Our vinyl album of the week is by Jimi Hendrix Live At Berkeley. Personally one of my favorite Jimi Hendrix albums. Live at Berkeley is a posthumous live album by The Jimi Hendrix Experience released on September 16, 2003. The album documents the bands second performance at the Berkeley Community Theatre on May 30, 1970. Review by By Mad Dog maddog6969 (hellidunno) This review is from: Jimi Hendrix: Live At Berkeley (Audio CD) On May 30 of 1970, Jimi, Mitch Mitchell and Billy Cox played two shows at the Berkeley Theater. This disc consists of the songs played at the second show. Parts of both shows have been available as a bootlegs for many years, some of them relatively low quality affairs, others reasonably good soundboard boots. Both shows had some excellent playing and perhaps the best known song from these performances is that of Hear My Train a Comin from the first show. Many collectors have questioned why Experience Hendrix has chosen to only release the second show, but Ill just express my gratitude that the second show has finally seen the light of day as a commercial release. We can for now only sit back and hope for the first show and maybe the soundcheck to be released as soon as possible. But for now, lets consider what we have here in this release of the second show... Altogether, this disc clocks in at 67 minutes and change, with eleven tunes, all of them well known to Hendrix afecianados. They are presented here in the best sound yet - a significant step up from the best boots. To clarify further, the sound is actually very good given its era, with decent stereo separation, dynamics and clarity, and very good dynamic contrasts. Jimis guitar is placed in the center, and if there is any gripe about the sound it might be that Billys bass is down in the mix too far. Sandwiched around the tune up, Jimi gives the little bit of intro that speaks volumes to me. 70 was not just a dark year in Americas history due to unrest over Viet Nam and civil rights, but also a difficult year for Jimi. This was due to legal issues and conflicts with his management, all multiplied by his need to do new things and move on against the resistance that tried to keep him churning out the acid rock hits. But Jimi had moved beyond those days as is shown in the song selections and delivery at the Berkeley shows. After the intro, a slightly rough around the edges Pass It On (Straight ahead), is followed by Hey Baby, a true sleeper of a tune that is given an excellent run-through here. Its such a gem, and it shows where a part of Jimis musical future might have gone had he lived. In my opinion, this is one of the very best live recordings of this essential tune. Other highlights include Stone Free, I Dont Live Today and Machine Gun. Of these, I Dont Live Today is very illuminating of where Jimi was at emotionally at the time. Interviews given around the time of the performance revealed Jimi to be eagerly anticipating his future, with many exciting plans, such as the possibility of playing with Miles Davis. But his forward look was tempered by the mood of the times and one can sense this by his introductory remarks to this classic acid-infected blues, when he says: Wed like to do a thing thats whats happening today with a lot of people. And Id like to dedicate it to all... all the cats that are trying to struggle that are gonna make it anyway. The word anyway has an emphasis that shows resolve in the face of adversity and in that way, this song encapsulates much of Jimis last year. This is one of the better live versions of this tune, although I could have done without the profanity because it seems to dilute the songs impact. Jimi had often dedicated this tune to the American Indian, so the Berkeley dedication was surely a sign of the times. The set is closed out with a fairly fast Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) again delivered with a classic intro, where Jimi says: We hope you all got some kind of a feeling about this thing - the next thing were gonna play and the last thing. It goes like this - playing to keep us alive. This is nothing but determination and so forth and so on, you know. Knowing that youre gonna get it together. Thank you, good night. The song is then delivered with more drive than any of the many versions Ive ever heard. The themes throughout were consistent with how the music was delivered - with a purpose - that being to support each other during hard times and to not give up in the face of adversity. Its all just another example of how Jimi had become a crystal clear spokesperson for the people, a leader with a vision.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Nov 2014 20:58:46 +0000
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