BROADCAST #38
AIR DATE: 09-18-07

Fanatics, we are gathered here tonight to remember one of the greatest musicians of all time, James Marshal Hendrix. He passed away on this day, 27 years ago. I thought we should pay our respects by taking an entire broadcast of our show to play some completely mind-blowing Jimi Hendrix music. For Indie 103, it gives them credibility, for us Fanatics, it’s just how we do it. I know that many of you are Hendrix Fanatics and will listen to tonight’s broadcast and come to the conclusion that it was not all that comprehensive. I think that would take several broadcasts to do and I wanted to concentrate more on the period of Hendrix that I feel was his most interesting and that is the his final several months of work before he checked out. It’s the year of 1970 that I am talking about. There was a lot of pressure on Hendrix at this time. His business was not in good straits and there was a noticeable lack of enthusiasm in his new songs that he was playing live. Seems that some people in the audiences were more interested in hearing the songs they knew from the radio and were hoping for Jimi to do some of his “moves” when Hendrix was mostly interested in moving ahead. Like all great musicians like Miles and Coltrane, Jimi Hendrix was always moving onto the next thing. Hendrix was constantly evolving and forging ahead with his music. I think it took listeners years to catch up with him. He was a man truly ahead of his time and I think he knew it. If you look at photos taken of him before he died, he looks a lot older and wiser than 27 years. I hope you like tonight’s show. There was no way I could let this night go by and do it any other way. Until next week, STAY FANATIC!!! --Henry

For you Fanatics who can’t live without hearing this show again or if the original broadcast time is too hard on your sleep cycle here’s the re-broadcast schedule: USA: Fridays: 0200 – 0400 hrs. PST / UK: Fridays: 1000 hrs. – 1200 hrs./ Continental Europe: Fridays 1100 hrs. – 1300 hrs. / Australia: Fridays 2100 hrs. – 2300 hrs.

Freedom: I first heard this song on the Cry Of Love album, it was later re-released on the First Rays Of The New Rising Sun album, which if you are a Hendrix Fanatic, is a must-have. As far as Jimi’s last studio recordings, this is my favorite single track and one of my favorite songs of his, period. The basic tracks for the song were recorded at Electric Lady June through August of 1970. The track was mixed on 08-24-70. Jimi was gone a few weeks later. Apparently, this was not the completed mix as Jimi wanted to replace a guitar track but died before he record it.

In From The Storm: From the First Rays Of The New Rising Sun CD. This track was recorded in NYC at Jimi’s Electric Lady Studios on 07-22-70. Many years ago, when I was in Black Flag, Davo the soundman and I used to listen to a tape we had of Jimi at the Isle of Wight and this was one of the better songs of the set. If you notice the date here, Jimi would be gone only months after this was recorded. This track had been recorded by the time Jimi played that show and he had a chance to work the song in a bit but I like this studio version. This is the era of Jimi Hendrix that I am the most curious about. I would have liked to have seen a track listing of what he thought the next album was going to be.

Hear My Train A'Comin': From the Blues CD. I first heard this on the Rainbow Bridge soundtrack LP and played it all the time. This is my favorite version of this song. Hendrix played this song many times in 1970 and there’s some great versions but for me, that moment at the beginning when he does that call and response with his guitar, is worth the price of admission, it’s one of the coolest moments of live Hendrix I have ever heard. This Blues CD is a monster compilation of Hendrix Blues moments. Hendrix had an amazing feel for Blues music well past his age. He was a young older man, especially in the Blues department. The version of Mannish Boy found on this CD is a monster. This CD was the start of a wave of Hendrix releases that actually seemed to have some continuity and care taken in their assembly. I remember years ago, you would get a Hendrix CD and find typos on the spine, tracks out of order, etc. It made me wonder if anyone at the label releasing these albums gave a damn about Hendrix. Thankfully, the Hendrix family got the masters back after quite a battle in court. The remasterings and mail order only CDs have been great and due diligence is being paid to the man’s music. Some of the merchandise the Hendrix estate sells is really corny but that doesn’t change the music. The Rainbow Bridge concert was taped at a bad time in Hendrix’s life. The last several months of them man’s life were full of hassle, debt and undue pressure from all the hustlers around him. Someone should have looked out for him but it seems that the better people in his life were outnumbered by the opportunists. There is a noticeable melancholy in the last few live performances before he died. The Isle Of Wight performance is great but you can tell that Jimi isn’t enjoying it. The last LA Forum show is a bummer too. This is the aspect of Hendrix’s life that makes it hard for me to listen to him sometimes. It’s frustrating to know that he was getting pulled around by people who just wanted to use him to make money. He was a true artist and someone should have protected him. If you can, check out any photos of him near the end of his life and tell me that he looks 27 years old. 27! Listen to how heavy the vocal and playing is on this track and then think of that age.

Hey Baby: From the First Rays Of The New Rising Sun CD. As I recall, this is Ian’s favorite Hendrix song. I was temped to use a version from the sets Hendrix did in Maui on 07-30-70 but this one is a little cleaner sounding. This was a track was possibly going to be on the next official album Hendrix planned on releasing. As I have stated before, it’s the music that Hendrix was working on at the time of his passing that is of most interest to me. I think where he was taking his music was great and this song is a glimpse. Thankfully, Hendrix was able to bring many of these tracks to completion or near enough that we can get a good idea as to what his next offering was going to be like. I think his music would have been amazing but I am not sure how the 1970’s would have treated Jimi.

Spanish Castle Magic: From The Jimi Hendrix Experience 4CD Box Set released in 2000. Many of you know it as “That purple box set of Hendrix.” This is great release that has some real gems on it. Worth the purchase even if you have all the other Hendrix releases that have been coming out over the last few years. What you have here is an unreleased studio version of this song that was recorded at Olympic Studios 02-17-69 and mixed by the great Eddie Kramer on 01-10-00.

1983 (A Merman I Should Turn To Be): From the Electric Ladyland album. Nothing rare here, just the story line and the performance, arrangement, and what Hendrix was trying to achieve in this track are worth noting. If I am remembering correctly, I saw a documentary where the engineer was talking about the mix of this album and how they had to hand synch two 8-track machines to get all the tracks happening for the mix. It is a shame that Hendrix didn’t have access to the technology that was right around the corner. The last couple of years of Hendrix’s life were troubled and the man was very burdened with everything from contractual hassles to audiences not always digging his new material which of course is now seen as visionary, genius, etc. Lyrically, this song deals with escape, a theme that was to play a major part in his lyrical content until he died. This album took months to record and there’s some serious people stopping by to add tracks. This will always be my favorite double album. A lot of bands released them and some are really great but this one is very special. This was the last official Hendrix studio album. It was released in October of 1968 and as you know, the man was gone less than two years later. There was a lot of material recorded after EL and I will always wonder how it would have been received had he been around. He was playing a lot of it live, there are some great versions of In From The Storm, Ezy Rider and Freedom on official and unofficial releases. If you look at set lists from 1970, he was mixing up the songs pretty well, Purple Haze is in the set quite often as well as songs like Machine Gun and Room Full Of Mirrors.

Third Stone From The Sun: This track is one of my favorite moments the purple Hendrix box set. For the box, the vocal from Third Stone was solo’d by Chas Chandler in 2000 and it’s a real treat. It features Hendrix having some fun in the studio with producer Chas Chandler. I really like this period of Hendrix. I like hearing Hendrix laugh and have a good time. The “finished” version of the song can be found on the Are You Experienced? album released in the summer of 1967 and it’s from a time when fame was happening to Jimi and his bandmates and there’s a youthful enthusiasm in the playing and singing. The world was standing by to exact more than its pound of flesh only months later.

If 6 Was 9: From the band’s 2nd album, Axis: Bold As Love. It’s interesting how much Hendrix was straining at the lead, in need of better technology to achieve what he was after on this album. This album makes Are You Experienced? almost simplistic. Hendrix really wanted to take the music somewhere else. This is one of my favorite songs on the album, very Punk Rock. Check that middle section about the “white collar conservatives flashing down the street . . .” So great. We listened to this album a lot on the 1984 summer tour. This album may have had less “hits” than its predecessor but Axis is deeper and more musically ambitious.

Love Or Confusion: From the Are You Experienced? album. I love this song. It’s one of the best songs of the early Hendrix stuff I think. Hendrix always said he didn’t like his voice and I always wondered that when you can hear him chewing gum on some studio tracks, that it wasn’t just a way he tried to underplay his singing and treat it like something he had to get though, I don’t know, just thinking out loud. Truth is, he was a great singer and this is one of the best vocals on this album.

Like A Rolling Stone: From the CD bootleg called The First Rays Of The New Rising Sun. No doubt many of you Fanatics have heard the famous version of the Bob Dylan classic performed by The Jimi Hendrix Experience at the Monterey Pop Festival on 06-18-67 and I don’t think anyone would object of we played it tonight but I thought we should be should work a little harder to make things more interesting. Many years ago, I bought this bootleg on vinyl and then I found it on CD. Hendrix played this song quite a few times. I have been able to track down several dates Jimi performed this song. Now, the bootleg says this was done in NYC with Al Kooper in 1964. The year is perhaps a typo but the rest could be right and if it is, this is most likely taken from a jam session from The Generation Club at 52 W 8th St. on April 9th or 15th 1968. I am huge Hendrix fan as many of you are. That being said, there are some people who are for real scholars on every moment of the man’s life. If you check out a site like In From The Storm at http://home.online.no/~hpjohnse/hendrix.html or Just Ask The Axis, http://www.digitalhighway.co.uk/axis/ where I got this information, you will see that there’s some people who are SERIOUS FANATICS on the Hendrix thing. I like that a lot.

Purple Haze (Live in Paris 1966): This version can be found on a few different CDs. I am using version found on the Live In Paris 66 & 67 bootleg on Whoopy Kat. I like this version because of the chatter at the beginning and the sound Jimi had on this day. On live versions of this song, he often started off with all that cool guitar mangling but this is one of the best versions I have heard and I thought you all would like it.

Voodoo Child (Slight Return) (live in San Diego): Live at the San Diego Sports Arena 05-24-69, taken from the Stages box set. I got this one right when it came out. When Hendrix stuff started coming out on CD, I was careful to get the releases as soon as they could as more often than not they would go out of print, like the live CD from the Monterey concert. Apparently this set is out of print. Box set has four shows: Stockholm 1967, Paris 1968, San Diego 1969 and Atlanta 1970. As on many of the early Hendrix CD releases, there is often scant information on who, when, where, etc. The Stages notes fails to mention that Wally Heider recorded this show. That information is on the also out of print In The West album, a compilation that features a version of Red House from this show that is blistering.

Ezy Rider: The last track of the night, again, comes from the First Rays Of The New Rising Sun album. Ezy Rider was recorded at the end of 1969 and the beginning of 1970 at The Record Plant. Overdubs were done all through the summer, the last ones being done in late August of 1970, making this one of the last things he did in the studio. You’ve got Billy Cox on bass and Buddy Miles on drums, making this basically a Band Of Gypsies track. The lyrical content of so many of these later period songs dealt with escape of some kind. I don’t think Jimi was having a good time towards the end of his life.