Whoopy Kat presents a 2 CD set of two historic Hendrix concerts. Wink Of An Eye contains the final concert performance by the original Experience lineup at the Denver Pop Festival, and Jimi's final concert, at the Love & Peace Festival, Isle Of Fehmarn Germany.
CD 1 is the Denver Pop concert. To me, it sounds as the tape source suffers from speed problems, it seems a little slow. The concert itself also feels a little slow, kinda uninspired. It feels like the band was just going through the motions, and the performance suffers because of it.
The highlight of this is probably the track Getting My Heart Back Together Again (aka Hear My Train A Comin'), though it's far from the best performance of it. A very, very average concert with only Red House, and Hear My Train showing any signs of life.
Following this concert, Noel Redding quit/was fired (depending on who tells the story). Would have been nicer to have gone out on a stronger concert than this one. A bonus track (Spanish Castle Magic) from the May 18th, 1969 Madison Square Garden concert is included to fill out the CD.
CD 2 features Jimi's last concert performance, at the Love And Peace Festival. Jimi would pass away less than two weeks later. I had a different source for this concert on the Love And Peace CD.
The quality of that CD was poor however, and very hard to hear anything except Jimi's singing and guitar. This CD comes from a source close or on the stage, and the quality for the most part is much better. At least you can hear all the instruments this time.
Jimi would probably have wanted to go out on a better concert than this one, but it's not too bad. A better performance than on the first CD in this set, IMHO.
Quality? Very up and down. When it's good, it's very good. When it's bad, it's horrible. Poor tape edits and dropouts mar both concerts, Purple Haze from the Denver Pop festival also suffers from tape speed problems. Historically, you will want these recordings.
Soundwise, you probably won't. No fault to Whoopy Kat, the problem is good quality source material is just not available or next to impossible to find these days. Recommended for the collector only.
Disc 1
- Tax Free
- Getting My Heart Back Together
- Fire
- Spanish Castle Magic
- Red House
- Foxy Lady
- Star Spangled Banner
- Purple Haze
- Spanish Castle Magic *
Disc 2
- Killing Floor
- Spanish Castle Magic
- All Along The Watchtower
- Hey Joe
- Hey Baby (Land Of The New Rising Sun)
- Message To Love
- Foxy Lady
- Red House
- Ezy Ryder
- Freedom
- Room Full Of Mirrors
- Purple Haze
- Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
Disc 1 recorded June 29, 1969 at the Denver Pop Festival, Denver, Colorado.
Disc 2 recorded September 6, 1970 at the Love And Peace Festival, Isle of Fehmarn, Germany.
* Bonus track recorded May 18, 1969 Madison Square Garden.
Catalog #: Whoopy Kat WKP-0033
