Jimi Hendrix - Live at Winterland
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CD Details
Artist: Jimi HendrixEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1990-10-25
Music Label: Rykodisc
Product features:
- ORIGINAL ARTWORK! LIKE NEW, BOX, DISCS ,BOX + BOOKLET !
Music reviews of Live at Winterland
Music Review: A Spiritual Sunburn*...
Rating: 5 Stars
It's hype time, no apologies - positively the hottest Hendrix concert disc, ever. From start to finish it blazes with intense energy. Molten, volcanic energy. Jimi may have achieved the towering summit of guitar creativity with his "Star Spangled Banner" at Woodstock, but that show at times drifts and lulls, as he was stressed and burdened with his inferior "Gypsy" band, and was physically exhausted at having waited over 8 hours to finally go on. And so "Live at Winterland" by the Jimi Hendrix Experience is a superior show that incinerates all others.
"Fire" erupts with a million megaton burst, the most violent nuclear version of the song I've ever heard. Next, "Manic Depression" is a blast furnace of aural wonder, swirling with electro-thermal fury. To Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love" he takes a raging flamethrower. "Spanish Castle Magic" gets ruthlessly battered and bruised in a relentless sonic assault. A smoldering "Red House" is glowing at every seam. Next, he and guest bassist Jack Casady from Jefferson Airplane thoroughly scorch "Killing Floor."
And then, in what is absolutely the most unusual, the most mind bending gesture of creativity, Jimi performs an astonishing tours de force parody of himself by way of a complex composition written by two Swedish dudes. Within the span of "Tax Free's" eight minutes nearly every tone, style and effect that Hendrix had yet ever attempted is dramatically recreated, seemingly being played by someone imitating Jimi, and maybe doing a better job at it. It's such a disturbingly outrageous act of inventiveness, sublime and hysterical, no other artist could even conceive it. I can't overstate the uniqueness of this moment, the sheer stunning genius.
You might doubt what I'm saying about this particular song's performance because it's essentially gone unrecognized by virtually everyone. You never hear critics talk about it and it's not discussed by hard core Hendrix fans. The fact is, just about nobody gets it. Probably because the tune itself isn't all that memorable in its construction, it's been universally undetected at being the astoundingly unique creation it is. It's the indescribable things that Jimi does to, with, for, and about the unusual composition that is the very definition of Post Modern Art. If you're fortunate to follow where he's journeying with all his time shifting stops and starts, backward sounding leads and feedback orchestrations, your mind gets stretched, twisted, and remolded in very bewildering ways. There's just no equivalent experience to compare it to by any other live performer, ever.
Jimi gives a subtle clue as to his self conscious metaphysical posture by announcing it as "Tax Free...Tax Free...Tax Free..." Like Gertrude Stein's "A rose is a rose is a rose", he's calling into question the idea of identity and originality. Have the two Swedes crafted a better, truer "Hendrix" composition than Jimi himself could? And who, then, is Jimi if he in fact is not the best version of Jimi Hendrix? He explores these mind shattering notions not in simple, idle thought or tedious chatter, but by assuming the role of an altered, heightened version of himself and performing what is nothing less than the complete reconstruction of his being. That's pretty heady stuff, aye? And he's doing it so much better than any cerebral Doctoral candidate could ever scratch out. He tears into the song with the force and style of two Jimis, revealing himself to be a sublime master of existential philosophy as well as the original Guitar God. It's for this track above all others that I recommend this disc, and the rest of the tracks are indeed blazing brilliance.
He then proceeds with blistering, tight versions of the staples "Foxy Lady", "Hey Joe", "Purple Haze" and "Wild Thing." His grand intro to "Hey Joe" is epic. He's not yet bored and burnt out on these numbers and they all crackle and snap with toasty crispness. He packs every sound as absolutely full of heart as any superman can. His notes are loaded with decades, eons of musical memory, and radiate a galaxy of cosmic heat. There isn't the slightest hint what-so-ever that his prior stage antics may be haunting him. If someone yells for him to burn his guitar then it's just that silly fan's mistake. Jimi's already done that old stunt one better, even if they all were too thick and dull to catch it.
If you find all this just too hard to believe, too much fawning and raving, then know that only just now, after marveling at it for more than 22 years, have I thought to put into words my impressions of this disc. I've waited to submit this comment to be sure I wasn't exaggerating or fooling myself. I acknowledge his Fillmore East '69/'70 "Band of Gypsies" concert has "Machine Gun", which might just be the single most remarkable rock song performance ever, iconic. But the rest of that concert is not up to that level - it lags and wavers throughout, as it's often brought to a crawl by Buddy Miles' tedious call and responses and plodding drums. And '67's "Monterrey Pop", of course, has "Wild Thing" that seared everyone's mind with its shamanistic flaming sacrifice. He and the boys were certainly fresh and tight back then, but there's even more group cohesion and incendiary virtuosity one year later on this one. So it's with all this contemplation and consideration that I make my claim that this concert disc is the most raging inferno of Jimi's searing talent ever captured. It's hot!
The engineering here is quite good, though the eq is a hair light on bass. No problem, just crank the bass knob. It's hardly worth mentioning that at times there are barely audible buzzes, hisses and static noise. The distraction, if any, is negligible as these petty glitches are so overwhelmed by the band's awesome power. Fact is I didn't even notice the stuff till just a couple years ago. If they'd remaster this one I'd pay $25 or more to posses the ultimate evidence of the ultimate live Hendrix Experience.
*9/27/10 - As I have recently just heard the entire 6 cd, 6 show collection of Jimi's 3 nights at Winterland, I feel it only fair to amend my review of this particular Alan Douglas produced release. It is now quite apparent that what is presented here is is fact the cream of the crop, the absolute finest moments selected from those 6 consecutive performances. Representing this as a single performance, rather than highlights culled from 6 shows, is rather disingenuous, even deceptive. This, of course, is wholly the product of the evil Alan Douglas, who is notorious for this sort of subterfuge. The wrath and ire that the self deluded Douglas provoked with his constant meddling with Jimi's legacy is again justified as it turns out that he has unconscionably created a false standard by which to judge other Jimi performances. The 6 actual performances are each quite routine for the Experience at the time, with meandering moments, soft unfocused attempts, and constant interference and interruptions from faulty equipment. To be sure there are moments of absolutely blazing brilliance captured throughout, some of the finest takes ever recorded, and my review above I still include as my genuine reactions to the individual takes. The "performance" has been scrubbed of inferior moments. Omitting them has presented a false account of what transpired those 3 nights. That's a major crime, if you consider that Jimi's greatest attribute, most fervent impulse, was to reveal the truth. Even if it's an ugly truth. So "cleanin' up" Jimi's mess is a task that Alan Douglas took upon himself without anyone's request or permission. In light of this I have to affix an asterisk to this CD - the contents have been tampered with. It's as though that idiot Alan has, without Jimi's knowledge, injected him with steroids. Even the greatest of all time gains an unfair advantage under the influence of performance enhancing drugs.... Ha! That's funny - Jimi operating under the influence of drugs!....
Description of Live at Winterland
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