Blues


Was listening to this one at work today, and decided that my original review needed a revision. There was an semi-major error in the original review, there has been a small change in this CD from the original release, plus my views have changed a little over time about this one...

This one I'm torn on...some of it is great, some has been victim of Alan "The Butcher of Decency" Douglas. The idea behind this CD was fantastic. Jimi could play and feel the blues like few people could. The tracks selected are great choices, don't get me wrong. But Alan again brings his butcher knife to the production studio. Voodoo Chile Blues, is a section from the Electric Ladyland track. A great choice, but it's cut and spliced from different takes. I understand music gets edited during production, don't get me wrong. But if you listen to the complete recording session that this comes from (on the Voodoo Sessions CD), you'd see Alan doesn't know how to edit, much less produce. Born Under A Bad Sign is a great cut, and as far as I know, few people knew it existed in the vault. What other treasures are hiding in there I wonder? Mannish Boy, again comes from pieces of recording sessions (see Black Gold for the complete(?) recording takes). Once I Had A Woman? Great track, but again, bootleg releases show poor editing. Electric Church Red House, which up until this point only appeared officially on the very hard to find Variations On A Theme CD, has an intro tacked on from another song recorded during the same recording session. It's pretty good here, but if you hear the intro on the actual track it was recorded to, you'll only hear the massive break in the flow of the song here. This is a very up and down CD. However, lets end the review on a good note. There's an incredible live version of Hear My Train A Coming, which was originally on the Rainbow Bridge soundtrack and recorded in 1970 at Berkeley (my next must-have, and soon will-have concert). Outstanding. Probably one of the best performances of this song in concert. But the standout track has to be the first one, an acoustic version of `Hear My Train A Comin' Just Jimi playing a 12 string guitar. Powerful. Worth the cost of the CD, just for this one song.

A small note...this has been recently re-issued by Experience Hendrix, with an updated/corrected booklet. I've read that there is a small difference in the cover booklet that lets you know which is which, but I don't know the actual details. Yet. :)

Catalog #: MCASD 11060