Cherokee Mist


Cherokee Mist is a collection of studio tracks, mostly extended jams recorded at the Record Plant in late 1969/early 1970. One track doesn't belong here, and that's the track Denny Boy. Why is that? A simple reason actually...it's not Jimi Hendrix playing! It's someone called David Henderson. He apparently sent a demo tape to Alan Douglas, to show his playing skills. Somehow, his tape was added to the Hendrix vaults as Jimi Hendrix performances! Talk about incompetence...as if I didn't hate Alan Douglas enough as it is. So once this tape made it into the vaults, bootleggers also began releasing it as Hendrix material. And it's not as if it actually sounds like Jimi. When I first heard this track, I suspected immediately it wasn't Hendrix. Not only the playing style didn't seem right, there were so many effects added to the guitar tone, it couldn't possibly be mistaken for Hendrix by anybody who knew his playing. I don't blame the bootleggers for the mistake, I blame an incompetent producer with the initials A.D. But enough ranting, it's only one track after all. As for what is here by Jimi, you get a pretty decent mix of material. Jimi was well into experimenting with songs, just jamming to see what came out of him. Country Blues is a slow blues, featuring a very heavy bass line. Calling All Devil's Children has a different mix on the vocals than is on other releases. The crowd noises go on for a minute or so after the music ends. Valleys Of Neptune is a track that was in the running for Jimi's 4th album, but was never completed. Cherokee Mist is another take of Jimi's tribute to his Cherokee Indian heritage. Easy Blues is a great jazzy number, which could (and should) very easily appear on an official release. Little Drummer Boy/Silent Night is the Band Of Gypsys' rehearsal with the added choir vocals. Drone Blues appeared on Nine To The Universe, but is here in complete form. Stepping Stone is the basic track of the released version, without the lead wah-wah guitar overdub. Send My Love To Linda I believe is actually Heaven Has No Sorrow, or at least that's what it's called on Mixdown Master Tapes. But song names tend to be made up by whoever releases the song first. Also, the track cuts off in the middle of the song. Another version of Easy Blues closes my copy of Cherokee Mist. Mine is a CDR of the original, and the second Easy Blues was added to fill the CD.

Quality of this CD is quite good, though most of the material I have on other CDs. The trainspotter in me gets two "new" tracks (Guitar Improvisation, and the 2nd Easy Blues), but that's pretty much it. If you don't have most of these tracks on other CDs in your collection, then I would grab this CD.
* This track is a fake, and is NOT Jimi Hendrix.

Catalog #: Triangle PYCD 070