STRAIGHTER HEAD
I have always been troubled by Jimi Hendrix's death and the struggles he had towards the end. Something was clearly wrong. In the months leading up to his death he seemed terribly unhappy. This gives me the opportunity to mention another brilliant blog of specialist pages focusing on a few artists namely Jimi and Pink Floyd and specifically Dave Gilmour alone, rather than the shotgun spattered eclecticism of my pages here so check out over at Prochedelic Music and I think I found it through the auspices of Floppy Boot Stomp and/or Voodoo Wagon thanks to Silent Way and Jobe and the gang (where else?!).
Now Prochodelic Music has posted an attempt to interpret Jimi's proposed fourth album before his tragic and untimely death at a mere 27. It is a fascinating read and worth checking out for the liner notes if nothing else (see below) but is well worth the listen too. Now I have a problem with his work post Electric Ladyland and so did he it would seem. I blame his management and specifically Mike Jeffrey who ensured Hendrix's touring schedule was chaotic, seemed unplanned, hectic and guaranteed to exhaust the star. This was of course the industry standard at the time and bands were sent with little to no logic on tours without the meticulous eye for detail we expect these days. It is my belief he was close to nervous exhaustion around the time he died and if you check his itinerary and the photos of him before he passed away you may ending up agreeing that he seems to have become far from happy with his lot. Electric Lady recording studio looked like costing him a fortune and probably not capable of recouping his investment before several years were to pass but we will never know now.
There is quite a lot of evidence that Prochodelic is correct in his tracklising (see Jimi's notes on illustrations 4 below) and Jimi had definitely had begun working on it when he died. Listening to it worries me. It sounds unformed at best and untidy somehow. It seems to reflect his mood and frustrations what with the arguments with Chas Chandler who left him by now and with Noel (Reading) effectively being sacked but he also seemed less than happy with his chosen replacements in Billy Cox and Buddy Miles and others to boot. The album as it might have been has a sound that we don't find upon Electric Ladyland. It has a discordant note to me. There is no Red House, no beauty of Little Wing no magic jam of Voodoo Chile 15 minute album jam with the joyous peak of working with Steve Winwood, Jack Cassady and guests [sic] or the vision of reinterpreting Dylan's All Along The Watchtower. His attempt to continue and cover another Dylan song in the cover of 'Drifter's Escape' has none of the re-arrangement or vitality that Watchtower must have made Bob sit up and take notice in shock and awe at what Jimi had wrought. It is lacklustre and uninspired. But then much of the work is in my humble opinion and I know there are Hendrix fans who will disagree with this and cite Ezy Rider, Cherokee Mist and especially Roomful of Mirrors but in my view these are nowhere near the excellence the artistry, the beauty if you will of his previous albums.
Check it out and see if you agree . . . . . or not and look at these cover notes here to whet your appetite
Jimi Hendrix - the missing fourth - STRATE AHEAD
you know how much I enjoy your remembrances & on occasion been there or nearby & so much of that was true with Jimi Hendrix for me. one night in 66 I did find my way to a subterranean venue off of West 4th Street to see a band I had read about named the Raves. As I descended the steps to my left there was another "stage door" where I loudly heard the bards singing "hanging out by the schoolyard gate, looking up every dress see..." but I turned to the opposite door where I came to catch the Carnaby Street attired garage-y crew. & as we sat at the communal table we were joined by 3 Greenwich Village- Runaway look likes & a scraggly older black fellow. In time the Raves invited him to the stage, introduced Jimmy James & he led them thru a rendition of Louie Louie featuring some behind the back guitaring. I was frankly unimpressed.....then. I guess Charles Chandler appeared & spirited him away sometime soon after. So for all this "history" in time I wrote a "satirical conspiracy tale about Jimi & the other "Spirits of the 27" & their horrorific, shocking, sudden & numerous Deaths. So if you or your readers want to wind the path of how or why Jimi & others simply cashed in please read & enjoy perhaps "The Tale of The Golden Eye at http://rickhoffmanart.com/golden%20eye%202019.pdf
ReplyDeleteWow bk! SO impressed you should drop by and write such a response. Sounds amazing and I will check it out immediately. Sounds like a link that deserves my EXTRA attention!
ReplyDeleteThank you SO much for dropping by
"Tales of the Golden Eye" WOW!
ReplyDeleteJust WOW!
Love the piece there and your painting too is extraordinary! (very keen on the most recent work there!)
Will peruse at length bk
Thanks again . . . . . .
thank you Andy. I really appreciate your words. I've commented on your posts about my meeting don van vliet when he was showing paintings in NYC. & around the same time as the Jimi time, how we would see MoonDog on the street -never knowing he was a composer. Years after the Cafe FeenJon show with the Raves I saw Hendrix just a month or so before his death in an outdoor show in Philadelphia. He wasnt really very into it. Most of the songs just stopped abruptly after some jamming, followed by some group off mic banter & on to the next one. & then they just ended it. We were up close. The stage was in a stadium in the football end zone & we all sat in the "playing field". When they left the stage they walked right by us. Jimi was arm in arm with 2 women & I took notice that he was wearing skin coloring makeup which had a reddish sheen. He seemed quite happy. I have come to feel that Hendrix was more interested in studio recording. Your posting certainly confirms that. Like so many others then & now... the money is made by playing live shows. & the Raves! I used to read a U.K. music magazine called "The Rave. They supported the Band in their magazine & announced the show in the village. Seeing Hendrix was just a blunder for me. thank you Andy. I really appreciate your words. I've commented on your posts about my meeting don van vliet when he was showing paintings in NYC. & around the same time as the Jimi time, how we would see MoonDog on the street -never knowing he was a composer. Years after the Cafe FeenJon show with the Raves I saw Hendrix just a month or so before his death in an outdoor show in Philadelphia. He wasnt really very into it. Most of the songs just stopped abruptly after some jamming, followed by some group off mic banter & on to the next one. & then they just ended it. We were up close. The stage was in a stadium in the football end zone & we all sat in the "playing field". When they left the stage they walked right by us. Jimi was arm in arm with 2 women & I took notice that he was wearing skin coloring makeup which had a reddish sheen. He seemed quite happy. I have come to feel that Hendrix was more interested in studio recording. Your posting certainly confirms that. Like so many others then & now... the money is made by playing live shows. & the Raves! I used to read a U.K. music magazine called "The Rave. They supported the Band in their magazine & announced the show in the village. Seeing Hendrix was just a blunder for me. The Raves hailed from Brooklyn, New York and released three 45s on Smash, garage pop with a slight bubblegum sound. Their debut 45 was 'Mother Nature'\ The flip was 'Mister Man'.
ReplyDeleteWow bk, fantastic read. Andy you are so right about Jimi's last days, you can see from Monika Dannemann's last photo shoot of Hendrix how even though he is smiling in a couple of shots, his body seems to be saying he is worn out. Many examples exist on his mental state at the time of his last year. The story of his drink being spiked by Mike Jeffrey (supposedly) before going on stage, playing for 15 minutes, stopping the lackluster show he is giving and reportedly saying "I've been dead for years" then walking off the stage. The debacle at The Isle of Fehmarn. Imagine the crowd booing him. I myself think that what I've read about him not wanting to play "Purple Haze" "Foxey Lady" etc. is true. It's pretty hard to find good sounding shows from June through to September in 1970, but from the ones I've heard he is trying to incorporate his newer material with the old "hits" Andy, you are dead on on your thoughts about "The Drifters Escape" However I do feel that some of those last songs would be some of his best. The version of "Villanova Junction" played at Woodstock seems to foreshadow the events of what was to become. His "thank you" said at the end of the song (on the original Woodstock album) sounds to me like a man who has been beaten down and sees no way out of his dilemma. The footage shown from Woodstock while the song is playing in the background, the debris, the lack of a crowd is maybe the saddest thing I've ever seen in regards to Jimi. And to think the "ONLY" thing he really wanted to do was play and create music to break us through to the other side.
ReplyDeleteThanks bk . . . again fascinating comments and another good read in response. Superb. Thank you so much
ReplyDelete. . . . . and Brother Jobe, thanks for dropping by again. Always welcome and you are spot on about bk's comments and anecdotes!
I always regret not seeing Jimi and had the opportunity but was disorganised and distracted . . . . . ahem!