“Oh, Move Over POLLER, And Let Jimi Take Over!” – ILX Artist Poll #101 – Jimi Hendrix – Voting Thread

Apparently, Hendrix favoured a Harley, though, so idk. I didn't think that much about the lyrics, then when I did, I figured he probably meant the motorcycle, but I think I actually like the image if he meant the insect.

oh yeah, there are motorcycles!

Jimi riding an actual dragonfly is the coolest. He's Hendrix, he can ride whatever the fuck he wants to: dragonflies, motorcycles, magic carpets, Marshall stacks, your mom.

i promise you it isn't the coolest

if you asked how far away something was and person replied "should take about a half a day if you travel by my...dragonfly" you would groan and leave

"oh fuck, now there's a groovy image. but seriously, how far by train or car? or can i walk?"

or "fine, the place is closed. i get it, buddy. dick."

half a day is pretty good time if you're traveling to a spanish castle by dragonfly

Where are they starting from?

very far away

which could mean swarthmore, pennsylvania or just like gig harbor, washington

if you are going to write a word problem into your lyric, please leave us with a number of variables equal to or less than the number of equations, jimi

Whatever, maaaan. . . .

Lol:

http://static.highexistence.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/spanish-castle-magic-4-web.jpg

I mean, in terms of lyrical content, tbh, the stuff about foxy ladies and moving over Rover and "are you experienced" seems no less silly to me than the fantastical psychedelic imagery. It's really just about the feel with the music.

Anyway, if anyone's interested and hasn't read it, I thought this article (full PDF available at the link) was really good as an in-depth examination of Hendrix's interpretation of "The Star-Spangled Banner", how it developed over the multiple performances over about a year, and how it reflected his own changing feelings towards the war and military: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-society-for-american-music/article/this-is-america-jimi-hendrixs-star-spangled-banner-journey-as-psychedelic-citizenship/0029FB312D1A8A9C61C0345C6DB59525#

XP I always felt that aspect of his lyrics/music was a by-product of playing Chitlin' Circuit R & B for so long. He went from playing with Little Richard to becoming the Psychedelic Little Richard!

Thanks for the article on "The Star-Spangled Banner". Still working my way through but it's very interesting.

Sorry if this was discussed already but: are we counting "1983" & "Moon Turn the Tides" as the same track?

It hasn't been discussed, but folks so far have only voted for the latter tied to the former, so I'm letting count as one. I don't know if anyone would vote for MTTT by itself.

Voted

Does anyone have a track list and the accompanying breakdown for the John Scannell remix/reconstruction of First Rays?

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

Many thanks, Kate. I've listened to it for years, but haven't sat down and differentiated all the pieces, since they all run together.

yeah it's _the_ absolute cornerstone of my jimi listening

voted

xp I didn't realize how different this Scannell version of First Rays is from the version C. Grisso/McCain linked up thread. The latter seems much more historically accurate/realistic. The Scannell version varies from Jimi's supposed tracklisting, includes many songs that likely weren't going to be included at all, and is radically edited/mixed to create transitions and reprises that obviously Jimi never contemplated, but the Scannell version flows so well and is such a fun listen, it really does feel like the successor to Electric Ladyland.

I love that Scannell mix.

that's what i love about the scannell "first rays", it's not trying to recreate jimi's "vision" for the record, which in the period of time he was making these recordings was diffuse, muddled, shot through with intense pain and suffering. it's a more radical re-envisioning than that, more like what brian wilson (or, uh, darian or whoever) did with "smile" in 2004, taking a bunch of fragments weaving them together in a way that jimi honestly never managed. the official "first rays" is far closer to what jimi was thinking, and it's just not as good. there's too many mid-tempo funk numbers that i just have a really hard time telling apart, and it's to the good that scannell, having given himself a fairly arbitrary 80 minute limit, is willing to cut to the bone. a lot of the songs from the latter half of the '97 EH release just isn't there - "straight ahead", "earth blues", "in from the storm", all gone, "room full of mirrors" (which is a fantastic song) and "astro man" (which maybe isn't) cut to the bone, with the side benefit of excising the homophobic slur from the latter (jimi's relation to queerness being a sort of ongoing sensitive spot for me)

and what's left is is linked by much stranger, more offbeat choices, with _way_ more buddy than i had thought i could tolerate. power of soul and message to love and the buddy version of "stepping stone" and fucking "burning desire" of all things! not songs that i would've considered essential representations of hendrix but thrown in among oddities like "trashman" and "south saturn delta"... well, i could gush about this mix all day, and have done so at embarrassing length before.

if some kind soul wants to ILXmail me a working DL link for that New Rays mix, I would greatly appreciate it!

So First Rays is The Cry of Love + other material from those sessions?

As a kid, the albums I had mostly boiled down to what I could tape from my friend's older brother, which meant Smash Hits, Electric Ladyland, Band of Gypsys, and Cry of Love. At least half of AYE is on the Smash Hits comp, I think, but, weirdly, I ended up way less familiar with Axis (never heard this until my 20s) than with Band of Gypsys (probably still my favourite) and Cry of Love. I still don't really connect with Axis that much at all, compared to the others. I don't think anything from it ended up on my ballot.

about to send my ballot. the one I regret having to cut is "Still Raining, Still Dreaming": that second record of Electric Ladyland is so intense, and this song is a key to it, but fits better there than as a track on its own imo.

here's a dopey observation that is probably wrong: people make a big deal about how Music From Big Pink was a turning point in rock, how artists followed the Band in going back to basics, four track, down home sound. but I feel like one year early, Jimi's first album must have made so many artists realize how much the game had advanced, how far out those sounds were---I mean you can read Miles Davis on Jimi, but that kinda makes the point I want to make: that rock artists (as opposed to jazzbos) saw that they couldn't do what Jimi was doing and so had to change what they were doing. it's the start of prog. (think of that tour of the UK with Jimi, the Pink Floyd, the Nice, the Move)(and, well, the Amen Corner.)

to be specific: it's said that Clapton quit Cream after hearing the Band, but maybe he realized by 68 that he'd never be as bold as love?

Wait, we can still vote?

"Cry of Love" was the first release of material from the sessions Jimi was working on for the last couple years of his life, containing the most complete and market-ready material. Some of the best and most pivotal material he recorded as the sessions didn't come out on that record, though. A lot more of it came out on "Rainbow Bridge", and the rest sort of dribbled out piecemeal over the next 40 or 50 years...

Over time I've come around to Axis more. It definitely seems like his most concise, "pop" record. I feel like it's a lot more along the Chas/Noel axis (uh, no pun intended) than his other stuff. Songs are good, though. I kind of like Richard Lloyd's oddball Hendrix covers record, which depends heavily on Axis material.

I don't actually like any of the material on "Band of Gypsys" except for "Machine Gun"! I'm not really a big Buddy fan.

to be specific: it's said that Clapton quit Cream after hearing the Band, but maybe he realized by 68 that he'd never be as bold as love?

― Joey Corona (Euler)

clapton heard hendrix before damn near anybody else! if anything i feel like hendrix was more indebted to clapton (see: all those times he covered "sunshine") than the reverse...

sleeve - sent

<3

Yeah, a lot of people seem to not like Band of Gypsys as much. For me, the more groove-oriented rhythm section was the perfect setting and support for Hendrix's lead guitar improvisation, allowing him to branch out while staying focused. I also actually like that Miles sings on parts of it; while he's not the most versatile vocalist, I do find his voice more tuneful than Hendrix's and it works for some material. I also love John McLaughlin's Devotion, with Miles on drums, though.

gonna vote now, plenty of time for regret later

Wait, we can still vote?

YES! I keeping voting open at least through this weekend.

sent!

will send soon

Yeah, a lot of people seem to not like Band of Gypsys as much. For me, the more groove-oriented rhythm section was the perfect setting and support for Hendrix's lead guitar improvisation, allowing him to branch out while staying focused. I also actually like that Miles sings on parts of it; while he's not the most versatile vocalist, I do find his voice more tuneful than Hendrix's and it works for some material. I also love John McLaughlin's Devotion, with Miles on drums, though.

― Feel a million filaments (Sund4r)

i'm not on the anti-buddy train like some are - like i mentioned upthread the scannell mix is pretty heavy on the buddy, down to opening with the buddy version of "stepping stone", and in some contexts, like "stepping stone" and especially "machine gun", i definitely appreciate his more static sense of rhythmic propulsion. none of the other songs on the record were, that i know of, ever played live with mitch, so it's hard to say whether i would like them better or not.

i will say that i absolutely hate buddy's singing. i think it's terrible. jimi is a technically extremely untrained singer, but there's a lot of emotion in his voice. it always sounds really heartfelt and sincere to me even when what he's singing is bullshit. with buddy it's just a sea of bad scat.

scatting drummers and whistling guitar players

I'm so into "Crosstown Traffic" I voted for it twice, meaning I get to redo this and there will be an Axis song (an obvious one) on my ballot.

Voted. Could have fiddled with this until the end of time.

Redid my ballot with the one Axis song but, listening to that album more closely the other day, I was thinking more about everything that's going on sonically and I've definitely been underrating it.

there's a lot of emotion in his voice. it always sounds really heartfelt and sincere to me even when what he's singing is bullshit.

Don't disagree with this btw; I don't even mind the bullshit! My point earlier was just that the dragonfly business doesn't stand out to me as exceptionally bullshit.

wait, you only rated one song on axis?

i would also direct dragonfly haters to ursula k. leguin and todd barton's "dragonfly song" and to dutch band dragonfly's monster fuzz jam "celestial empire"