Showing posts with label Jimi Hendrix. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jimi Hendrix. Show all posts

Jimi Hendrix puppet cover!

Via RecordMecca: A mint copy of Track Records' release of Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsies album, featuring the withdrawn "puppet" cover art. Creepy but cool!

Info:
The earliest copies of Band of Gypsys featured this cover, picturing puppets of Hendrix, Brian Jones, Bob Dylan and English DJ John Peel.  Reportedly Peel complained and the cover was withdrawn and replaced with a live photo of Hendrix. 



TV alert: Jimi Hendrix documentary on PBS tonight

Check you local listing for "Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train Comin'" tonight on PBS' "American Masters" tonight.





Preview of upcoming PBS Jimi Hendix documentary



Details:

Hear My Train A Comin’ unveils previously unseen performance footage and home movies taken by Hendrix and drummer Mitch Mitchell while sourcing an extensive archive of photographs, drawings, family letters and more to provide new insight into the musician’s personality and genius.
A pioneering electric guitarist, Hendrix (Nov. 27, 1942 — Sept. 18, 1970) had only four years of mainstream exposure and recognition, but his influential music and riveting stage presence left an enduring legacy. Hear My Train A Comin’ traces the guitarist’s remarkable journey from his hardscrabble beginnings in Seattle, through his stint as a US Army paratrooper, unknown sideman to R&B stars such as Little Richard, Joey Dee and the Isley Brothers and his discovery and ultimate international stardom.
Presented as part of a year-long celebration around his 70th birthday year, the two-hour Hear My Train A Comin’ uses Hendrix’s own words to tell his story, illustrated through archival interviews and illuminated with commentary from family, well-known friends and musicians including Paul McCartney, band members Noel Redding, Mitch Mitchell, Billy Cox, long-time sound engineer Eddie Kramer; Steve Winwood, Vernon Reid, Billy Gibbons, Dweezil Zappa and Dave Mason.
The film also features revealing glimpses into Jimi and his era from the three women closest to him: Linda Keith (the girlfriend who introduced Jimi to future manager Chas Chandler), Faye Pridgon (who befriended Hendrix in Harlem in the early 1960s) and Colette Mimram (one of the era’s most influential fashion trendsetters who provided inspiration for Hendrix’s signature look and created such memorable stage costumes as the beaded jacket Hendrix famously wore at Woodstock). The film details the meteoric rise of the Experience, the creation of his groundbreaking music, the building of Electric Lady Studios, his state-of-the-art recording facility in Greenwich Village and concludes with poignant footage from his final performance in Germany in September 1970, just 12 days before his death at age 27.
Among the previously unseen treasures in Hear My Train A Comin’ is recently uncovered film footage of Hendrix at the 1968 Miami Pop Festival. The first-ever major rock festival staged on the East Coast, the May 1968 Miami Pop Festival at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, Fla., was the first event promoted by Woodstock organizer Michael Lang and Ric O’Barry (dolphin trainer for Flipper TV series), who were inspired by the June 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, where Hendrix made his U.S. debut and famously set fire to his guitar.
Two-time Grammy-winning director Bob Smeaton, whose credits include Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child, Hendrix: Band of Gypsys, Hendrix 70: Live at Woodstock, Festival Express and The Beatles Anthology, shows a side of Hendrix less frequently explored in Hear My Train A Comin’. Smeaton explains, “Jimi loved two things: women and playing guitar and that’s what Linda, Faye and Colette all told us. These women shed a totally different light on him than the guys who saw him onstage.”
On the same day as the film’s premiere, Experience Hendrix LLC and Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, will release the expanded home video edition of the American Masters documentary, with never-before-released special performance features, on DVD and Blu-ray.
American Masters: Jimi Hendrix – Hear My Train A Comin’ is a production of Fuse Films and THIRTEEN’s American Masters in association with WNET. Bob Smeaton is director. Susan Lacy is American Masters series creator and executive producer.


Hear Jimi Hendrix's People, Hell and Angels album

People, Hell and Angels, a new collection of previously unissued Jimi Hendrix recordings is now streaming via NPR.

The album is out March 5.


More details on Jimi Hendrix's People, Hell & Angels

Out March 5, People, Hell & Angels is a collection of Jimi Hendrix studio rarities that capture the guitarist in experimental mode.

Here's the press release:

People, Hell & Angels showcases the legendary guitarist working outside of the original Jimi Hendrix Experience trio.   Beginning in 1968, Jimi Hendrix grew restless, eager to develop new material with old friends and new ensembles.   Outside the view of a massive audience that had established the Experience as rock's largest grossing concert act and simultaneously placed two of his albums in the US Top 10 sales chart, Jimi was busy working behind the scenes to craft his next musical statement.

These twelve recordings encompass a variety of unique sounds and styles incorporating many of the elements—horns, keyboards, percussion and second guitar—Jimi wanted to incorporate within his new music.   People, Hell & Angels presents some of the finest Jimi Hendrix guitar work ever issued and provides a compelling window into his growth as a songwriter, musician and producer.
People, Hell & Angels will be available Tuesday, March 5, 2013.

With an album title coined by Jimi Hendrix, People, Hell & Angels reveals some of Hendrix's post-Experience ambitions and directions as he worked with new musicians--including the Buffalo Springfield's Stephen Stills, drummer Buddy Miles, Billy Cox (with whom Hendrix had served in the 101st US Army Airborne and later played on the famed R & B 'chitlin circuit' together) and others--creating fresh and exciting sounds for the next chapter in his extraordinary career.
 
People, Hell & Angels is co-produced by Janie Hendrix, Eddie Kramer and John McDermott.  Kramer first met Hendrix at Olympic Studios in London in January 1967.  Hendrix, who would have turned 70 on November 27 this year, developed a unique rapport with Kramer.  As a result, Kramer engineered every album issued by the guitarist in his lifetime and recorded such famous Hendrix concerts as the Woodstock festival in August 1969. Since 1997, Kramer has teamed with Janie Hendrix and John McDermott to oversee the release of each Jimi Hendrix album issued by Experience Hendrix.

The dozen previously unreleased Jimi Hendrix performances premiering on People, Hell & Angels include "Earth Blues," "Somewhere," "Hear My Train A Comin'," "Bleeding Heart," "Baby Let Me Move You," "Izabella," "Easy Blues," "Crash Landing," "Inside Out," "Hey Gypsy Boy," "Mojo Man" and "Villanova Junction Blues."

A musical companion piece and successor to 2010's Valleys Of Neptune, the critically acclaimed album showcasing the artist's final recordings with the original Jimi Hendrix Experience, People, Hell & Angels offers tantalizing new clues as to the direction Hendrix was considering for First Rays Of The New Rising Sun, his planned double album sequel to 1968's groundbreaking Electric Ladyland.

Unlike contemporaries such as the Beatles or Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix owned his songs and master recordings.  He did not have to record his music at recording studios owned and operated by his record company.  Hendrix spent countless hours recording his new music at new, independent music studios such as New York's Record Plant and the Hit Factory.  Hendrix was so focused on recording his music that, concurrent with nearly all of the sessions featured as part of People, Hell & Angels , he was underwriting the construction of his own recording facility--the state of the art Electric Lady Studios in Greenwich Village.

Janie L. Hendrix, President/CEO of Experience Hendrix LLC, commented, "We're thrilled to be able to release People, Hell & Angels during the celebration of the 70th anniversary of my brother's birth.  The brilliance of the album serves to underscore what we've known all along: that there has never been and never will be a musical force equal to his and that we cherish and take inspiration of what he left us both now and for many generations to come...simply eternity."

"People, Hell & Angels provides us with further insight into the genius of Jimi Hendrix," said Adam Block, President, Legacy Recordings.  "Working with new rhythm sections and instrumentation, Jimi Hendrix was opening up the horizons of his music, creating new sounds filled with endless possibilities."
 
People, Hell & Angels - Track by Track

Earth Blues:
Totally unlike the version first issued as part of Rainbow Bridge in 1971, this December 19, 1969 master take features just Hendrix, Billy Cox and Buddy Miles--stripped down funk at its very origin.

Somewhere:
This newly discovered gem was recorded in March 1968 and features Buddy Miles on drums and Stephen Stills on bass.    Entirely different from any previous version fans have ever heard.

Hear My Train A Comin':
This superb recording was drawn from Jimi's first ever recording session with Billy Cox and Buddy Miles--the powerhouse rhythm section with whom he would later record the groundbreaking album Band Of Gypsys.

Jimi shared a deep love for the blues with Billy Cox and Buddy Miles.  Both musicians understood Jimi's desire to create what he described as a 'new type of blues'.   Jimi's menacing lead guitar is the centerpiece of this dramatic addition to his remarkable legacy.
Bleeding Heart:

This Elmore James masterwork had long been a favorite of Jimi's.   He had performed the song earlier that year with the Experience in concert at the Royal Albert Hall and had attempted to capture the song in New York studio sessions during the weeks that followed.

Recorded at the same May 1969 session as "Hear My Train A Coming," the track conveys Jimi's firm understanding of the arrangement and tempo he desired. Before they began, Jimi instructed Cox and Miles that he wanted to establish a totally different beat than the standard arrangement.  He then kicked off this amazing rendition that was nothing like any other he had ever attempted.

Let Me Move You:
In March 1969, Jimi reached back to another old friend, saxophonist Lonnie Youngblood.   Before he was discovered by Chas Chandler in the summer of 1966, Jimi had contributed guitar as a nondescript studio sideman for Youngblood and such infectious rhythm and blues styled singles such as "Soul Food".

This March 1969 session features Hendrix and Youngblood trading licks throughout this never before heard, high velocity rock and soul classic.

Izabella:
In the aftermath of the Woodstock festival, Jimi gathered his new ensemble, Gypsy Sun & Rainbows, at the Hit Factory in August 1969 with engineer Eddie Kramer.  "Izabella" had been one of the new songs the guitarist introduced at the Woodstock festival and Jimi was eager to perfect a studio version.    This new version is markedly different from the Band Of Gypsys 45 rpm single master issued by Reprise Records in 1970 and features Larry Lee, Jimi's old friend from the famed rhythm & blues 'chitin' circuit', on rhythm guitar.

Easy Blues:
An edited extract of this gorgeous, free flowing instrumental was briefly issued as part of the long-out-of-print 1981 album Nine To The Universe.  Now nearly twice as long, the track offers fans the opportunity to enjoy the dramatic interplay between Jimi, second guitarist Larry Lee, Billy Cox and drummer Mitch Mitchell.

Crash Landing:
Perhaps known as the title song for the controversial 1975 album that featured Hendrix master recordings posthumously overdubbed by session musicians, this April 1969 original recording has never been heard before.   Jimi is joined here by Billy Cox and drummer Rocky Isaac of the Cherry People to record this thinly veiled warning to his girlfriend Devon Wilson.

Inside Out:
Jimi was fascinated by the rhythm pattern that would ultimately take form as "Ezy Ryder".  Joined here by Mitch Mitchell, Jimi recorded all of the bass and guitar parts for this fascinating song--including a dramatic lead guitar part amplified through a Leslie organ speaker.

Hey Gypsy Boy:
The roots of Jimi's majestic "Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)" trace themselves to this March 1969 recording.  Unlike the posthumously overdubbed version briefly issued as part of Midnight Lightning in 1975, this is original recording that features Jimi joined by Buddy Miles.

Mojo Man:
Jimi would lend a hand to Albert & Arthur Allen, the vocalists known as the Ghetto Fighters, whom he had befriended in Harlem long before he achieved fame with the Experience.  When the two recorded this inspired, previously unreleased master at the legendary Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama they took it back to Hendrix at Electric Lady Studios.  Jimi knew just what to do to elevate the recording beyond contemporary R & B to the new hybrid of rock, rhythm and blues he was celebrated for.

Villanova Junction Blues:
Long before his famous performance of this song at Woodstock, Jimi recorded this studio version with Billy Cox and Buddy Miles at the same May 1969 session which yielded "Hear My Train A Comin'" and "Bleeding Heart" also featured on this album.  Never fully finished, the song stands as an example of the fertile ideas he hoped to harness and bring to fruition.