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Jimi Hendrix – “Freedom” – live at the Atlanta Pop Festival

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What does it sound like?:

Surely everyone has heard Jimi Hendrix? It sounds like that! (More below)….

What does it all *mean*?

Well, to this reviewer it just reaffirms, if it needed any affirmation, what an extraordinary musician Jimi Hendrix was, and you can only imagine the charisma surrounding him which could probably be seen from outer space. He plays beautiful blues (the version of “Red House” is one of the best I’ve heard, and I have the “Red House” CD containing only live versions of that song), burning rock and out there stoner (see recent thread) blissed out jamming on “Spanish Castle Magic”. His singing has never been better, and gives lie to those who suggest he can’t sing.
He was dead less than three months later.

Goes well with…

Contrary to popular cliché you don’t have to be out of your box to appreciate Hendrix – I cooked the lunch with it on loud and it sounded bloody fantastic. The only problem is it’s hard not to be distracted by it, so working from home music it ain’t.

Release Date:

Might suit people who like…

You probably already know whether you like Jimi. I confess he is someone I love but don’t play often – this has revived my enthusiasm. If you don’t have any Hendrix, buy this. If you don’t have a Hendrix live album, buy this. If you love guitar playing, buy this. It you want to hear a true titan at the top of his game, buy this.

6

Comments

  1. Sounds like (continued…)

    Sound like
    Surely everyone has heard Jimi Hendrix? It sounds like that! It’s a live album and the sound is excellent, with the band on fire – Mitch Mitchell agile as ever on the opener “Fire”, with ex-army buddy Billy Cox on bass, replacing Noel Redding. He is driving and funky and everything a bass player should be, so all good there. Jimi could have good nights and bad nights (he was known to overdo the pre gig relaxants and cock it up in a way bands never do any more) but here he’s as sharp as a tack. Of course there’s any amount of live material out there of Hendrix, but this set catches the band in top form on a good night in front of a mixed race Southern audience at the Atlanta Pop Festival, and the good vibes and positivity (man) leap out of the speakers. Unlike the posthumous “Hendrix in the West” – a fine album which many will have, which oddly brackets this performance, being from a variety of gigs between 1969 and 1970 and features both Redding and Cox on different tracks (and has some dubious choices, for example an out of his tree version of “Blue Suede Shoes” which he slurs an introduction as “Be Be Bop A lula”) – this is a complete performance from one night and sounds more complete for it.

  7. Jimi was a once off – a star man.
    His playing, singing, songs and look were a single thing.
    Clapton et al are great players. But it is Eric and his guitar. Jimi and his guitar are the same thing……if you follow my drift.
    Must check this one out.

  8. There are plenty of live Jimi albums but this is a cracker, quite possibly his best.

    Credit for its release must go to the keepers of his legacy (I hesitate to use the term ‘family’), who are often criticised (quite rightly, too, much of the time). Let’s give them some praise this time.

    Thanks, Twang. There aren’t many other reviews available and yours is spot on!

  9. Big month for us 1980s-dodgers, that’s for sure.

    This solid Jimi release, an unreleased 1969 album by Elyse Wienberg, and the Carole King/The City album from 1968 getting a rare outing.

    Tie it all up with a Labour leader who’s…..erm…..left wing, and 2015 might not be such a wash out, after all.

  10. It looks like this is an improved and expanded version of what I picked up as part of the “Stages” box set quite some time ago, and now seems to be out of print. Thanks for the review – prompted me to give “Stages” and spin and look for this release on Spotty.

  11. If someone was to ask how far has electric guitar playing advanced since the instrument was invented in 1931 you may as well just point them in the direction of this track from the Atlanta festival album. I don’t think anyone has done it any better since ? As someone else pointed out above – Hendrix and his guitar just seem to be a single entity.

    Thanks for featuring this album Twang

  13. Always loved the band of gypsy’s band.

    I wasnt as imporessed with the version of red house- found the solos less bluesy than other times he has played.I will give it another listen

    Watchtower is interesting . Perhaps something happened at the start that interrupted him, a sound issue perhaps but from then on he appears to deliberately leave one or two words off the end of most lines for the remainder of the song.

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