search & destroy: the posthumous Jimi Hendrix catalog

I'd agree with that (and that's a lot of what I feel about Band Of Gypsys too). He was definitely in a transitional mode.

What a fucking loss.

There are few rock deaths where I genuinely think, beyond the human tragedy, we lost *so* much music that might have happened.

Also weird that these songs also sound a bit over worked, or over produced even? I know he loved doing far too many takes, but they lack vitality. Partly that might just be him adapting to the new decade, idk, ir just what was happening to lots of 60s acts, but they are a bit flat to me. But yeah, cant imagine anyone seeing these as definitive. I dont think he knew what he was doing next. Tragic we will never find out. I think he needed a new chas Chandler maybe, someone to help steer him along. Tempted to read the chas book he wrote now.

Listening to a lot of the recent releases, they really are mostly just rehearsal tapes. Its sort of interesting and disappointing to hear a lot of this stuff. Hendrix was capable of more. Pretty fucked up that we will never know what exactly. I think he had lots of rock musician identity issues, but not 100% sure if it would have worked for him to be in a mahavishnu orchestra type jazz rock band either.

Absolutely. In terms of great lost work, Jimi is probably at the top of the list, simply because he was recording so much at the time of his death and mapping out so many new directions that he never had the chance to really explore. So much promising music, gone. Otis Redding would be a close second. He recorded so much right before his death, partly because he was stuck at home recovering his voice and wound up writing so much. Unlike Jimi his posthumous legacy has been curated with far more care, and a lot of it is not only held in equal regard but even more popular than his previous LP's.

I wish I could add Kurt Cobain but he was such a mess, mentally and probably physically, that it may have been too debilitating. Buddy Holly was only 22, and he was still writing some gems, but I'm not sure if he would've continued that long as a recording artist, and it's impossible to say how he would've fared as a producer over the course of the '60s. Same with Sam Cooke - his last records like "A Change Is Gonna Come" were easily his best and breaking new ground, but he actually wasn't recording a whole lot during his final months. It's possible he was planning to become more of a producer/label owner than anything else.

Don't forget the Gil Evans collaboration that was planned but never came to pass.

Presumably THIS would have been the cover. Wild.

https://www.matiklarweinart.com/images/gallery/jimi-hendrix-1970.jpg

Evans did go on to record a Hendrix tribute instead. It's good...maybe a little forced without the natural fire I would have hoped, but still good.

Theres also the less enticing, maybe just plain cynical possibility that he might not have found any satisfying direction to pursue... but I'd like to think he would have found a way to draw it all together.

If Hendrix had lived even a few months longer, it would have been a boon for his legacy, because at least he would have finished a new record, and we could know what of that output he considered wheat and chaff.
Otis Redding is different because he was recording completed songs live with a band, without a lot of post-production (other than seagull sounds), so anything he did is going to sound more complete than Hendrix jamming on a riff with guest musicians, trying to figure out what he wants to do.

Reinvestigating this stuff has clarified that Hendrix only made three studio albums. Four if you include the different uk/us are you experienced versions. Everything else is just off cuts. Def weird to see ppl earlier in this thread saying first rays is the one they will be recommending newbies.

There are few rock deaths where I genuinely think, beyond the human tragedy, we lost *so* much music that might have happened.

― Ray Cooney as "Crotch" (stevie), Friday, January 22, 2021 2:08 AM (nine hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

And it wasn't just a loss of the music Hendrix might have made; it was a loss in terms of the direction of the many, many major figures he influenced. Miles obviously did tons of groundbreaking work that was deeply influenced by Hendrix, but how might his approach have differed if Hendrix had lived (and/or they eventually collaborated, as was tentatively planned)?

Hendrix had so much momentum, and so much of the (for lack of a better term, and broadly defined) "rock scene" revolved around that momentum. It was like when Coltrane died: what do we do/where do we go now that he's gone?

This is an interesting attempt at First Rays

http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2012/06/jimi-hendrix-first-rays-of-new-rising.html

Never thought it was brick walled or over compressed. Not sure that would dramatically change the album but would be interesting to hear that.

Very few of the reimaginings (or, I guess imaginings, since it never existed in full in the first place) seem to get the sequencing right, especially, and oddly, the official ones. That albumsthatneverwere sequencing looks really solid, though.

I can’t remember the name, but my favorite post-EL jimi studio track might be the one with the high pitched “la la la”s in the background...

Earth Blues?

Very few of the reimaginings (or, I guess imaginings, since it never existed in full in the first place) seem to get the sequencing right, especially, and oddly, the official ones. That albumsthatneverwere sequencing looks really solid, though.

The only fault I'd have with it is the use of those two 45 mixes - Hendrix rejected those and wanted to work on them further, and I definitely prefer the First Rays mix for one of them, but otherwise I generally prefer what he's got and would say it's better than any other official or fan-made recreation I've heard.

The version of stepping stone on both sides of the sky is so much more spontaneous sounding than the one on first Rays.

xxp yep that’s the one!

Made a playlist of a range of songs from the final years that cover alot of his instrumentals too, rather than focus so heavily on all those similar rockers he made at the time. If you've never heard easy blues, you really should.

Side one
Stepping stone (both sides of the sky) this version is much livelier than the one on first Rays
Drifters escape (south Saturn delta)
Beginnings (first rays)
Hear my train (people hell angels)
Angel (first rays)
Side two
Pali gap (ssd)
My friend (first rays)
Easy blues (pha)
Drifting (first rays)
Cherokee mist (bsots) this is a bit reminiscent of gypsy eyes and doesnt sound totally complete but is quite weird so would be a good piece to have here.
Side three
Night bird flying (first rays)
Midnight lightning (ssd)
Things I used to do (bsots)
Side four
Villanova junction blues (pha)
In from the storm (first rays)
Hey baby new rising sun (first rays)

nice

It's strange listening to the studio versions of the BOG songs actually. In a way I feel the same way about his attempts to broach soul of the time as I do with prince trying to incorporate hip hop edginess or language and posturing in the 90s, which is weird lol

Forgot to write, that version of hear my train is the last one he cut in the studio IIRC, and I think maybe the best one (its fierce!), though the acoustic one from the film is great too, but that already came out in his lifetime so I excluded it.

yeah it's really good. it sounds really complete, produced, finished.

pali gap sometimes is my favorite hendrix track ever. so laid back yet so much attitude. and the rhythm section just hammering that vamp.

Also just gorgeous.

i think i know every note of it by heart.

Send my love to Linda is another good one from the last sessions, but it's like loverman, great guitar work, but not much of a developed song there. Would be a great b side though.

Pali gap is def a cousin of hey baby new rising sun, or uses the same guitar tone/effects at least. He was def trying to use a diff guitar palette at this point.

My favourite "Hear My Train a Comin'" is the one on Valleys of Neptune, I prefer the slower, grinding pace to the rush of the People Hell and Angels version.

Train is also a monster on the Woodstock album

I know it was a bit controversial to erase or not record the percussion on the Woodstock show but going from the first Ray's songs, it often just sounds surplus to requirements. Just too busy. I get he was trying to work in Latin, soul and funk influences, but it's much busier than those genres tend to be, while also still more earth bound or street bound than his older songs somehow. A weird tension. I wish someone told Hendrix he didnt have to worry about being outside of modern black music.

https://www.loudersound.com/features/hendrix-the-gigs-that-changed-history-10-atlanta-pop-festival-2

This has some good versions of freedom, room full of mirrors. Really prominent bass in the mix too.

how had i never heard cherokee mist?? like an alternate universe where jimi played in the velvet underground. incredible weird metallic sound on the guitar. hypnotic!

Found another stepping stone which is actually the best one, on the voodoo child compilation. Quite different feel to the rest and more complete than the south Saturn delta one. Just nuts how many alternative takes there are! Theres another Cherokee mist too, but quite different.

My favorite take on First Rays is the John Scannell remix:

https://web.archive.org/web/20120325214917/http://letamancomeinanddothepopcorn.blogspot.com/2008/09/first-rays-mix.html

I never found any of the other versions very satisfying -- not Cry Of Love, not the 1997 First Rays, and especially not Voodoo Soup (with a hapless drum overdub by the Knack's Bruce Gary that constantly drifts in and out of tempo). But the Scannell remix feels like canon to me.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, January 21, 2021 11:26 AM (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink

I'd like to hear this but the links on that wayback machine capture are rapidshare... has it been reposted elsewhere?

I'd like to hear it too, though tbh the studio versions of a lot of those songs dont seem good enough.

Strongly recommend checking out stepping stone and loverman from the Fillmore east shows on spotify. If he wanted to really change his sound, post-experience, these are really great, scaled back examples of how it could have gone.