Jimi Hendrix Both Sides of the Sky - new album coming March 9, 2018

We've now gone from the simplistic and reductionist to the sophomoric and bizarre. Over and out.

 

Easy for the person to say who has offered nothing. If you're not a part of the solution, you're a part of the problem.

P.S. - The above alternate scenarios/theories are ones that I've read about over the years. Not mine.

 

You have implied everything Hendrix did is a masterpiece by comparing it to Da Vinci.

 

In 1969 Hendrix faced a lawsuit. A new lp got hung up because of it. He wanted a new band.
He was also running the clock out on management.
But now we see that lack of productivity was because Jimi smoked grass.

 

By that rationale, every completed da Vinci is a masterpiece and the rest we are able to see through books and elsewhere because it's historically important.

 

Ha! I doubt that was the case.

 

Listen to 2018 music (and there is good stuff) and the sound has changed. I'm sure Jimi Hendrix' music could be made to sound more current WITHOUT destroying what made it great in the first place. Eddie Kramer et al are not qualified for that transition though. Plus there is no risk in trying. If it sounds awful, it wouldn't be released. Simple. But if one never tries anything, one gets stagnant, and that's what is happening with these "lost and found" records by Jimi Hendrix. The milking is getting stale.

A nice phat bass like Dr Dre, would be great. It just would sound different, that's for sure.

I was at the Experience Museum back in 2005 and there is a booth with a song in a four track format so that people can mix that song. I tried it and boosted the bass all the way. It sounded wonderful and revealed stuff I had no idea existed.

Sly & Robbie, Godwin and Steven have worked with countless non-reggae acts and the idea is NOT to reggae-fy the sound, but to make it more crisp, heavier and, quite frankly, less dated. Again, if one doesn't give it a shot, one will never know.

Now having said that, I am aware this would be a side project if the sound remodeling logic were taken all the way and that baby boomers, who probably constitute the majority of customers, would be in a state of shock and reject the thing!!!

 

Hendrix did complete a significant amount of Electric Ladyland without Chas, so clearly he still had an ability to focus. Perhaps Jimi was not as efficient as before, but Chas was not the missing link at that time.

Hendrix's inability to complete an album during 1969 and early 1970 was due to a number of factors, not just because Chandler was gone from the team. That said, I do think a collaborative producer could have provided Hendrix with direction during 1969 and helped him to possibly shape, refine, and complete a studio project (the same applies to January/February 1970). Still, Hendrix seemed a bit uncertain and unsure of where he wanted to take his music, so even if an outside producer had been able to assist Hendrix with developing and completing songs and ideas, he may not have been emotionally ready to do so. Nevertheless, even without an official producer, Hendrix had nearly completed a number of outstanding songs by August 1970 -- he was well on his way to producing another first-rate album.

 

Don'the forget to add the Canadian Drug charges, they affected him and his concert bookings.

That said, if one was to look at Jimi''s time in the studio to get the first three Lps and the finished songs produced, VS the post-ELL time in the studio and the number of finished songs, it would be a head scratcher for most people, especially Record Company personal.

 

Personally I want any material recorded in the late 60s to the early 70s to sound like it was recorded in the late 60s early 70s.

I think (and I'm serious here) you should check out the Voodoo Soup release from 1995 if you haven't already. Posts in other threads prompted me to pull this out and listen to it for the first time in years. The mix is definitely more modern. Vocals are pushed up front (but sound very compressed/limited to me) and the bass is a lot more present in the recordings. Personally I liked the bass. I thought it was full without being boomy or overwhelming. I definitely enjoy the vintage mixes more but to each their own.

 

I will check this out, thanks for the suggestion

 

No, just no. And no, I am not a boomer.
It's like if Alan Douglas had added syndrums and keytar to Hendrix tapes in the 80s. Production gimmicks never last. And I doubt anyone will listen to "Dre" in 30 years.

 

I'm not suggesting overdubs or anything, but a different approach to sound
Dre sounds huge and it is very well mixed, so do Sly & Robbie or artists from other black genres

 

Don't know if Jimi would be down for the Dre sound, but perhaps the chronic might interest him.

 

I like the idea of a fresh mix for the "core" albums as it makes sense, to a degree.
The thing is, would any fresh mix satisfy you or me or him over there? Or even her? You get were I'm going. A different mix does not equate to how "we" would like it.

I personally don't want bass on a recording that didn't have it in the first instance but the bass on AYE / ABAL / ELL is there and as I've swapped and changed my set up I found I get more of what's there and presented in a lovely controlled and focused manner.

 

If they judge that the Black Gold tape is too loose or short for a stand alone release (even on Dagger) then they could group it with those 1968 Drake Hotel tapes (already released by Douglas in that graphic novel as "Jimi By Himself"). Also throw in some other solo electric or acoustic things that we haven't heard before. Can you hear me Mr. McDermott?

 

Hendrix also had a significant amount of the material written for Electric Ladyland by the time Chas departed, too, as well as a more strict set of studio time booked to complete the written tunes. That's focus enough, which I believe made all of the difference in the world. Not so with 1969, which was the complete opposite of 1968, i.e. starting afresh without material, in addition to an abundance of loose studio time; add the legal issues, the drug bust, the band issues, and I believe we're left with something that only Chas could have cured. It might have been slow-going, as most tough times are, but at least there would have been a constant - a confidant - which Hendrix never found again.

I contend that if there is any one person who could have mitigated a rough year, it would have been Chas. Anybody else coming in would have been starting just as fresh as Jimi was, and where's the help in that?

It's all speculative, of course, but no wonder Jimi was endlessly jamming. It might have been pure escapism to save his mind from ruin. After all, everyone of us has a survival instinct that kicks in during rough times.

 

I think part of, if not the main problem for Jimi was that with Ladyland, he had given himself a very hard act to follow. He had just crafted what I think was the greatest album of all time and he had really said it all in terms of "psychedelic pop music" or whatever it was. The incredible trip, the non-stop party, which started in Greenwich Village and continued all across Europe and the USA found its absolute summit in that album.
1968 and The Beatles white-out and get back to basics, the Stones soon follow suit,... the dream was over and Jimi's freaky time had come too. Time to step back a bit a re-think the whole thing. Not easy. Not good timing with Warner, Track and Capitol screaming for a new album, coupled with Jeffrey booking tours a go-go.

 

I was skimming through Ultimate Hendrix chronologically yesterday, and the change is drastic. Up till mid '68 it was like - 4th take, masterpiece down.

Starting with the TTG Studios sessions in L.A. in October '68, it's jamming with friends or putting down rough ideas, and an occasional attempt at capturing a master take of a new song, Jimi never satisfied, until late '69 when things started to improve.

He did develop a lot as a musician that year, stretching out and jamming with all sorts of musicians, some of music is in essence jazz. And just enjoying and indulging in being a world class musican following his whims. Jamming with old pals like Lonnie Youngblood, jamming with jazz players, jamming with total strangers, jamming with fellow stars.

But as for "regular" songs they were very slow in coming together, not written per se, but jammed together from different patters. It's like his songwriting process slowed down to a crawl. I don't really buy the theory that he held off completing songs due to the litigation with PPX. It's more likely that the stress and touring and drug intake made him run out of fuel creatively as far as writing music goes (it's also likely that parts of the first two albums drew on a stockpile of riffs Jimi had devloped up to '66) . Good thing he got it back before his death.

 

Funny, I was looking through Ultimate Hendrix last night I was struck by all that heavy monster riffing that Jimi was exploring in October '68 with stuff like:

Peace In Mississippi
Calling All Devil's Children
"Untitled Basic Track"
Messenger
Gloria

Phew!

 

Dr Dre has already been listened to for 30 years. Not exactly a flash in the pan type performer. His footprint is rooted firmly and large in the history of popular music. No less than Jimi, I'd suggest. Just a different era and artistic movement.

 

I'm looking forward to the new disc. These threads though. . . a little dab does one.

 

My leaning towards the main Douglas studio albums (Crash Landing, Midnight Lightning and Voodoo Soup) has mellowed over the years. I now accept them for what they are and for the most part enjoy them without focusing on whether it was done right or wrong. I actually think Voodoo Soup is the best of all of them but I appreciate them all way more than I did before.

 

Yeah, he was really into heavyness in the last months of The Experience! The Feb 69 and Olmstead April 69 sessions too.