Published in Flash!              January 26, 2000

Music's greatest guitarist lives on: New 1999 album released by the late Jimi Hendrix

Over the years, Jimi Hendrix’s music has been repackaged in various forms.
Many of these posthumous releases have been shoddy representations of the real
Hendrix. The recently released two-CD set “Live at the Fillmore East” is an exception,
and a great one at that.

Originally recorded at the legendary Fillmore East in New York on Dec. 31, 1969
and Jan. 1, 1970, Hendrix’s new band, the Band of Gypsies, played four sets over the two
evenings.

“Live at the Fillmore East” is a companion to the album “Band of Gypsies.”
Issued by Hendrix’s family company, Experience Hendrix, “Live at the Fillmore East” is
a representation of the true genius of Hendrix.

Kicking off the album is a 13-minute rendition of the much-overlooked “Stone
Free.” Hendrix is clearly setting himself apart from his old band, Experience, while
exploring new ground with their song. His voice starts out shakily but in his nearly 10-
minute solo break, he shows just why he has been proclaimed by some as the greatest
guitarist who ever lived. Hendrix forces his way through “Power of Soul,” revealing
traces of his R&B past. “Hear My Train A Comin’,” a song he never performed the same
way twice, highlights the blues that ran through his soul.

Hendrix’s mind was clearly on the political mood of the time as he introduced
“Izabella.” He dedicated it, as well as both versions of “Machine Gun,” to the “draggy
scene that’s going on right now in Vietnam.” “Izabella is a soldier’s lament to his girl
back home wishing that he could “be holding you instead of this machine gun.”
Hendrix’s visions of the Vietnam War are summed up in his guitar solo-as-
political-statement song “Machine Gun.”

Bassist Billy Cox, who often overshadows Hendrix, shows his chops as a bass
player on “Machine Gun.” Hendrix takes the song to another plane though. He shows
the horrors of the war by coaxing sounds out of his guitar that one could never imagine
up to that time and even today. The shrieking dive-bombers, chilling sounds of babies
crying and an eerie, unsettling wind after the madness are all pictures Hendrix paints with
his Stratocaster. Putting his whammy bar-heavy version of “Taps” on the end simply
completes the masterpiece.

The first CD is clearly the superior disc. It is rounded out by the always-
impressive “Voodoo Child (Slight Return).” What Hendrix calls “the national anthem,”
“Voodoo Child” is cleverly interwoven with the Buddy Miles-led sing-along “We Gotta
Live Together.” Miles reveals just how talented he was as he leads the song and plays
the drums at the same time. He also adds a gospel fervor that had been missing from
previous Hendrix performances.

The second disc opens with Hendrix playing “Auld Lang Syne.” He seemed not
only to be ushering in a New Year and a new decade, but also a new direction for his
music.

Hendrix, Cox, and Miles tear through two new songs “Who Knows” and
“Changes” before getting to the definitive version of “Machine Gun.” Having the song
appear twice is somewhat redundant but can a person look at a Picasso to many times?
Several songs showcasing Hendrix’s diversity in playing styles round out the
second disc. The early roots of R&B, funk, and blues-rock are showcased is songs such
as “Stepping Stone” and “Earth Blues.” The disc ends in typical Hendrix flare with
“Wild Thing.” Playing with his teeth, Hendrix seems to hearken back to his earlier days
with a more flashy performance.

“Live at the Fillmore East” is not for the people familiar only with Hendrix through songs
such as “Purple Haze.” It is, however, a statement of where Hendrix was going and how
truly great his guitar playing was and still is by today’s standards.
It is a shame he never lived to see 1971.

My Grade: A