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

OK I just took a look...what was I supposed to do with this in 1989? I'm a college kid with a CD player hooked up to my stereo.

You'd think nowadays it'd be easier in embedded, say, the Lover Man video into BSOTS. but I suspect interest is minimal (to put it mildly)

 

Yes this is one of Joe Gastwirts so ai assume but not completely sure it is no noised. I still think it sounds great one of my fav CDs

 

Thanks still no sound though. A
Proper player will give both the video and sound.

Here are the players listed in Wikipedia. I have yet to find a stand alone DVD player that will work.

Along with dedicated Karaoke machines, other consumer devices that play CD+G format CDs include the NEC TurboGrafx-CD (a CD-ROM peripheral for the TurboGrafx-16) and Turbo Duo, the Philips CD-i, the Sega CD, Sega Saturn, the JVC X'Eye, the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, the Amiga CD32 and Commodore CDTV, and the Atari Jaguar CD (an attachment for the Atari Jaguar). Some CD-ROM drives can also read this data. Pioneer's LaserActive player can also play CD+G discs, as long as either the PAC-S1/S-10 or PAC-N1/N10 game modules are installed.

Since 2003, some standalone DVD players have supported the CD+G format.

 

Oh yeah, right you are...but that is why I never minded having My Friend on Cry of Love - a bit of levity.

 

Overall it's probably true that Jimi's songwriting became less goofy and more earnest in 1969-70 though, a lot of them social commentary, which he mentioned in a few interviews.

 

There is no sound probably due to copy rite violation....someone converted it into regular DVD format so you can play it on just about anything
I got from either demonoid or rutraker

 

Probably best bet to play the Smash Hits CD+G properly is to get a karokee player and hook it up to your main audio video system. The other players noted in the CD+G Wiki were video game systems (add ons at that for most of them) that are now several generations old and for the most part none of them really ever achieved any mass market adoption making them even harder to find.

 

So what has the "trilogy" added to the Hendrix legacy as far as "go to" versions? I went over the three albums and was a little surprised as to what was added and which albums had these type of tracks:

Valleys of Neptune

Valleys of Neptune-Thanks to a little computer editing magic, we now have a more realized version of the song than the snippet from the radio show. Until they put out the Sept '69 demo, this is the only place to get all the lyrics.
Hear My Train A Comin'-As far as the studio versions go, this one has the most interesting lyrics with the best sounding vocals, the overall sound is just right and it's complete. Berkeley is probably the overall "go to" version, but this is the best studio representation.
Sunshine of Your Love-We got a studio version!

Add in as developmental versions Ships Passing Thru the Night and Lullaby for the Summer, this one added quite a bit to the Hendrix lexicon

People, Hell and Angels

Going over all 12 tracks, none of them are the ultimate go to version with the exception of Easy Blues, which is for now until hopefully we get the full 10 minute version some day. I guess you could throw in Villanova Junction, but it's a little short. Crash Landing could have been had they just released the untouched Douglas one, but this one? Nope. Everything else is an interesting alternate, and some of them quite good and important, like the alternate Earth Blues, Inside Out and Hey Gypsy Boy.

Both Sides of the Sky

Power of Soul-complete mix
Send My Love To Linda-Yeah, the jam at the end should be longer, but this will function as a stand in, though it's obviously far less developed than Valleys
Cherokee Mist-the one from the purple box is sort of combo medley, this is the definitive version of this song

I look at Things I Used To Do as kind a "single" edit version and it's what we have for now, but again, the full version needs a release. Otherwise we get good alternates of Train, Stepping Stone, Angel and I guess you can add Woodstock.

If you go back to South Saturn Delta, it really only has the title track and Midnight Lightning as go-to's (For Lover Man, I go with the purple box version for studio and Berkely for live). Mostly it functioned as a repository for tracks from other albums.

So this last album did add a number of things to the catalog. Could've added more, but such as it is.

 

I would also add the VON version of "Stone Free" - which I think rivals almost any other version (at least in some ways), specifically because of it's unique arrangement (which I don't think I've ever heard in any(?) other version). I will gladly state that probably 70% of the time, the VON version of "Stone Free" is damn near my 'go-to' version -- not to take away from the prior studio versions (which I'll grant, probably have some aspects to them that may be superior).

TL;DR: IMHO, that unique arrangement of "Stone Free" (from VON), absolutely kicks @$$!!

 

Just a shame that's it's not actually a genuine version.

 

How so?

 

For me, the issue with that one is it takes the vocals from the April 1969 version from the box set. It's why I can't really use the Somewhere on PHA as a go to since it takes the vocals and guitar break from the other version. With something like Valleys, at the moment the other version isn't out there.

 

Unrelated instrumental and vocal parts. 'Frankensteined' from two separate versions.

 

Yes, the 'combining' of versions is particularly irksome when one of the genuine recordings has already been released by EH in its original state!

 

What's wrong with Crash landing? I love it!| (but I don't know the history)

 

The vocals seem to have been pasted in out of sync.

 

Yep. For some reason they took an alternate take and like Stone Free and Somewhere, flew in vocals from the previously used take, but as mentioned wasn’t synced properly. It’s the genesis of Freedom and Dolly Dagger so it’s an important track. Why they didn’t just release the unaltered take Douglas used, I have no idea.

 

As someone who grew up with the US version, I felt the additional songs diluted its quality. (The gaudy "FEATURES 2 EXTRA SONGS" banner on the cover doesn't help.) Was cool to get those extra songs, but I like the Smash Hits listening experience better without them. Might've worked better if they'd reinserted them in their UK placement in the track order...but tacked onto the end as they are, Foxey Lady's a tough act for them to follow.

Stepping Stone/Izabella, on the other hand....

 

But it doesn't fit stylistically ... at all. It would have made a great b-side for "All Along the Watchtower" - a Dylan cover backed with a Dylan pastiche.

 

So, the guitar, bass, and drums are all from May 17 '69, just a few weeks later? If so, I could live very comfortably with that Frankenstein.

 

"Unrelated" may be putting it a bit strongly.

 

Unrelated in that the vocals (and the guitar solo) were never recorded for that particular version.

 

It was also a different band with Billy replacing Noel. The take was an exercise to see how Billy would do with the older material (and he did quite well). Kind of like the version of Real Me on the Who’s box set that was meant to see how Kenny Jones would do. Really wasn’t meant to be a backing track for vocals. Funny thing is the 1970 live arrangement sounds mostly like the April version.

 

So it's not just the vocals but also the soloing on the VON version that is from the April sessions?

 

Yes.