#1 The Jimi Hendrix Experience Red House (1967) Didnt see this one coming, did ya? Well, it shouldnt be a surprise that its a blues number. Im a true believer in rock n roll, but you cant have it without the blues. In fact, I hear the blues in everything. I always jokingly say theres only two types of music, classical and the blues. Many, many years ago, there was this caveman. He (or she) took one object and beat it against another. When they discovered rhythm, they were playing the blues. At least thats what I believe. After Stevie Ray Vaughan (who I was a huge fan of and feel lucky to have seen him play three times), I really had no need for modern blues. I respect the genre and those who keep it alive. I just feel that its all about the solos. Every song is built around the solo. It should be about the rhythm and the beat and the expression of the soul. Someone is always telling me I should check out this hot so-and-so guitar player, and frankly Im usually bored by it. Theres a lot of great players, but very few of them really move me (I will say that Lucky Peterson is phenomenal and blew my mind when I saw him a few years ago, and of course theres the late great Nick Curran). However I grew up on blues-rock and I was all about the guitar solos for most of my youth. My love of the blues all started with the Stones. The version of Midnight Rambler on Get Yer Ya-Yas Out was like a crash course in the blues. And I would get totally lost during Love In Vain. However it was Confessin the Blues on 12x5 where the word blues first entered my vocabulary and I knew I really loved that kind of groove. Then it was ZZ Top and Led Zeppelin. Fleetwood Mac, Savoy Brown and Ten Years After would be other fascinations of mine. Later bands like Aerosmith (Reefer Headed Woman) and AC/DC (The Jack) would remind me how much I loved a good blues tune. Then there was Texas legend Bugs Henderson and his classic album At Last, which I listened to endlessly. But it took me awhile to fully appreciate Jimi Hendrix. My dad had several Hendrix records, but I never really listened to them, including Smash Hits which had Red House on it. I didnt need to. His music was on the radio everyday. Dont get me wrong, I liked him and understood his stature. But then when I was 14, the summer before I started high school, I finally got bit by the Hendrix bug. I read Scuse Me While I Kiss The Sky by David Henderson, the excellent biography (I also read the Jim Morrison bio No One Gets Out of Here Alive that summer and was on an equal Doors trip). When I finally heard it, it was a complete musical lobotomy. It is a minor symphony of blues guitar bliss. There are actually two studio versions. The one on Smash Hits and the original that was on the UK version of Are You Experienced? It was left off the US release, but eventually released in 1994 on Jimi Hendrix: Blues. The CDs liner notes quoted Hendrix, Everybody was scared to release Red House in America because they said, America dont like the blues! Most live versions of the song clock in over 10 minutes, yet both of these studio versions are under four. Which make them kind of like two-minute punk rock songs within the canon of blues-rock. The original sounds like a live take and honestly just like many other blues guitar jams. The other version sounds other-worldly. The solo is doubled-tracked which made me think it must have been created with some sort of voodoo spell. It had such a powerful effect on me, as if my skull had been opened up and Jimis guitar cord was plugged straight into my brain. To this day I can, with a little silence, hear this entire song, note for note, in my head perfectly. Thats how many times I listened to it as a teenager and since. It was the first song I ever stated as my all-time favorite song and Ive never wavered from that. The first 30 seconds is the freaking ringtone on my phone!
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 18:21:50 +0000
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