| August 5th, 2005 01:44 PM |
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| GimmeExile |
Complete Hendrix Woodstock Set Heads To DVD
By Greg Prato, N.Y.
Jimi Hendrix's closing performance at Woodstock on Aug. 18, 1969, is arguably one of the most iconic moments in rock history, but it has never been commercially available in its entirety. That will change on Sept. 13, when Universal Music and Experience Hendrix release the DVD "Jimi Hendrix -- Live at Woodstock." The project comes out a day earlier in the U.K.
The double-disc set captures one of Hendrix's only performances with an extended backing band, dubbed Gypsy Sun And Rainbows. Longtime Hendrix engineer Eddie Kramer supervised a new audio mix in both 5.1 and 2.0 stereo sound. Bonus features include "The Road to Woodstock" documentary, a contemporaneous press conference and "A Second Look," which blends black-and-white video footage with color clips from alternate angles.
More than 35 years later, Woodstock is still a high point for Gypsy Sun And Rainbows (and later, Band Of Gypsys) bassist Billy Cox. "We had a house in Woodstock for maybe 30 days, and then the Woodstock Festival finally came up," he recalls to Billbord.com. "We worked, practiced and rehearsed very diligently for that. And the day finally came when we [played], and it was kind of a relief off our minds. We really did it as a group -- we were on stage for close to two hours."
Although many feel Woodstock marked the end of the 1960s counterculture movement, Cox says the festival vibe was "great. We went and played with the attitude of, 'Look at all those people, everybody's doing something different.' It's like watching television; we'll go with the vibe. So the energy from them came to us, and we threw it right back at them."
The performance crystallized a new period of musical exploration for Hendrix. "In the earlier times, when he was with Noel [Redding] and Mitch [Mitchell], the songs were very simple," Cox says. "The simplicity of the 'Foxey Lady's' and the 'Purple Haze's' now went into some pretty intricate things, like 'Jam Back at the House' and then later the 'Freedom's', the 'Dolly Dagger's,' and 'In from the Storm.' And you don't have the time to do a lot of pyrotechnics; you've got to play."
While the set list contained both favorites from the Jimi Hendrix Experience ("Purple Haze," "Foxey Lady," "Spanish Castle Magic") and then-unheard compositions ("Message to Love," "Jam Back at the House," "Izabella"), it was the guitarist's surprise rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" that became synonymous with the original Woodstock.
"[Jimi] was so into it -- if you listen closely you will see that I stayed on him," Cox says. "And when he started 'The Star Spangled Banner,' that impromptu thing, you hear the first four, five, or six notes; I'm in there with him. Then I said, 'Wait a minute, we didn't rehearse this, and it doesn't sound too good with me playing.' I backed away, and he continued and made a classic out of that." |
| August 5th, 2005 02:07 PM |
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| J.J.Flash |
Great news! Thank for posting. Despite I would rather listen to "Jimi Hendrix Experience" era, they played brilliantly at Woodstock. |
| August 5th, 2005 02:09 PM |
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| VoodooChileInWOnderl |
This is a great performance, I have a laser disc with most of the show and the official CD with the whole performace, however I'm gonna get this one.
This band named by Jimi as "Gypsy Sun And Rainbows" was very special, it has his JHE bandmate Mitch Mitchell on drums, old friend from the army Billy Cox on Bass, Larry Lee on backing guitar as well as Juma Sultan and Gerardo "Jerry" Vélez on percussions. The whole band performed on LSD!!
It was the closing of the festival, the top of the bill but delayed and instead of a night permormance it was during the day.
Early in 1969 Noel Redding quit the band because personal differences with Jimi. And Jimi was trying to change style of music and band. Introduce more jazz and blues and other instruments like piano and horns.
There are many stories about Jimi having the intention to form a band with Brian Jones but he passed away earlier.
The video introducing the laser disc is the best video of woodstock, and the best video of the sike-ay-delic era.
This is HIGHLY recommended by this voodoo kid in the land of wonder  |
| August 5th, 2005 02:22 PM |
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| VoodooChileInWOnderl |
One more thing I want to add about this film: You can see clearer than any other film how he's playing. Close-ups to his fingers and guitar all the time. It is immpresive to see Jimi playing that way, the cameras all focusing on him.
When you see Jimi playing like that you think that playing guitar is the simplest instrument, he use it as a toy. If you don't have videos of Jimi playing 100% live this is the one to get.
Isle of Wight and Band of Gypys are great but in the first the performance is not as great as in Woodstock and in the second you can't see Jimi in such a detail.
The sound is SUPER and now the Eddie is gonna improve it this is the DVD to get babies |
| August 5th, 2005 02:39 PM |
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| hutz13 |
Fantastic news! ... Villanova Junction has a special place in my heart ... sorta like the end of the 60's and for me the end of Jimi.
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| August 5th, 2005 03:37 PM |
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| justinkurian |
Good call, Voodoo, on Woodstock being the best for watching Jimi's hands.
It's cool - watch Red House carefully, and you can see a close-up of one of his guitar strings break.
If you can afford it, I recommend the Monterey Pop show. It was remastered and came housed in a box set. It set me back a few, but it's definitely worth it for the performance. Jimi was on fire...his guitar, too. |
| August 5th, 2005 03:47 PM |
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| VoodooChileInWOnderl |
quote:
justinkurian wrote:
It's cool - watch Red House carefully, and you can see a close-up of one of his guitar strings break.
Bu as Paganini a string can broke but the intended performance will be the same!! |
| August 5th, 2005 03:49 PM |
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| Maxlugar |
Interesting how the musicians can sometimes have a different take though. Mitch Mitchell says they played horribly. There were no on stage monitors and could not hear each other. The new members and Jimi had not practiced more than 20 straight minutes together let alone the 2 hours they were required to play. Hence the need to play a 10 minute star spangled banner. Then there was the fact it was the next morning already and most of the crowd had gone home.
Macky like though... |
| August 5th, 2005 03:55 PM |
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| VoodooChileInWOnderl |
That's the magic of LSD Maxy 
In fact the band was disbanded that day, they never performed again and as far as I remember Jerry Velez did not rehearsed that's why there ain't no mikes on him LOL
However Jarry had that day the day of his life, just imagine playing percussions with no risk in fucking it up in the middle of the stage with Jimi playing.
In my humble opinion that's one of the best versions of Voodoo Child (slight return) live |
| August 5th, 2005 03:58 PM |
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| Maxlugar |
I read they played a show in Harlem after that.
There's a good article on this in Guitar World Magazine this month.
It's the cover story.
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