingsteen- Forth of July, Asbury Park (Sandy), The Fever, The Promised Land, Downbound Train, Ain`t Got You, Human Touch, Secret Garden 

29. Neil Young- Oh, Lonesome Me, Needle & Damage Done, Comes a Time, Wrecking Ball, Cortez The Killer (Live)

30. Elton John-The Cage, Come Down In Time, Love Lies Bleeding, Don’t Let the Sun Go down on Me 

31. Curtis Mayfield- Gypsy Woman, Freddie’s Dead

32. Joni Mitchell- I Had A King, The Dawnreader, Urge for Going, Ladies Of The Canyon, Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire, Electricity, Edith And The Kingpin, Song For Sharon

47.  Jim Morrison- Back Door Man, The Crystal Ship, You’re Lost, Little Girl, When The Music’s Over, Roadhouse Blues, Peace Frog, The Changeling   

50.  Bonnie Raitt- You’ve Been In Love Too Long, My First Night Alone Without You, Sweet Forgiveness, Have a Heart

Mitch Mitchell, R.I.P.

The death of Mitch Mitchell this week means Billy Cox is the only remaining Hendrix sideman of note. Jimi had four group configurations during the years of his success. Noel Redding played bass from the forming of the Experience in 1966 through the end of the Spring ’69 tour when he quit the band after the Denver show. Billy Cox, an old army buddy of Jimi’s, was the replacement bassist and stayed until Jimi’s accidental death in September of the following year. Mitch was the drummer for all four years with the exception of the Band of Gypsies period from the Fall of ’69 though early January when Buddy Miles played drums. Miles also died this year. Mitch joined the Experience Hendrix tour this Fall but from what I heard, he played rarely or made a few appearances. 

Mitch was a jazz drummer who liked to move around his set with lots of rolls and fills. A contrast to Miles, who was notable for a rock solid pounding beat, Mitchell’s busy style was perfect for Jimi’s frenetic sound. For Mitch’s shining moment check out side 3 of Electric Ladyland, released 40 years ago this month, for Jimi’s opus 1983…(A Merman I Should Turn To Be). Mitch is incredible on this track.

 

U2’s first three albums get deluxe treatment

I have been listening to a lot of U2 lately. The earliest 3 albums were recently re-mastered with an extra disk of demos, outtakes or live tracks. These are pricey ($30 ish) so I’ll hold off on purchasing but I’ve been cherry picking a few tracks on iTunes. When this charismatic teenage punk band from Ireland began their recording career in 1980 it would take 4 years for me to discover them. Looking back on the first album Boy you can see the best elements of their style, primarily; Edge’s guitar (out in front wailing like a air-raid siren) and the (soon to be) rock solid rhythm section of Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen. Like Andy Summers of The Police, The Edge adds texture and color over the beat, frequently leaving a song’s melody to bassist Clayton or Bono’s vocal. Larry Mullen’s drum style is aggressive in intensity but he mostly sticks to driving the beat without the use of showy fills. Bono would take a while to find his role. Early on it’s The Edge who translates the excitement of what they are doing (working in a real band!) Key tracks on Boy are I will Follow, Out of Control and 11 O’Clock Tick Tock (check out the Live at the Marquee version). The British album cover with the prepubescent boy has been restored for the remastered version. The original was struck from the US version for fear of accidentally endorsing pedophilia to their gay fans! Check out these guys doing Out of Control in 1981, Bono looks 15 years old and is not surprisingly an insufferable showboat.

Now contrast with the way they tear this up at Slane Castle twenty years later a week after the death of Bono’s father, for my money the best of their concert films:

Wikipedia has an excellent account of this 2001 concert here. . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U2_Go_Home:_Live_from_Slane_Castle

By the time they got to War in 1983 they were a mature band. This album shows their performing style fully developed. Bono has a grip on his role as front man and his singing is great. The incredible passion in the performance and the improved material really make the album. They are a band transformed after the weak October, during which they actually broke up to get their spiritual act together. War’s political theme added to its appeal and forever linked U2 to social justice issues. Two of my favorite U2 tracks are found here, Two Hearts Beat As One (try the Club Version remix) and New Years Day. These songs are so good you can listen to them repeatedly and concentrate on what each musician is doing individually. The album also features the intense anthem Sunday Bloody Sunday, their first hit to resonate in America, and Drowning Man which is has an atmospheric quality – a prequel to the Brian Eno/Daniel Lanois sound of their next album The Unforgettable Fire.

War would be supported by a world tour, which produced a live album and film Under the Blood Red Sky that was recorded from their show at Red Rocks outside Denver on June 5^th 1983. With heavy rotation on MTV the Red Rocks footage contributed to U2’s growing popularity as a live act.  

 

Otis Redding Live (Part 1)

I discovered Otis Redding in the summer of ‘69 sitting in a darkened theater in Burlington VT watching D.A. Pennebaker’s classic film Monterey Pop. The film has many highlights but the Otis sequence is one of the film’s (and concert’s) best moments. 40 years later there is no better way to experience Otis. The Criterion Collection version is a boxed set containing a disk of the film in DTS sound, an incredible outtakes disk with the bands not making the final cut and a separate disk for the complete Hendrix and Otis performances http://www.dvdjournal.com/reviews/c/completemontereypop_cc.shtml. The audio for the latter two was released on vinyl in 1970, unintentionally coinciding with Hendrix’s own untimely death. The record was a must have for Hendrix fans with only a tiny amount of live Hendrix released at that point. For many of these fans, the Otis side was an unexpected and revelatory bonus.

The Otis performance at Monterey is considered his most important if not his best – an essential crossover moment that blew away a mostly young white audience. In 6 months Otis would be dead at 26 when his tour plane crashed into a cold Wisconsin lake. His biggest hit, Sitting on the Dock in the Bay, would be released soon after. Aside from Otis’s raw talent and charisma, the Monterey footage is an amazing example of how tight the MG’s were as a band and the Mar-Keys as a horn section. With Otis, they were firing on all cylinders when they ended the second night of the festival at 1AM, in the rain, on June 18th 1967.

At Monterey most of the sets were brief due to the shear number of performers an Booker T used the abbreviated version of Otis’s standard tour set- Shake, Respect, I’ve been Lovin’ You To Long, Satisfaction and Try a Little Tenderness. Get the DVD and watch this, preferably in 5 channel sound played loud. When Otis hits the stage with Shake you can tell right away this is going to be something. As Otis dances, directs the band and shouts the vocal the joy on his face is genuine. The band is perfectly in synch. Two songs later when they slow things down with I’ve Been Lovin’ You To Long, something magical happens. At the beginning of the third verse, the cord changes slightly (to a minor key?) and Otis creates a transcending moment becoming a supplicant, throwing a career’s worth of love and appreciation into the final verse. This moves me to tears whenever I hear it. The crowd is riveted now. After an intense Satisfaction Otis dedicates the final song to “all those mini-skirts out there.” Unfortunately for the film, Pennebaker must have run out of film as he instead shows a collage of pretty girl moments from over the 3 day event while Otis and the MG’s are building to the ultimate climax. At the very end the camera is finally on Otis and we can watch him go off and come back for another few bars and say goodbye to the audience. Try a Little Tenderness, the closer and Otis’s best song and possibly best performance ends up unexplicably unfilmed until the very end. Thankfully we have the audio. If you can’t find the 4 cd Monterey box with the full Otis set the 2 cd version is on iTunes (but with only two Otis songs). To find Try a Little Tenderness from Monterey, it is the final song on the Otis Box, also found on iTunes. Attached is the clip of the third song. But you really should see this in color with surround sound.

 

The Inner Groove

Greetings Vintage Music fans- This is a blog where we can discuss matters pertaining to Rock and Roll, Blues, Country, Punk, whatever. The title indicates an emphasis on the years before CD’s but there isn’t much in the way of restrictions here. We will discuss live performances and concert videos as well. If your music collection is spread out over vinyl, cassettes, CD’s, mini-disks and external hard drives I hope you’ll join me. I am happy to hear new music but my interests lie mostly in reissues and rediscovering stuff I missed the first time around. Your comments are welcome, They will make this a better place to discover great music.