Good Karma


Recorded at Berkeley Community Theatre on May 30, 1970, Good Karma features some great performances from Jimi, Mitch, and Billy. Perhaps it had to do with the situation at the time of this concert (rioting around the country in protest of the Vietnam War), but these songs seem to have an intensity to them (in my opinion) that I can't really explain. Sound quality is good, though Johnny B. Goode seems a little muffled to me, they could have taken a better sounding copy from the In The West recording. Machine Gun is, well, Machine Gun :) Always intense, always good. Voodoo Child (SR) is great, and just when you think it's ending, Jimi beginning to play the riff slowly and the band waiting for his final chords, Jimi punches it into overdrive and Mitch and Billy come back in dead on the mark with him. To quote Cartman from South Park - "Kickass!!!" Though I don't hear any of Midnight Lightning in it, despite the liner credits. Maybe I'll pick it up with repeated listenings.

Jimi did 2 shows at Berkeley, so this isn't everything from those concerts, but it is a nice selection. It'll make you want to hear more though, as it does me :)

Catalog #: BGO 9307-4