Jimi Hendrix "Songs For Groovy Children" 5CD Box Set of '70 Fillmore East Concerts Due Nov. 22, 2019

Overall Jimi managed damn well considering he was doing things to the equipment that the equipment wasn't mature for. I dare say not another person on the planet could have done it better.
When he failed bad he was I'll basically, or doing it semi-intentionally like the Wild Thing from Albert Hall.

 

Hey, yeah, I know man. I could buy a new Mercedes for what I've got into my gear, but as it is, I've got those Mercedes ears but those Toyota wheels

...and a little "Spanish Castle Magic" to turn that final dial.

 

The tuning is certainly pretty gross, as is Stop from the same show. Even though Jimi is having his problems, Billy's bass is out.

 

I thought I was hearing that too, glad everything was set for Machine Gun earlier!

 

I don't think those two tracks stand out for that reason. Other tracks like Power of Soul which ended up on the original album are "close enough for jazz" too.

 

Ahhh… somewhat true. On the other hand because there has been such a variation in the quality of releases of the same Jimi material over the years this state of affairs has evolved. It is important to most here to hear the music in the best way possible aka that is why the comparisons get done and documented. Of course we all don't agree either......

 

After listening to the entire box by now and some of the shows multiple times I am convinced there are additional tracks missing from at a minimum the 1/1/70 late show as per Tony's listen and possibly one song from the 1/1/70 Early show too. There are obvious cuts between some songs and if there weren't missing tracks they would most likely flow together with the chat as the CD does in other places where there is no cut.

Also btw the edits on We Gotta Live Together are really terrible and obvious imo. I think they could have done a way better job on the edits or better yet just released it complete.

 

Agreed. Has Mr. McDermott responded to vkd108's question asking if any songs were cut from the 3rd and 4th shows? Also, were any of the performance sequences rearranged by EH?

 

He never had a real guitar tech, either. He just had Gary Stickles, who was great, but he wore too many hats. Like a jack of all trades, master of none. Bless him, though, for what he did!

But really your post made me think of when Jimi was mailing it in and when we wasn't.

I've yet to delve into every Hendrix show, but there's been so many times where gear has gone wrong, his guitar wouldn't stay in tune, he was playing under poor conditions, etc., but most of the time - and I mean the great majority of the time - he would troop right through, even if he was frustrated, or the crowd was acting like asses, or whatever. Jimi was great that way, because not only did he want to please the crowd, but he was also think that he was getting off on himself.

He was very professional that way.

Which brings me to the New Years Fillmore East shows.

There were other opportunities for Jimi to stave off the PPX litigation. He did the October Winterland '68 shows with that in mind. He did LA and San Diego '69 with that in mind. He did the two shows at the RAH with that in mind.

With that in mind, when Jimi knew that the tapes were rolling, generally there was a little extra oomph to his playing. Not all of the time, and that's not to say that he didn't give it 100% in other shows where he didn't know it was being taped, but you can hear it on a number of occasions.

For whatever reason, he decided not to use material for those other shows (various things have been written about why), but when it came time for the Fillmore East shows, he knew he had to deliver. This was basically his final chance. The hammer was coming down hard. (Don't worry, I'll get to the "mailing it in part.)

Therefore, Hendrix knew that he needed master live takes for the album. Perhaps he was ho-hum about it before, but now it was for real. Perhaps he then approached these Fillmore shows more business minded than he would have otherwise. Billy Cox makes no bones about it, that the Band of Gypsys was only for these shows, regardless of what Buddy had in mind for the future.

Now, I'm not saying that Jimi was unhappy going into these shows, but you have think that there's a possibility that frame of mind was a little different due to the pressure. It might have been just a tiny amount of pressure, but it could have still been there.

Then I began looking at the pattern of these sets.

12-31-1969, first set - The band comes in on fire! But, the songs, themselves, are played straight. Nothing cracks the 10 minute mark; Jimi isn't asking a lot from the band; they are getting their feet wet. Until the last song, "Burning Desire," everything goes off without a hitch, including the first take of "Machine Gun" (the 3rd live extant performance), which begins the evolution of how he would play it live.

For every other show, though, when Jimi tried to spread the band's wings into something like the JHE, the pattern is that the first two or three songs are balls out good! Top-shelf-Jimi good. And I think that's why he wanted to play "Machine Gun" so early in the 3rd set. After playing a great version of "Who Knows," he felt the momentum, again, knowing that he needed to produce master takes.

12-31-1969, second set - We have "Auld Lang Syne" and "Who Knows" that just blow the doors off! I still think that the first take of "Who Knows" is just as good as the second take that made the BoG album. I think I've said it before, but there was a lot of resetting in this second show, first of all because Buddy's drumming destroyed what would have been a great "Stepping Stone," and secondly, for whatever reason a tight version of "Burning Desire" was aborted. This is where "mailing it in" comes in. Jimi didn't want to do that, so he stopped the song. This early in the Fillmore shows, there was still big optimism. When he got to the solo, however, he hit a sour note, knew it wouldn't make the cut, so he stopped. And the rest of the show is off-and-on. At one point in an earlier post I said something like, "It plays with your head."

"Machine Gun" from this set is really cool. Now that I've taken a deeper dive into all 4 takes, it's apparent (at least in my mind), that the first version, in the first set, was all emotion...and it's very fluid. Very beautiful. Any sort of pressure must have been minimal. By the time we get to the second set, he seems to be thinking about it a little more. It's evolving. This is where he's fiddling with the ideas that would later end up as the definitive version the next night. So, this take is very good, too, only it's a little tentative, as he's working out parts he wants to keep and those he doesn't like.

There are some cool jams here, not to be missed, but once he figures he doesn't have a master take, if something went wrong, he's letting off the gas a little. Oh yes, and he knows early that this take of "Power of Soul" is too loose to consider.

01-01-1970, first set - Again, the set yields two mindblowing songs to start. Jimi calls for "Machine Gun" early, fueled by the great "Who Knows," and he rips it up. After "Stepping Stone," though, he probably realized that he didn't have a single worthy take, though "Changes" and "Power of Soul" kick out the jams. They weren't master worthy. From here, Jimi starts off "Foxey Lady" okay, but I think the pressure is beginning to creep in. Buddy isn't what's needed for "Foxey Lady," and Jimi doesn't care. He's out of tune and knows it's not a take. I pretty sure he knew he had a take with "Machine Gun." Resetting with "Stop" was cool, but "Earth Blues" is rancid. One more time Jimi goes pear-shaped and plays like he doesn't even care once it's apparent that it's not a take.

He comes back on stage to do "Burning Desire" and yes, he creates the best live version we have. It's only one song for the encore, though, so I wonder if there were like 8 or 9 songs played before it or, if he wanted to take one more stab at getting a master. The band definitely regrouped. He didn't get his master, yet it was an inspired effort.

01-01-1070, second set - This is why I think it's the 2nd best show of the 4. One word: Consistency. Once again we have to major skullcrushers to open up. "Stone Free" and "Power of Soul." But we're also pretty consistent with "Changes," "Message to Love," "Machine Gun," "Love Man" and "Steal Away." We may never know what 20 songs they cut from this set , but that's 7 consistent songs in a row. "Earth Blues" ruins it a bit, but then until the end it's at least consistent, too. Now, if "Wild Thing" doesn't sound like ****, then something is wrong.

This is my least favorite "Machine Gun," though. Not only does it start out of tune, but Jimi has to keep tuning throughout. It's still a very listenable take.

I would rank my "Machine Guns" 1.) 3rd set. 2.) 1st set. 3.) 2nd set. 4.) 4th set. I don't believe he was mailing "Machine Gun" in for the 4th set, but perhaps after such a brilliant version the set before, he was playing something that he loved, but his guitar got in the way.

Okay, that's all. Just saying that Jimi might have mailed in a few here if he knew the take wouldn't stick.

 

Indeed. Even when he is struggling with his strings giving up and going out of tune, it's remarkable how he plows ahead and delivers some superb solos (even if the guitar out of tune). That's why one can find beauty even in out of tune versions.

I saw an artist (Charlie Sexton) open Royal Albert Hall for Eric Clapton. Sexton had his personal guitar tech bring out a different freshly tuned guitar after every song in the set. It was almost comical to watch how pampered he was. The guy must have had 15 different guitars! But he never played out of tune.

And when we think back to Hendrix, did he even have a dedicated guitar tech to tune his guitars and bring out a fresh guitar for him if his strings gave up the ghost? Or was Hendrix doing all that stuff himself? If Hendrix broke a string, was it up to Hendrix to go offstage and change a string himself? As aggressively as Hendrix played and as much as his guitar went out of tune, I'm surprised he didn't have another three or four pre-tuned Strats off stage that he could quickly grab and use, especially since he was recording a live album.

(Edit: Saw your comment about Stickles. So Stickles did some limited tech work?)

 

There's photos of Jimi backstage tuning 3 Strats. Plus he sometimes brought out a Les Paul or Flying V.

The oddest thing I've heard about Jimi guitars was how action movie star Steven Seagall bought 1-2. One of the books 25 years had a list of all known Jimi guitars and current whereabouts.

 

Jimi's equipment manager, Eric Barrett, was the closest thing he had to a 'guitar tech.'

'During the '68 Electric Ladyland tour roadie Eric Barrett told Hit Parader, "I have to change speakers after every show. Jimi destroys at least two whenever he plays. I have 16 spare speakers. When he smashes them, I put in the spares and send the broken ones back to New York to get re-coned. Then there's the wah-wah pedal. Most people just touch it with their foot. Jimi jumps on it with his full weight, so I carry about three extra wah-wah pedals and ten extra fuzz boxes. He ruins a lot of tremolo bars too. Very often his guitar has to be stripped right down and built up again...We used to carry a PA system, but it got to be too much to handle so we hire PAs for each gig. We use Altec stuff for the PAs and I carry our own Shure mikes...I use two 200-watt Sunn amplifiers for Mitch [drummer Mitch Mitchell] and four Sunn speaker cabinets. For Noel, I use two brand-new Sunn 200-watters and seven Sunn cabinets. Noel uses Altec 15" inch speakers and they carry very well...I never have trouble with Noel's equipment, but Mitch breaks a lot of bass drum pedals. He very seldom breaks the drum skins...Jimi also burns up a lot of tubes because of the great volume. When a tube burns out, the volume starts to drop. If he's into something and his volume drops, he gets extremely angry. 'Fix it!' he yells."'

 

Yeah, and for at least one show, January 14th, 1969, Munster, Germany, Hendrix thanked Stickles, acknowledging him to the crowd that Gary put on a new string for him.

 

Heh. Yeah, I forgot about Barrett, too. But the whole Hendrix caravan was a fairly motley crew of various people who knew a little about this and little about that.

It's actually amazing how Hendrix was the top grossing act at one time, yet he didn't have the amenities that a lot of other acts enjoyed.

 

Your rankings for Machine Gun are the way I'd rank them as well. I think most would agree the version off the Original BOG Album is one of Jimi's greatest moments of live playing. I also really like the tight, compact version from the 1st set on the 31st.

 

Gerry Stickells, not Gary Stickles. He died earlier this year...

Other than that, your longer post above is right on, and takes on an angle I wouldn't have thought of. Jimi having the business somewhere in mind when he took the stage at the Fillmore those two nights.

 

Yeah, that would do the trick. By the way, Sexton is a wonderful player.

 

It’s amazing how Hendrix and the other acts of the era did what they did without modern PA systems, wireless microphones, in-ear monitors, giant video screens behind them and all the things that are standard in today’s arena shows.

 

Yup. This occurred to me a few years back.

For the most part, he seemed to take it all pretty seriously -- with a sense of obligation. Quite admirable, considering all that he had to trudge through...

 

It will be interesting if more photos or film footage surface from the Dallas 70 show — as that was one of the early pioneering implementations of a large closed circuit video screen above the stage.

 

It's now my new goal to spell his name in as many ways possible. Jerry, Gerry, Jerry, Gery, Gary, Garray, Jeru, Jury, Gory, Jeri, Glory, Jeery...and I'm just getting started.

No, I'm not really poking fun; I'm just sitting in a hospital right now and I want to go home (not my hospital visit, mind you).

 

Hope everything's ok. Almost made a trip to the ER myself earlier today but things calmed down. I loathe hospitals.

 

Yeah, everything is cool. I have a next door neighbor who is 87 - a sweet old lady, despite being a little hypochondriacal, she didn't want to bother her son to take her to the ER, so I said I would. Everything is good with her. She just makes me wonder, at 87, just go with it. But I understand. She says she wants to see it coming when it's time, that dying isn't scary, as long as long as it doesn't go "Boo!" at the end.

Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled program.

Two things.

#1. When your post on the forum...how to explain this: let's say there are 7 posts on a page from different people. I've read all of the posts on the page. Then I get a notification that you have posted in the thread, too, but now your message is sandwiched somewhere between the 7 that was already there. And not just on this thread. Other ones, too. What's up with that?

#2. The more I listen to set 4 vs the other sets, I'm almost certain - I can't be 100% positive - that Hendrix is sporting new strings for the last show. Not only does his tone sound brighter, but he's also going out of tune more. This also makes sense when we hear how mellow his tone is for the 01-01-1970, first set. Older strings don't always mean that they sound dead. Oh, they get there, but there's a little pocket before they go dead where they can sound really good, especially when he's switched closer to the neck pickup on his Strat likes he does a lot during the BoG album's "Machine Gun."

It makes me wonder how often he changed his strings. I wonder if anybody has ever researched that. If it was at all, I'm sure it was just a blurb from somebody. No deep research.

 

Wow, great analysis! I think you're probably spot on here regarding Jimi's rationale during the concerts.

 

I asume that is the Charlie Sexton who plays in Dylan's band. The times I have seen him with Bob he certainly does not get much attention or much room to move in and I think used the same guitar throughout the show.
Back to Hendrix and some great stuff above about the back up personnel.