Rating: 5/10

Track Amount: 10

Running Time: 42 minutes and 58 seconds

Genre: Classic Rock

Personnel: Jimi Hendrix (guitars and vocals), Noel Redding (bass guitar), Mitch Mitchell (drums)

Producer: Janie Hendrix, Eddie Kramer, John McDermott

Recording Locations: Hollywood Bowl

Record Label: Legacy Recordings

Art Direction: N/A

Best Tracks: Catfish Blues

Quick Verdict: Not a recommendable Jimi Hendrix album by far

There was much more to Jimi Hendrix than simply his three main studio albums. His live performances were often talking points in music circles for how music could sound great in a live setting. Indeed, the late 1960s was the new era of Rock Music in full swing, and The Jimi Hendrix Experience was hot stuff in this timeframe. Although bassist Noel Redding stated that this performance was a dismal failure in retrospect, this is going to be a necessary listening experience to cover, as it has some interesting songlisting throughout. Although it had some Jimi Hendrix originals, it also had some good choice picks for cover songs. To avoid this release would be foolish, regardless. Let’s take a listen to this live recording, and hopefully it will be better than expected.

1. Introduction is a radio introduction to the show ahead. It is less than a minute long, and the crowd is fairly unenthusiastic overall. Jimi Hendrix then makes a statement to the crowd about if they laugh, they need to laugh in key. The band then leads into the next song.

2. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is a cover of the famous song by The Beatles on their own Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) album. It sounds very odd and different compared to the original. Jimi Hendrix sounds a bit off on this performance, despite the fact that it is a good shot at covering this song. Jimi plays uniquely and originally on this one, utilising his own unique scales and phrasing. This is a difficult listen for fans of The Jimi Hendrix Experience, as it is not very good. Still, a nice attempt nonetheless. The outro is insane, however. Jimi then introduces the next song that follows.

3. Killing Floor is a Howlin’ Wolf cover. It begins with some searing Blues guitar licks, which sound very Jimi Hendrix style. It quickly launches into a really cool tune at hand, which sounds true to the nature of Rock and Roll. Jimi and the band play on terrifically, and even though this song is a bit tuneless, it does sound awesome. Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell play fantastically as well on this cover, and the music at hand is better than many musicians in the public spotlight today. The guitar soloing is a bit muddy-sounding, but the whole group plays with wild and pure precision regardless. It sounds like a good cover of Blues king Howlin’ Wolf, and it does have some excellent drumming in particular. Wild and crazy sounding. Towards the end is a mammoth guitar solo, followed by a neat outro. Jimi Hendrix tunes up whilst introducing the next song to the ladies in the crowd.

4. The Wind Cries Mary is an original by The Jimi Hendrix Experience from their debut album Are You Experienced? (1967). It launches into a rather poor rendition of the original song. This is one of the less-than-good live albums by The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Sadly, it is out of tune, and Jimi missed some lyric lines as well. This is definite proof that Jimi and the crew were not on fine form on this night. Still, the guitars and performance are okay, but if you are not a Classic Rock fan, this is a difficult piece of music to enjoy. This sounds very off, and the band struggles to create a coherent gig here. In particular, Jimi’s guitar is very out of tune. Still, it is okay but not fantastic. It could have been much better. The crowd cheers, and both Jimi Hendrix and Noel Redding talk to the crowd, with Jimi introducing the next song.

5. Foxey Lady is another cut from The Jimi Hendrix Experience album Are You Experienced? (1967). It begins with the iconic guitar hammer-ons and launches into an okay-sounding performance at hand. This is sped up and rather off-sounding for Jimi Hendrix and his bandmates. It lacks the sort of awesomeness and tunefulness that a great live performance can be. All in all, it is a poor performance. Perhaps the whole group were not taking this night too seriously as such. The guitar solo section is good, although this is a lacklustre performance throughout. It seems that on this night, The Jimi Hendrix Experience were only there for the money. Very poor to listen to as a result. The outro is good, however. There is some chatter by Noel Redding about the next song upcoming, whilst the band gets ready for the following tune at hand.

6. Catfish Blues is a Robert Petaway original. It begins with some interesting guitar work by Jimi Hendrix and some unique backing music from his band. It is quite a good listen with a lowdown, Blues Music feel to it all. This is an interesting listen, especially if you have never heard this particular piece of music before. It is a slow-burning and decent listen at hand, and Jimi delivers the goods on this one. This is a deep and interesting song that has a great sound and unique flavour to it all. The guitar shredding and soloing throughout by Jimi Hendrix is absolutely monumental to listen to. This eight-minute-long piece is a very good rendition musically overall by The Jimi Hendrix Experience. This alternates between softer and louder music sections at hand, and this tune is very killer. In the midsection is a Mitch Mitchell drum solo, which is absolutely fantastic to hear and listen to. This is the key selling point of this live performance, and Mitch Mitchell is outstanding on this drum solo. This is something that any drummer or Rock Music fan will like the sound of as such. A really dramatic and punchy tune at hand, which sounds cool and killer. Noel Redding eventually joins in on bass guitar, followed by Jimi Hendrix doing some incredible wah-wah guitar soloing away at hand. Jimi launches into a guitar solo section alone that sounds dang cool. He plays with a purity and ferocity that few could ever match. Eventually, the song section returns at hand and sounds really cool. This tune finishes up extremely nicely and sounds superb. It ends with some awesome performances, clapping and cheering, and some thank yous to the audience. There is a little bit of chatter from the band, followed by a guitar tune-up.

7. Fire is from The Jimi Hendrix Experience album Are You Experienced? (1967). It is a very off and short rendition of the original song at hand. This is a piece that sounds really off and poorly rendered as such. The music and playing are good, even though many mistakes with the singing in particular are here. Not a very well-rehearsed or listenable version of the classic tune overall. Jimi does play a neat guitar solo on this song, although he has done better than this in a live setting overall. A piece of music more designed for pomp than anything else. The soloing at the end is quite neat at the end, however. It ends chaotically and with much squealing guitar. A tune-up follows, and Jimi introduces the next song.

8. Like A Rolling Stone is a Bob Dylan song from Highway 61 Revisited (1965). It begins with some out-of-tune guitar playing and launches into an interesting-sounding rendition of the original song. Jimi Hendrix speaks over the top of it all, before this quickly launches into the song. This is a lengthy rendition of the original Bob Dylan tune at hand. Even though this genuinely sounds ordinary, this does have its merits as well. It is certainly not a highlight of this album, however. The music and performance overall lack consistency, sonic impressiveness and magic. A really off-putting cover, and these guys could have done much better overall. This is likely a live performance delivered for just money only, and nothing else, which is very sad to think about. This continues on quite past its welcome, and you can skip ahead at this point, unless you wish to listen to it. It is barely okay to listen to, and is nowhere near as good as the original, either. Weird and off-sounding, this is a drag. It sounds completely tuneless throughout and is not pleasant listening. At the end is some wild guitar playing, before this gradually wraps up. Mitch Mitchell does some fantastic drum fills near the end, followed by loud guitars and applause. The tune-up begins again before Jimi speaks to the crowd, just before the next song begins.

9. Purple Haze is from The Jimi Hendrix Experience album Are You Experienced? (1967). It is absolutely horrendous from the start, and has the guitar and bass guitar out of tune with each other. Awful, do not listen to this one if you can help it. All the same, this is a less-than-impressive rendition of the original song at hand. The musicianship is as though these guys stayed up all night on LSD and barely got their act together in time for the show. The drumming is the obvious exception, however. Mitch Mitchell does play like a real beast on this song. The music sounds a bit of a sidestep for Jimi Hendrix. The music continues on, sounding very terrible. It ends with Jimi Hendrix playing some squealing electric guitar leads and a lot of whammy bar work. The audience claps and cheers as Noel Redding introduces the final song ahead. Jimi doesn’t seem to be grateful for performing, however, especially as he devotes the song to themselves. Odd.

10. Wild Thing is a song originally by Chip Taylor. It begins with some supersonic whammy guitar work, which sounds really very Jimi Hendrix style. This isn’t really necessary overall, however. After some heavy whammy arm abuse, this launches into the dramatic and interesting song at hand. Jimi and the band play very ordinarily on this song. This is the sound of a band that was worn out, for one reason or another. All the same, this is okay, but not fantastic to listen to. The music is seriously off-sounding on this live version. Eventually, it launches into an awesome tempo change which makes the piece much more lively. The whole group goes bonkers on this section, before returning to the main section of music at hand. Sadly, it sounds horribly out of tune by the second half. It certainly sounds awful by this stage of the song. More of a piece about showcasing the fact that, before Floyd Rose double locking tremolo systems were invented, whammy arms were mostly useless in staying in tune. It goes into a chaotic finish at hand, before this finally concludes. Very weird, but that is to be expected. The outro is lengthy and has Mitch Mitchell succeeding brilliantly as a drummer. It concludes with feedback guitars and the radio presenter wrapping it all up.

This is not a pleasant listening experience. The Jimi Hendrix Experience often plays some horrid music on this release, insults the crowd and has little sense of tunefulness and music timing. Therefore, this is not recommended to many people, even Classic Rock fans, including a lot of fans of Jimi Hendrix. A deeply disappointing live album performance overall. A better listen by far is Jimi Hendrix’s studio albums; go check those out instead.

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