Jimi

Electric Ladyland was the first LP I actually bought. Of course it's still around.

Two persons (that I know of) at my work actually experienced him live. Envious!

The question is, had he been a greater or lesser act today if he'd been alive? Or had he been thought of as being a bit pathetic, old man who still thinks he's a guitar genius. Most of todays guitarists can do his solos at double speed (that doesn't make them musically more interesting).

Still, he had a special "feeling" for the guitar that very few has and that's still unique.

I will use Woodoo Chile next time an ignorant visits me!

JohanR

Jimi played in our town (Crawley W Sussex) 196? I did not know much about him except Hey Joe. I was in town in the evening and could hear the concert outside it sounded OK what it was like inside I can only imagine.

Johan speed of playing is nothing to do with how great a player is, just listen and keep telling your self there is only 3 of them. 4 of them being Jimi He could play rythym and lead at the same time and "act" on stage as well.

Heaven must have the best "super" group going.

RIP Jimi

Regards

Howard

quote:

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and a few thoughts of what could have been.

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He was in such a different class that I have difficulty imagining him today as an ageing jet-set rocker who turns up every five years or so for a cash-in tour. His destiny could have been far more tragic - a bit like Syd Barrett, Van Gogh or Nijinski ...

Cheese

I fully agree with everything that as been said about jimi...To me he was the master of the strat...is there any guitarist born in the same era that hasn't been influenced by this guy!!
Regards
Raymond.

IMHO Jimi was without question or caveat the Greatest Guitarist Ever. I'm still reeling from seeing Blue Wild Angel (film of the complete 1970 Isle Of Wight Fstival JH set) several months ago -as I reported then on this forum (though from the number of responses I got from the rest of you I may as well not have bothered). Jimi's tragically premature demise heads my list of the Deaths That Hurt The Most by quite some distance (the next two being those of Lowell George and Gram Parsons).

Having thus (I hope) established my credentials as a Jimi-phile, I'm going to use this opportunity to advertise the talents of another (living) guitarist - Jean-Paul Bourelly whom, IMHO, other JH lovers could do well to investigate. Bourelly is usually classed as a jazz guitarist (though he has been eschewed by the writers of the Penguin Guide) and perhaps for this reason remains obscure to many otherwise-well-informed punters. He has done a Hendrix tribute (which I hope he doesn't now regret because it's one of the very best) and certainly at times can sound uncannily like the Master. But there's much more to Jean-Paul than that.

Well, if anyone's remotely interested, I can recommend some CDs.

Yours not very hopefully
Jim

Jim,

I had a look at the link and I've got to say that "Tribute to Jimi" has a particularly cheesy cover. But what the heck, what do you recommend?

Dave

Dave, where to begin? I mean, they're all so good!

OK, seriously now... I wouldn't recommend you start with the JH tribute (particularly as you apparently have an allergic reaction to its artwork!) as it's undoubtedly a little too reverential for some tastes, at least in places.

All of the DIW stuff is uniformly excellent, IMHO, but my personal favourites are Blackadelic-Blu and Rock The Cathartic Spirits. These albums are continually informed by an oblique HipHop sensiblility which bubbles deliciously under but is never allowed to dominate or become too overt.

More recently the influence on Bourelly of African/World music has become more apparent - reference the latest two Boom Bop releases, which are also well up to standard. Coincidentally a copy of Trance Atlantic has just appeared on eBay.

If you do fancy hearing some Hendrix covers, check out Defunkt Special Edition (on Enemy) which is a live tribute to both JH and Muddy Waters.

HTH Jim

I agree that the original vinyl Electric Ladyland is among the very best, but I have bought several CD re-issues without finding one that is even half decent.