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

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"

Yeah, like I was saying, Axis was the one I just never had until my 20s and so I never really developed the same connection to it as to others. Not its fault and I will be listening to it more.

what's your take on castles, bold as love, and little wing as guitar pieces? Are they simple? Does most of your love for jimi come from feeling rather than technical guitar playing?

xxp kate, i have been loving your dragonfly recs. I still hate the lyrics of spanish castle magic, though.

idk, i like the lyrics. the stuff he says, it's interestingly off-kilter. like, after the "dragonfly" thing he feels the need to assure us that it's not _actually_ spanish, that's just, like, a figure of speech, or an architectural descriptor, or i don't know, something. it's totally groovy, there are, like, candy clouds, all hanging over the blood-soaked ground... grooooovy!

I was just trying to imagine Jimi covering Leonard Cohen, lol. Please no. Give me dragonflies every time.

Also, I like how concerned Jimi is that his darlin' is going to fall off the dragonfly, which, you know, you should be.

Wasn't the Spanish Castle a club in Washington state or something like that?

Yup.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/5oY108Zb1Nnjrv3sTg9_SQmZvMHlcuDOeeS1Q8qQXHvYOJwalvSrmAVkbWxdQcYSiJQzc00CElkCpy4ksUeZvRTiiXa6

what's your take on castles, bold as love, and little wing as guitar pieces? Are they simple? Does most of your love for jimi come from feeling rather than technical guitar playing?

Good question. "Little Wing" was the one I voted for and I do really like the melodies in all three. Leslie speaker effect in "Little Wing" and backwards track in "Castles" are great. I never really tried to break those down or play them before. I just tried to work out the intro of "Little Wing" by ear before double-checking it. It's pretty straightforward imo, mostly pentatonic stuff that lies under the fingers, harmonized using basic chord shapes. He played it with a real fluidity and fluency in the idiom, though, bringing out something like a dialogue between two voices.

So I think that's what you mean by feeling rather than technical guitar playing?

Yes, that's a good answer and is otm.

I think the fluidity works particularly well with the lyric and melody on castles. Jimi seemed to be so good at recognizing what the sound and feel of chord shapes implied in a song structure and for the lyric. I think that's also why spanish castle magic bugs me. The riff seems a bit too heavy for the dragonfly imagery.

Suppose spanish castle magic has a bit of a Showman feel in the chorus.

The man was also excellent at making his solos collections of melodic ideas, almost never feels like aimless wankery.

Lots of these most recent posts super otm

Quick question: "Castles" & "Run Run Run"--are they the first examples of that sort of "Waterfalls"-style omnibus song, where each verse has a brief story with a different character, and then the chorus ties them all together with some kind of underlying principle. I can't help but think there's gotta be earlier instances of this technique--like no way Dylan never did this--but I am drawing a total blank atm

"Four Women" by Nina Simone comes to mind, but it doesn't have a chorus.

"Highway 61 Revisited" also.

Ah there it is

Eleanor Rigby, though she returns in the final verse.

I was listening to the Hendrix "Wild Thing" from Monterey and never realized he quotes "Strangers in the Night" briefly in the final solo. Badass.

Looking forward to the rollout so I can hear all the cool tunes not on the major releases

Okay, I've got 29 ballots in. If you've received an email saying "Received!", your votes have been counted. I have one ballot that the ranks need to be adjusted on, and I've got one yet to be counted that has a minor issue to be addressed with the voter. I'll keep this open for another couple days in case anyone else wants to vote.

In other business, is there anyone open to doing images for the main rollout?

Thanks! I did not see a reply, so sent a note to be sure.

hi! i am going to submit a ballot today :)

DO IT!

xp I haven't heard that version of "Wild Thing" in over 20 years but the notes in the solo unexpectedly matched the melody of "Strangers in the night" as it was playing in my head just now so that was weird lol

Okay, I've got 29 ballots in. If you've received an email saying "Received!", your votes have been counted

haven't had an email, I'll resend mine now just in case

I am in serious need of Jimi Hendrix Poll results.

They're coming!

To be nice, I'm keeping the beach polls open through the weekend, after which they'll be closed. I've come up with an idea for the tracks images that I'll work on over the weekend. On Monday we'll get into the side polls and hopefully on Tuesday the tracks rollout will begin!

Thanks C. Grisso/McCain!

mind if I send in a separate email with side polls? I forgot to include them

No problem!

Oooh I just started digging into First Rays & I might end up resubmitting my ballot

Looking forward to the roll out ... still on for Monday start?

xpost, no pressure BTW, just wanting something to look forward to on another quarantine Monday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTL231cgCSA

Looking forward to the roll out ... still on for Monday start?

Still looking to start w/the side poll reveals on Monday.

excellent and thank you.

POLLS ARE CLOSED!

We'll have a Top 50 Tracks rollout, and I'll start with the results of the side polls later today.

Thanks To All For Taking Part!

"Not Necessarily POLLED, But Beautiful..."– ILM Artist Poll #101 – Jimi Hendrix – Results Thread