Jimi Hendrix wasn’t just a great studio musician. In fact, he could cut it live nicely as well. This is a posthumous release that shows Jimi Hendrix playing at the Pop & Underground Festival in Hallandale, Florida way back in May 18 1968. The Experience was still together at this point, although Jimi Hendrix and Noel Redding weren’t getting along by this point as well, and the final album by Jimi Hendrix, Electric Ladyland was being recorded. This is a good historical release, however, and should be interesting to listen to, so let’s hear it.

Introduction is exactly what it is. A man introduces The Jimi Hendrix Experience and the crowd applaud nicely. This is a good start to the album, but it is not entirely necessary here. Some palm muted guitar with feedback and playing by Jimi is present, and he gets tuning up. Obviously, not the best thing to hear musically, but it is short, fortunately. It leads into the next song.

Hey Joe begins with a ton of feedback and launches into some deep power chords that are heavily distorted. This does not sound good, to be fair and honest. Still, Jimi Hendrix plays nicely, as does Noel Redding on bass guitar and Mitch Mitchell on drums. Without a Floyd Rose tremolo system, however, the extreme whammy bar use doesn’t sound overly great. Jimi breaks into some nice soloing and eventually gets playing some good guitar riffs and goes into the main song. This is good, but clearly not the greatest ever live performance. In fact, not to disrespect a great Rock legend, this sounds rather tuneless compared to the version of this song on the Are You Experienced? album. Still, one can very much appreciate Jimi Hendrix’s work here. Noel Redding provides firm basslines and Mitch Mitchell’s drumming is absolutely fantastic. Jimi then launches into some superb soloing, even if his guitar work is out of tune by abusing the whammy bar constantly. Still, these guys have made a decent enough effort and respect is deserved for this live performance. It isn’t as good as the cover on the album, again. Jimi and his friends do their best here, however. Some neat and improvised guitar soloing is present at the end, finishing with drum rolls and applause from the crowd. It’s okay, but not superbly fantastic.

Foxey Lady begins with some sustained guitar notes from Jimi Hendrix and launches straight into a good live version of this song. Although one can certainly appreciate the musical effort here, this is not the greatest live effort ever either, not even by The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s high standards. Jimi’s vocals are not on time, and the performance in this section isn’t the best. If Jimi didn’t hit the whammy bar so often, his guitar would be more in tune and the whole performance would sound better. Still, this is relatively forgivable for 1968. Even so, this is not very good to hear today. Jimi can play though, and there is no doubt that the whole group were extremely talented in their own ways. Regardless, this is good listening, but certainly not great listening. There are some nice hammer-ons and crazy guitar playing towards the end before this concludes with more whammy bar abuse. Good for what it is. The crowd applaud nicely.

Tax Free is an extended piece. It begins with repeated guitar chords, thumping basslines and Mitch Mitchell’s superb drumming. At least this song sounds in tune for a change. In any case, this is quite awesome to hear. Soon into it is some quiet palm muting by Jimi, just as he activates his wah-wah pedal and gets rocking. All the same, this music is really great to hear. A solo section eventually emerges with the band playing in a very crazy way, whilst sticking to a main sort of groove undercurrent. More palm muting eventually occurs, and Jimi Hendrix diverts between regular guitar soloing and wah-wah guitar soloing here. This is a very good instrumental that obviously is not really explored by the average Hendrix fan. It speeds up nicely towards the middle, before breaking down into a chaotic drum solo. This was the era of the Rock supergroup, after all. No doubt many great drummers took inspiration from Mitch Mitchell. Some more wah-wah guitar eventually enters, and Jimi does play very well here. A really good performance, and better than the previous songs on this live album. It gets faster as it goes on, and one can truly hear how great and talented musically these guys were. It builds up into a chaotic frenzy before Jimi hits the whammy bar heavily, and the crowd cheer briefly. The wah-wah guitar returns next, and this tune sounds really fine and fantastic for what it is. A good sonic adventure with the Fender Stratocaster, this goes back into a good and furious jam section towards the end, before speeding up nicely, once again. The whole band sound really fantastic here, and this ends with some terrible sounding guitar playing, no offence. The crowd cheer though, and Jimi pays his respect to the crowd before the next song begins.

Fire is out of tune, again. It would have made sense for Jimi to tune his guitar each time in between songs. Unfortunately, this seems not to have happened. It is a sped-up version of the original song, and Mitch Mitchell’s drumming is really fantastic, playing like a semi-Jazz drummer with excess and excellence. A good song that sounds great, provided you don’t listen to the guitar for the most part. Jimi launches into some more wah-wah guitar soloing, before returning to the verses. This is Exhibit A in why tremolo bar/whammy arm work should not be abused. It seems rather silly for Jimi, being such a great musician, not to understand this principle. Regardless, this ends with more frenetic soloing, before wrapping up with the main riff and a huge amount of complex fills. It’s okay.

Hear My Train A Comin’ begins with Jimi Hendrix introducing this song as a slow Blues cover. Eventually, Jimi Hendrix gets playing to the tune. Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell provide subtle backing to this tune, and we are underway on quite a good listen. It is a very slow starter, but once it gets going, it does sound quite good. Jimi gets singing with a great interpretation of the Blues. This does sound really good here and is a reasonable interpretation of a Blues classic. Jimi’s guitar, again, sounds quite out of tune. It would have been better if he did the song without whammy bar work, to be honest. Still, the playing and performance overall are really quite something different and decent to hear. The guitar soloing by Jimi Hendrix in particular is excellent. Near the middle is a call-and-response section with vocals and guitar, with some interesting lyrics about parting from a lover. Jimi follows this up with some insane soloing on guitar, which sounds really quite good. The drumming by Mitch Mitchell is excellent here as well, and Noel Redding ties it all together on bass guitar. A really excellent and refreshing listening experience, this is one of the highlights of this live album. A really good tune with some excellent musicianship, Jimi Hendrix and his friends did have a decent musical understanding of breathing life into music. Some pseudo-Shred music emerges towards the end before this ends with sonic chaos. The audience clap and cheer nicely. Jimi addresses the crowd about an amplifier that has exploded (typical Rock stuff) before the band prepares for the next song. Decent.

I Don’t Live Today begins with a sturdy drum solo from Mitch Mitchell, leading into the song itself. It is a great listen until Jimi Hendrix’s out-of-tune guitar enters again. Jimi does sing nicely here, but sadly this tune is out of tune (pun intended) and sounds horrid compared to the album version in a listening sense. In any case, this is okay but nothing spectacular here on this live album. Some rather improvised musical leads are here, but there is way too much out-of-tune whammy bar work for its own good. Although it was very much a Jimi Hendrix thing to abuse the whammy bar, it ruined the songs on this live performance. The second half sounds beyond awful, with way too much emphasis on whammy bar action. Sadly, this live album is somewhat disappointing in a sense. Still, these guys do their best. This is barely okay, but still listenable. Just disappointing. It concludes after nearly five minutes in length. The crowd applaud again at the end.

Red House is a 12-minute-long version of the original cut from Are You Experienced? Jimi introduces it as a slow Blues number, which it is. He begins with the slow intro riff, launching into some excellent guitar playing. This is slow and sensual, almost Santana like in its delivery. Jimi Hendrix was one of the greatest guitarists to walk this earth, and this live song is one of the best examples of that. In any case, the band plays with what seems like an improvised tune for us all to hear. This is extremely fresh and fine listening, and it just delivers what it promises. A great and thoughtful jam session, that is, until Jimi Hendrix gets singing nicely away where it becomes a song. A really amazing live rendition of a memorable song, this is really different and lovely sounding for Classic Rock. This sounds thoroughly good, and it is a good albeit lengthy rendition of the song. In any case, this lengthy tune already feels like a bit of a drag and goes on forever, or for at least an unnecessarily long time. This is clearly not the greatest gig that The Jimi Hendrix Experience ever did. Still, the wild soloing on this tune is quite good for what it is. An amazing and interesting listening experience, if you have a lot of patience. The guitar soloing is proto-Progressive Rock here and it sounds like Jimi and company are really enjoying their lengthy jam. It eventually returns to a slower section of music which is very suspenseful, and different as well. Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding are just as important musically here, and the drumrolls present are intricate and fantastic. Eventually, this leads to Noel Redding almost doing a bass guitar solo. This is great to hear, all the same. Jimi Hendrix plays quietly in the background, whilst the bass guitar work goes on. With little warning, this goes straight back into the ridiculously awesome jam session at hand. A really cool tune, it does seem to get better as it goes along. Wild and fantastic leads are present here, which is more interesting than you’d come to expect. Some mellow guitar playing follows as this tune goes into a slower section of music. Jimi plays with his heart and soul here, just sounding phenomenal and amazing. Jimi then begins to conclude this song with the final verses and shows the audience what he has got. Pretty lengthy listening, but it gets to an excellent conclusion. Not too bad. The crowd applaud Jimi Hendrix and his friends for his music.

Purple Haze is the last song from the main set here. It begins with the iconic guitar riff and sounds gloriously great. Fortunately, this is a lot shorter and more interesting than the previous tune. Jimi Hendrix plays wonderfully here, and he shows Miami, Florida that the Sunshine State of the USA was able to Rock, too. Some of the lyrics are spliced up here in favour of the instrumentation at hand. Still, this is a very, very good listen. Sounding interesting, varied and well-rehearsed, The Jimi Hendrix Experience deliver when they can. A lively tune that sounds really quite good here, despite the fact that Jimi’s guitar is a bit out of tune. But then again, what live performance doesn’t have its faults? Anyway, it is good enough to listen to this song here regardless and finishes with some crazy guitar leads. Good and decent to hear. It ends with applause, Jimi and the band thanking the audience as this main part of the album draws to a close.

Fire – Afternoon Show begins with some quickly played guitar that sounds a little out of tune, but well played by Jimi. A fresh, fun and interesting listen, this is almost like Jimi Hendrix on speed, especially since his choice of drugs was not really that sort of thing. This is almost Punk like in its sound and has a nicely played guitar solo here. Jimi and crew were really great musicians, and this live set would have been fairly easy for them to do. A powerful tune, even if some of the guitar work is a bit out of tune, it is okay here. A good rendition of this classic song, and worth hearing if you like Jimi Hendrix live. It ends swiftly.

Foxey Lady – Afternoon Show is the last song on this album and begins with some brilliant hammer-on style guitar work by Jimi. Eventually, guitar feedback occurs and this tune gets going. Again, the guitars sound quite out of tune in this particular piece. Still, this is a good way to finish off a fairly patchy live album by The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Very good music regardless, it does pulsate with a great deal of energy throughout. Jimi isn’t the best singer in Rock history, but his singing is passionate and okay for what it is. Very tuneful and different, even for its flaws, it is good. An interesting, dynamic and well played live show, albeit a patchy live performance, this song is a good way to wrap it all up. Towards the end is a great example of guitar feedback, before the band work together as a unit to conclude. Quite good, it ends with Jimi doing a bit of proto-Shred guitar. It eventually wraps up, and the album concludes here. Not too bad.

This is okay as an album. However, the biggest overall flaw is the fact that Jimi Hendrix, although playing like a Genuine Guitar God, uses the whammy bar way too often and his guitars are out of tune half the time. This was a decade before Eddie Van Halen solved the problem by recognising the amazing Floyd Rose tremolo system. However, in retrospect, this is not a pleasant gig to listen to as a result. Even for The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s standards, this isn’t mindblowing. It is a good but not great album. Should you listen to this anyway? Only if you feel up to it. Still, the studio albums that Jimi Hendrix made were far better.

Good but horrible to hear in sections.

6/10