The worst crime Douglas did wasn’t overdubbing new musicians—it was the fact that, in at least two cases, he deleted or otherwise lost original multi-tracks. It’s absolutely one thing to add something; to irretrievably remove? That’s unforgivable. As part of my own personal projects, I recently put together a version of Crash Landing (and intend to do the same for Midnight Lightning), which was a mix of the P20P release along with the “original” versions/mixes of the songs (with a preference for officially-released stuff). I think they were moderately successful in making a decent album, but there’s only so much you can do to dress up some of the material they used, and (IMO) he took away from some better or at least more “genuine” performances (the 2010 EH mix of “Peace in Mississippi” blows his out of the water…).
Regarding Voodoo Soup, I hated the drum track used in Freedom - the Cry Of Love version sounds better and has more swing. The Voodoo Soup version sounds like a rejected drum track. Same with Room Full Of Mirrors, even though I'm not a fan of Buddy Miles, the original is best. To me, the whole album sounded like a bunch of slightly inferior out takes. And I hate the cover! First Rays used the correct takes, but blew the sound out far too much.
The material from the Douglas era has a lot of “thin” sounding stuff, too. Slightly off-topic, but I think part of the excuse for the overdubbed drums on VS was the quality (sound and otherwise) of the drumming on those two tracks. I know people generally think Buddy’s work is better than Mitch’s on “Stepping Stone,” and I agree, but I sped up the 71 Kramer mix to match the original single’s speed and it helped that track a lot.
I don't hate what EK did by any stretch, but I liked hearing the dry mix without the effects and have come to prefer it over time. I'm certain you are correct; that he was trying to create something that Jimi might've done himself.
The full “Trash Man” on 2004’s Hear My Music was a revelation for me; I wonder if Douglas and co thought the opening would be redundant with the 1972 version of “Midnight” out there…? The 1995 is okay, just (again) “thin” to me.
I much prefer the Douglas recreation of Peace In Mississippi. It's a metal scorcher. The original take is an aimless jam and Mitch's drumming in particular is really weak.
I think the drum track on Freedom is the same on both releases. Any aural differences would be due to the different mix.
I can maybe see “aimless,” but that’s honestly apt for…a lot of the Jimi we have, lol. Maybe it’s down to the sound quality of the TTG tapes, but that track sounds more constructed than the others for me. It’s definitely the same. I think all the elements are; they just sound a bit bizarre to me.
Listen again - Freedom's opening definitely is a different drum track, which isn't quite right on Voodoo Soup. The rhythm is different and doesn't have the swagger of the Cry Of Love version.
Directly comparing them now--VS's and a guitar-less mix made by Kramer--and it's definitely the same drum track. I think there's a sync/speed issue, since it doesn't match up 100% and drifts further later in the song, but I'm hearing the same overall drum track(s).
I'm totally unfamiliar with the song outside of Kramer's 2010 version, so while I think it sounds fine it still seems a little off.
I did this Spotify playlist a couple months ago of non-Douglas versions. Sounds good to me. Jimi Hendrix Midnight Lightning Crash
I guess we'll have to agree to disagree here. I hear Mitch's drum entry with the double kick drums as botched on VS and done nicely on Cry Of Love and FROTNRS. They're definitely different.
Sorry you're right, I got it backwards. 1969 vocals over a 1970 instrumental take. My overall complaint still stands though, the final product just doesn't work for me !
I haven't had or used headphones at home since 1985, is the EH 2CD set better through headphones to you? Repeating the Radio One CD sounds great to me!
Know it don't have it but I can tell you that when i compare Driving South's the Douglas version is just more vibrant and exciting somehow than Janie's.
Can't say now, sorry. I got rid of it quite some time ago, wasn't a fan of the compressed sound....so I guess I probably wouldn't have liked it through headphones any better!
These days I find myself in the camp of revised thought where Alan Douglas is concerned. In the pre-CD age his name was attached far too much to some seriously questionable Hendrix product, the aforementioned "frankenstein" aspect being the major point of deserved derision, which left me something of a confirmed Douglas-hater. But with the arrival of the CD he did to some extent redeem himself. And although with CDs he still couldn't quite resist meddling with certain aspects of the recordings, he did oversee the release of a fair amount of decent previously unreleased albums; Winterland, Woodstock, Monterey, Concerts, Blues, Radio One, the Stages box and from the Lifelines box the LA Forum CD. In the CD age Douglas approached the catalogue as something to be sold "new" to a new audience. The core albums aside, there was zero focus on re-issuing old albums. And despite some disparaging comments made toward fans he allowed a Hendrix fanzine to issue a number of CDs of previously unreleased material. And after they sent him a demo of tracks they'd created using primitive samples of Hendrix, Douglas allowed The Beautiful People access to his tapes to create an album which "reinterpreted" Hendrix for the modern audience. And of course he permitted a collection of previously unreleased live tracks to appear on a series of guitar tuition CDs. I can imagine were he still alive today today Douglas would see fans sharing rare and officially unreleased Hendrix music online and consider it a free avenue of promotion for the Hendrix brand. Compare that to the attitude of the current estate. They control the music with an iron grip, have mixed their new releases in with multiple re-releases of old material (including one Douglas album), and at one point in time even had a sideline in Hendrix paraphernalia completely unrelated to the man's music. For all his faults Douglas never tried to sell the fans Jimi Hendrix air-fresheners or golfing accessories. With him it was always (and only) about the music. So on the one hand Douglas righteously deserves to be badmouthed for his treatment of elements of the Hendrix catalogue. On the other he deserves a level of praise for what he later gave the fans. In 2022 we really no longer have the liberty of viewing his involvement with the Hendrix catalogue as a purely binary issue of "Douglas Good" or "Douglas Bad". The reality of the totality of his Hendrix output between 1975 and 1995 is a blurring of the two. And it could even be argued that in the CD age, where few people outside of collecting circles now own (or have heard) the Douglas "frankensteinastions", the fruits of his time controlling the Hendrix legacy do veer more toward "Douglas Good".....although that doesn't mean he was good good.
Well-thought-out and well-written take. I appreciate your opinion, thank you for sharing this detailed post.
I think that the insulting crap Hendrix merch that EH peddle is far, far worse than anything Alan Douglas ever did. I also learnt that Eddie Kramer is basically musically illiterate by his hackwork on the studio patchworks. Whatever you think of Crash Landing and Midnight Lightning, they sound good musically.
