Every once in a while, you get something unexpected. This is one of those times, This 3 CD set, Mixdown Master Tapes, has in one day become my favorite ROIO. I had gotten some of the tracks found on this set on some other CDs recently, but not in the quality found here.
There are so many great tracks, to list them all would be pretty much just repeating the entire track listing found below. One track stands out a little, because it has an intro found on a previous released track.
Hear My Freedom, from the first CD, has the intro that has been until now tacked onto the beginning of Electric Church Red House, found on the Blues CD, also the Variations On A Theme CD. There's a little musical intro, as Jimi introduces the people there in the studio.
On the previous releases, the band would then go into Red House. And until this point, I thought that's what happened. In fact, the band did not play Red House, but went into Hear My Freedom. This was more of a surprise as Electric Church Red House I have on 3 other CDs, and they all had this intro.
However, reading John McDermott's Sessions book today, I found out that that was tacked on, no doubt by Alan Douglas during the Variations CD session, and the tapes from that session made their way into the bootlegger's hands. It was good on Red House, but here it's amazing and flows so naturally.
And Hear My Freedom is a kick-ass tune, with some incredible organ playing by Lee Michaels. I've talked here for a paragraph, and all I've discussed is *one* track. Needless to say, almost every other track could be written up as much, discussing how great it is. I'll let someone else do that though :)
Sound quality on this is excellent throughout. These either came from sources extremely close to the master tapes, or the masters themselves. And not taped on someone's Crappy Shack tape deck, this was put together on high quality equipment.
This is a set you have to have in your collection. Not a ahould have, a MUST HAVE!
CD 1
- The Stars That Play With Laughing Sam's Dice 4:37
- Please Crawl Out Your Window 2:37
- Calling All Devil's Children 6:03
- Hear My Freedom 9:05
- Star Spangled Banner 4:12
- Machine Gun 12:41
- Freedom Jam 8:05
- From 9 To The Universe 19:04
- Hey Gypsy Boy 3:20
- Cat Talking To Me 2:48
CD 2
- Instrumental Jam 14:01
- Rainy Day (Overdub) 1:52
- Rainy Day, Dream Away 11:04
- Moon Turn The Tides 4:44
- Heaven Has No Tomorrow 8:34
- Valleys Of Neptune 2:56
- Valleys Of Neptune 5:54
- 3 Little Bears Jam 12:37
- Bleeding Heart 0:36
- Bleeding Heart 3:24
- Cherokee Mist 7:01
CD 3
- Mushy Name 4:00
- Crying Blue Rain 10:45
- Alcatrazz 4:12
- Country Blues 10:51
- Villanova Junction Blues 4:13
- Jimi/Jimi Jam 4:00
- 3 Little Bears 12:52
- M.L.K. & Cherokee Mist 19:59
Catalog #:
Very special thanks to the Cute One, for her help in this review
