Jimi Hendrix - Let's Talk About How We Would Have Put Together His Posthumous Albums!

Exactly what i had meant to say first time around.

 

Midnight just fits in so well with the dark theme of the album. Plus there's a video out there of Steve Vai doing a cover of it where he calls it War Heroes, so I think of it that way .

Funny thing is you can actually do War Heroes with those two in place of Peter Gunn and 3 Little Bears AND include the three B sides, and it's still less than 45 minutes:

Bleeding Heart
51st Anniversary
Tax Free
Highway Chile
Stepping Stone
Drifter's Escape

Come Down Hard on Me
Midnight
Stars That Play With Laughing Sam's Dice
Beginnings
Izabella

 

re: Something from Both Sides of the Sky

They synch up very well to my ears, and the different gtr on the Frankenstein just rips. I've got to say it will be my go-to from now on.

 

I think you mean "Something" from People, Hell & Angels? I agree, the guitar totally rips, I'd have just preferred the instrumetal track "as is" without the flown in vocal. To each their own.

 

Same for me, I'd like to hear just the original take with Jimi's guitar, Buddy's drums and Stephen's bass. Still would like to hear a properly mixed pre-Mitch version of the real one with the vocals. The original drums aren't that bad (same with Bleeding Heart, need the undubbed version of that too). On the opposite end, I'm one of those who wants to hear Mitch's Room Full of Mirrors (I still think that's the one actually in the movie, but I can't find my DVD copy or a version of it online to check)

 

Yes, brain fart. I do see your point but it wouldn’t be my “go to” version as an instrumental run through.

 

The go to should probably be the original vocal take with the original drummer, but we don’t officially have it. The PHA one is just too reconstructed, the vocals might have been ok but the bridge guitar fill was a bit much.

Then again, I’m good with Valleys of Neptune so...

 

Probably true, just as a couple of Jimi's own mixes released in recent years turned out to be better than the ones we'd heard. It makes you marvel that they didn't just use them in the first place. Then again sometimes I wonder if the way his material has been handled over the years turned out to be brilliant in spite of itself. They are still putting things out that could be reasonably be called essential (or at least essential-ish) some 50 years later.

 

As more and more things come out, you compare them to either a revised mix, the AD dubs or the Frankensteins and you end up going “what was wrong with it in the first place?” Different times, different decisions. If you mix a couple of takes to make something more cohesive, that’s one thing. But it all depends: I think the vocals over a different take of Valleys worked fine, but the same thing failed horribly on Crash Landing. It’d be better to have the original takes in both cases. The songs as exist now aren’t studio level polished, but they are what they are. As long as they are presented as such, they’ll likely find a receptive audience.

 

Jimi Hendrix

Earth (New Rising Sun / A Message To Love)

1971 / triple LP


A1


Freedom

Dolly Dagger

Bleeding Heart

Straight Ahead


A2


Stepping Stone

Izabella

Night Bird Flying

Room Full Of Mirrors


B1


Drifting

Earth Blues

Ezy Rider

Pali Gap


B2


New Rising Sun

Somewhere

Message Of Love

Straight Ahead


C1


Angel

Beginning

My Friend

Midnight


C2


Cherokee Mist

The Star Spangled Banner

Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)

(Unlisted, end of LP cut: Belly Button Window)

 

I was just looking at this, you know if you add Peter Gunn Catastrophe in front of Izabella, the two side are almost exactly the same length AND it's still under 45 minutes by about 10-15 seconds. Time to make a new playlist...

 

Not bad, I particularly like the unlisted "Belly Button Window" idea, but you have "Straight Ahead" listed twice. Also, I am not sure if things like "Star Spangled Banner," "Somewhere" and "New Rising Sun" would have been ideal candidates for a 1971 release, in place of "In From The Storm," "Drifter's Escape," "Come Down Hard On Me" and "Burning Desire" -- in the case of "In From The Storm" and "Drifter's Escape," those tracks were given considerable attention during Hendrix's summer 1970 mixing sessions.

 

I do have "Straight Ahead" twice, crap, you're right. I would replace the one that ends B2 with "Come Down Hard On Me".

For me, cuts like "New Rising Sun" and "Star Spangled Banner" (especially following "Cherokee Mist", the languid jam version recorded at Electric Lady) fit with the album experience. And I've always liked "Somewhere", personally. I think it's a great track.

Revised:


Jimi Hendrix

Earth (New Rising Sun / A Message To Love)

1971 / triple LP

Spoiler

A1


Freedom

Dolly Dagger

Bleeding Heart

Straight Ahead


A2


Stepping Stone

Izabella

Night Bird Flying

Room Full Of Mirrors


B1


Drifting

Earth Blues

Ezy Rider

Pali Gap


B2


New Rising Sun

Somewhere

Message Of Love

Come Down Hard On Me


C1


Angel

Beginning

My Friend

Midnight


C2


Cherokee Mist

The Star Spangled Banner

Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)

(Unlisted, end of LP cut: Belly Button Window)

 

Very nice list. I really like the flow as well. I must be the black sheep of Jimi fans, though, as I don't think My Friend belongs anywhere near a posthumous collection. It sounds too "1968" compared to the other songs and I've never warmed to the song. I've never liked Drifter's Escape either. Too "dense" with all the guitar overdubs. I can't explain it otherwise, I just don't think it's a great version at all .

 

I would let it escape to a later compilation.

 

I really love how "Clean" this and and Stop an back covers are, easy to read, with the pertain information. Makes me want to get these CDs.

 

I don't think it's Jimi's fault. Driter's Escape is a 2 chord song with a very repetitious vocal melody. What could he have done to make it more interesting except overdub lots of guitars? I dunno.

Intriguing lyrics but hardly a high point of John Wesley Harding. But something about it obviously resonated for Jimi.

 

I too was in High School when Jimi died. I agree with your assessments. Gotta remember that GREAT albums were coming out of The Who, Rolling Stones, Led Zep etc.

I too used my cassette player to make my own versions of Jimi LPs. I recall making a live tape, from Monterey Pop, Bob, In The West and both Woodstock LPs, Soundtrack From The Film Jimi Hendrix as their was no real compilation of his live work back then.

In real time,while seeming incomplete back then, his released legacy didn't look as n
Messy as it does now 50 years on.

 

Great take. Too bad Jimi didn't follow this blueprint. He could have gotton Reprise off his back and gotten some breathing room to work on his "magnum opus".

 

What was your initial impression of In The West? Do you recall?

 

I loved it some songs I could do with out. The ones I like I really like.

 

I actually like Drifter's Escape but I think My Friend should have been held back for either War Heroes or Loose Ends.

 

Less is more (or could have been) for Drifters Escape or drop it altogether.
Didn't Dylans 'Watchtower' have only 2 chords?
Jimi added a 3rd.

 

Ok if EH wants to reissue War Heroes and pull an ‘In the West’ with it, namely reissue it a little differently, may I suggest this:

Side 1
Bleeding Heart
Highway Chile
Tax Free
STPLSD
Stepping Stone

Side 2
Midnight
Three Little Bears
51st Anniversary
Beginning
Izabella

Just listened to it this way, flows nice, sides almost perfectly balance out, takes care of stray First Rays and B-sides...I know, it’s more work than just reissuing what was there...

 

Cool, but I would prefer they fill it out with previously unreleased stuff rather than widely available b-sides