Jimi Was The Best Bar None!

way to piss on the party, freewheelin franklin

JIMI FOREVER!

who gives a fuck about bests anyway? you can be sure as hell jimi didn't.

 

This is going to be the last time I respond to this as your doing nothing more now than injecting your own thoughts' and that has nothing to do with history or the way it really was at that time.I'm sorry you were born about 8 years too late too have seen these people play-I DID!- and many others my age did-how can I even discuss this with you? You have to see players live to compare their individual talents-and then it's a lame thing to do as there are so may different styles as to make it pointless-You said you saw the Beatles and Stones?-Brother you would have been 8 years old when the Beatles last played live!-And I never once said that I "dismiss" anyone-I only said that to compare Hendrix with an acoustic player or a jazz player was silly and no accurate comparison could be made. I did see Duane Allman many times at the Fillmore and I did see Pink Floyd with Sid Barrett and I did see The Stones many times-I also watched Mike Bloomfield rip ( ever heard of him?) and I watched John Cippolina from Quicksilver rip as well- his stacks are in the Smithsonian Institute-I saw him many nights in SF-I've seen alot of player Frank and I don't even normally bother to compare them as their all good or they would'nt be making a living. I actually partied with the Almann Bros. in the woods one weekend so yes I have heard Duanne Live on acoustic and yes he was Jimis favorite player-And Herbie Mann was mine-When you talk about the different musicians it helps to know you have actually watched them play-not on tv or radio but LIVE-In the ears and eyes of the world Hendrix was simply the best-not just my opinion but the majority of the planet agrees on this so it must be true or else most people are wrong-which is it?

 

You are musically ignorant. One dimensional? Hendrix was the master of any style you can name.

Blues - 'Red House'
Rock - 'Foxy Lady'
R 'n' B - 'Power Of Soul'
Soft - 'Little Wing'
Covers - 'All Along The Watchtower
Hard rock - 'Voodoo Child (Slught Return)'
Psychedelia - 'Rainy Day, Dream Away'

You can't even label most of his songs. To say that '...And The Gods Made Love' is anything like 'Foxy Lady' is beyond ridiculous. Each album was different, each song was different.

Duane Allman bores me to sleep.

 

Jimi was so good because he was just raw power and fantastic sounding-He ws very exciting to watch and it really dosen't matter if your classically trained like Eric Johnson or Al Dimiola-It doesn't even really matter who fast you can play' but HOW YOU PLAY-is it effortless? are you smiling like your making love to the axe?-Jimi was not a professionally trained musician' but a self taught master of his instrument. That is also one of his appeals' he was down to Earth and basically a very nice guy' as well as THE BEST!

 

And lets not forget the incomprable Peter Green! Now-what type music was HE playing lol-He was with the original Fleetwood Mac where they did rock and blues but before that he was with John Mayall doing strickly blues-If you have never listened to him-do yourself a favor and download his stuff-amazing licks-

 

Well, thank goodness it's the last time you are going to respond. You don't seem to be getting the point I am making...And I quote:

I think the problem we have here is a failure to communicate. What I am hearing from you is that really loud guitar with lots of feedback is the pinnacle of the guitarist's technique. Sorry, but I disagree. Now, if you had said he was the best really-loud-super-distorted-weird-noises-while-humping-his-guitar player ever, I'd agree with you. But you didn't. I mean, you are the one who named the thread "Jimi was the Best Bar None!" without taking this into account.

Who is injecting who's thoughts here? You seem to have poor Jimi up on a pedestal, and it rankles you for anyone to knock it down. You judge Jimi by YOUR own standard, which is, as I said above, coming from the point of view that overdriven fuzzed-toned strats through Marshall 100 stacks are the epitome of what guitar playing is all about. Or is what rock is all about, for that matter. I happen to disagree, and you get your panties all in a wad. Chill.

As far as seeing players live, yeah, I missed out on Jimi. But I've seen plenty others live. Let me rack my brain...I saw (live)...Alvin Lee...Ron Wood and Faces (with Rod S.)...B. B. King...Muddy Waters...Johnny Winter...Jeff Beck...Buck Dharma...Leslie West...Allen Collins and Gary Rossington...saw Duane and Gregg jam at Piedmont Park when I was about 10, but was still too young to appreciate them...Robin Trower...Frank Zappa...Jimmy Page...David Gilmour (smoked a joint with him before the show, too; PF was kicking off their '76 tour in Atlanta)...Chuck Berry...Bo Diddley...Steve Morse...Carlos Santana...Terry Kath...Keith Richards...Dickie Betts...Joe Perry...Billy Gibbons...Joe Walsh...
Well, that's off the top of my head. I've seen lots more, hundreds more. Point is, I have seen enough to compare. And I've seen a lot of 'em on more than one show, so I know when they're hot and when they're off.

Best Hendrix imitation I've seen: Irnie Isley. He even DRESSED like Hendrix..haha. Did the whole schtick (humping the guitar, playing behind the back) too. And before you get your panties in a wad, no, I'm sure he wasn't as good as the real thing. What could be? But his version of Machine Gun was damn good. But again; playing Hendrix really isn't all that hard.
Oh, and by the way: yes, I DID see the Beatles. No, I wasn't eight, I was SEVEN. And I had several of their 45's, and they were my FAVORITE BAND! When I saw that show, which was hard to do with the distraction of 30,000 teenage girls screaming, pulling their hair out, and pissing in their seats...when I saw them play, I said to myself: "Now, that's what I want to do when I grow up!"

 

I've had the first Fleetwood Mac LP...the one with the trashcan in the alley with FLEETWOOD MAC written in what looks like spray paint. Yeah, Green was good before he lost his marbles.
Oh, I've listened to Bloomfield since the 60s...Highway 61, etc. Being a harp player also, I love his stuff with Butterfield. And even his later stuff with Buddy Miles.

 

Again, the best WHAT? Classical? Bluegrass? Country? Jazz? No, no, no, and NO. He was the best at loud fuzzy overdrive. that's all.

 

Whatever, dude.

*snicker!*

Sure I can. "Loud Feedback Driven Rock"...see how easy it is?

Each album was different? Big whoop...he did, what--three studio albums and one live album and was working on his fourth studio album when he decided to choke on his puke? The only thing different was that, on his later stuff, he started to turn down his fuzzbox. Yes, yes, the songs were becoming more complex. For him, anyway. And as far as Duane Allman being boring: I have to consider the source.

 

A HARP PLAYER????? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA---O AND DON'T FORGET-HAHAHAHAHAH-YOU MY FRIEND ARE NOTHING MORE THAN A WANTA/COULDA/SHOULDA DUDE-(GROUPIE)Recorded by "Jimi Hendrix"
Written by ©Jimi Hendrix - Bella Godiva Music Inc. - ASCAP
Album: "Axis: Bold As Love" - 1967
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Yeah, sing the song, Bro'

If the sun refuse to shine,
I don't mind, I don't mind,
If the mountains fell in the sea,
let it be, it ain't me.
Alright, 'cos I got my own world to look through,
And I ain't gonna copy you.

Now if 6 turned out to be 9,
I don't mind, I don't mind,
Alright, if all the hippies cut off all their hair,
I don't care, I don't care.
Dig, 'cos I got my own world to live through
And I ain't gonna copy you.

White collared conservative flashing down the street,

Pointing their plastic finger at me.
They're hoping soon my kind will drop and die,
But I'm gonna wave my freak flag high, high.
Wave on, wave on
Fall mountains, just don't fall on me
Go ahead on Mr. Business man, you can't dress like me.
Sing on Brother, play on drummer.

-GET OVER YOURSELF-

 

And yes I am done "discussing" Jimi with you-it's real obvious that you are very jealous of this great man. No harm done-many have fallen before him and weeped at his magnificence!-You will not be the first to feel so small before him-You will get through this-!we all have-He was a force to be recond with and just as some laugh at danger ;deep inside they know the truth-They fear what they don't know or understand. I believe this is the case here and not to worry. This does not make you any less of a caveman ok?-I'm done-(with you)

 

Feedback-driven rock? What, 'Little Wing', 'Castles Made Of Sand', 'Crosstown Traffic', 'Highway Chile', 'Red House'? DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT FEEDBACK IS? How is 'Red House' rock?

 

Guitar is my main instrument, but I've played my fair share of bass and harp. I'm a strat man. Back when I was playing through 100 watt tube amps, I could do a very good Hendrix imitation. Wasn't hard to do. I've done hung up the git-tar for now; semi-retired. Here's a pic of me (I'm the one in the hat) hanging out backstage with some geriatric hippie band my group opened for a few years back in my very last show:

Um, yes, it was after the show, and yes, we were wasted.

 

Good post Axis-Your a very insightful person for being so young. You have a good future ahead of you as you have a good open mind. We cannot or should not try to compare musicians of yesterday with musicians of today for a few simple reasons. Technology has given the players today a much great advantage then there was in the past. Today' a musician can run his or her instrument through alot of gadgets to obtain some desired effects. In the 60s about the only effects available were a wa-wa pedal' maybe an echo-plex or fuzz-The toys of today go way beyond what Hendrix had to choose from. When he played; if you closed your eyes you would have thought there was at least one other guitar player on stage with him. He was able to play lead and rhythm at the same time so well you could not tell by listening to it that it was all him!-He had big hands that completely covered the axe and they were all over it at once' non stop. His use of distortion was not for effects but as part of the song. He was not all over the stage when he played but for the most part he stood still' smiled and just let loose a volley of beautiful noise' at a very high decibal level.His recordings for the most part did not do him justice and he did alot more recording than has been stated here. He was also a session man for Sam and Dave and others' which are on record. He was not considered to be so good because he was loud or flashy-that base was already covered by groups like Blue Cheer -The Who-Cream and many others.In 66' the idea of stacking up the Marshalls was started by just a few groups. Blue Cheer was the first I saw do it but the same year it caught on and alot of groups started adding more amps-but I believe Blue Cheer was actually the first froup to go onstage with such a massive sound system. But the problem there was that even though they were loud they were really not good musicians. Then Jimi comes along with his stacks and bam!-You have it all now-A loud 3 piece group with a badass guitar playing singer.So' he was a pioneer in that 3 piece setup-and he liked and listened to Cream as they were his closest "competition"-Both groups were outragous and great to watch. But Jimi had something that Eric did not.He had alot more energy'speed and balls than Eric-He attacked his instrument but did not smash it to pieces or jump up and down like Townsend-He set it on fire that one time but even though people thought it was cool at the time he did not do it again; whereas The Who made smashing their instruments part of the act-Now; that was a stunt. Hendrix had no stunts. He didn't need them. His ability and musicianship was all he needed. He was admired and praised by the public as well as players in all types of music from soul to jazz to rock and it was well deserved. To take away from that is not only doing this man injustice' but is just wrong. He lived hard and died young and left behind some of the most exciting music ever made' and he could do it live as well as on record.So-if you never got to see him live' you missed something special. I'm sure he was not great every night he went on-who is? But' he gave it all he had when he played and the audience never left dissapointed-Not many can say that today. Now-lets discuss the greatest white female blues singer of all time-Janis Joplin. Or was that just another "geriatric hippie band"?-How disrespectful some are of those that went before them. We should respect and learn from all the great musicians that were here before us-There are some groups today that do. I like the group Collective Soul. Their sound is diverse and sounds alot like groups from the 60s at times. Good harmonies and guitar work. They are a great group IMO' but only as a group. All the parts make the whole sound.-Some musicians think what they are playing is new and original-it isn't-it's been done before-Hendrix followed nobody-He was the alpha of his own sounds.He was a great player-He was the best!

 

Biography by Richie Unterberger & Sean Westergaard
In his brief four-year reign as a superstar, Jimi Hendrix expanded the vocabulary of the electric rock guitar more than anyone before or since. Hendrix was a master at coaxing all manner of unforeseen sonics from his instrument, often with innovative amplification experiments that produced astral-quality feedback and roaring distortion. His frequent hurricane blasts of noise and dazzling showmanship — he could and would play behind his back and with his teeth and set his guitar on fire — has sometimes obscured his considerable gifts as a songwriter, singer, and master of a gamut of blues, R&B, and rock styles.

When Hendrix became an international superstar in 1967, it seemed as if he'd dropped out of a Martian spaceship, but in fact he'd served his apprenticeship the long, mundane way in numerous R&B acts on the chitlin circuit. During the early and mid-'60s, he worked with such R&B/soul greats as Little Richard, the Isley Brothers, and King Curtis as a backup guitarist. Occasionally he recorded as a session man (the Isley Brothers' 1964 single "Testify" is the only one of these early tracks that offers even a glimpse of his future genius). But the stars didn't appreciate his show-stealing showmanship, and Hendrix was straight-jacketed by sideman roles that didn't allow him to develop as a soloist. The logical step was for Hendrix to go out on his own, which he did in New York in the mid-'60s, playing with various musicians in local clubs, and joining white blues-rock singer John Hammond, Jr.'s band for a while.

It was in a New York club that Hendrix was spotted by Animals bassist Chas Chandler. The first lineup of the Animals was about to split, and Chandler, looking to move into management, convinced Hendrix to move to London and record as a solo act in England. There a group was built around Jimi, also featuring Mitch Mitchell on drums and Noel Redding on bass, that was dubbed the Jimi Hendrix Experience. The trio became stars with astonishing speed in the U.K., where "Hey Joe," "Purple Haze," and "The Wind Cries Mary" all made the Top Ten in the first half of 1967. These tracks were also featured on their debut album, Are You Experienced?, a psychedelic meisterwerk that became a huge hit in the U.S. after Hendrix created a sensation at the Monterey Pop Festival in June of 1967.

Are You Experienced? was an astonishing debut, particularly from a young R&B veteran who had rarely sung, and apparently never written his own material, before the Experience formed. What caught most people's attention at first was his virtuosic guitar playing, which employed an arsenal of devices, including wah-wah pedals, buzzing feedback solos, crunching distorted riffs, and lightning, liquid runs up and down the scales. But Hendrix was also a first-rate songwriter, melding cosmic imagery with some surprisingly pop-savvy hooks and tender sentiments. He was also an excellent blues interpreter and passionate, engaging singer (although his gruff, throaty vocal pipes were not nearly as great assets as his instrumental skills). Are You Experienced? was psychedelia at its most eclectic, synthesizing mod pop, soul, R&B, Dylan, and the electric guitar innovations of British pioneers like Jeff Beck, Pete Townshend, and Eric Clapton.

Amazingly, Hendrix would only record three fully conceived studio albums in his lifetime. Axis: Bold as Love and the double-LP Electric Ladyland were more diffuse and experimental than Are You Experienced? On Electric Ladyland in particular, Hendrix pioneered the use of the studio itself as a recording instrument, manipulating electronics and devising overdub techniques (with the help of engineer Eddie Kramer in particular) to plot uncharted sonic territory. Not that these albums were perfect, as impressive as they were; the instrumental breaks could meander, and Hendrix's songwriting was occasionally half-baked, never matching the consistency of Are You Experienced? (although he exercised greater creative control over the later albums).

The final two years of Hendrix's life were turbulent ones musically, financially, and personally. He was embroiled in enough complicated management and record company disputes (some dating from ill-advised contracts he'd signed before the Experience formed) to keep the lawyers busy for years. He disbanded the Experience in 1969, forming the Band of Gypsies with drummer Buddy Miles and bassist Billy Cox to pursue funkier directions. He closed Woodstock with a sprawling, shaky set, redeemed by his famous machine-gun interpretation of "The Star Spangled Banner." The rhythm section of Mitchell and Redding were underrated keys to Jimi's best work, and the Band of Gypsies ultimately couldn't measure up to the same standard, although Hendrix did record an erratic live album with them. In early 1970, the Experience re-formed again — and disbanded again shortly afterward. At the same time, Hendrix felt torn in many directions by various fellow musicians, record-company expectations, and management pressures, all of whom had their own ideas of what Hendrix should be doing. Coming up on two years after Electric Ladyland, a new studio album had yet to appear, although Hendrix was recording constantly during the period.

While outside parties did contribute to bogging down Hendrix's studio work, it also seems likely that Jimi himself was partly responsible for the stalemate, unable to form a permanent lineup of musicians, unable to decide what musical direction to pursue, unable to bring himself to complete another album despite jamming endlessly. A few months into 1970, Mitchell — Hendrix's most valuable musical collaborator — came back into the fold, replacing Miles in the drum chair, although Cox stayed in place. It was this trio that toured the world during Hendrix's final months.

It's extremely difficult to separate the facts of Hendrix's life from rumors and speculation. Everyone who knew him well, or claimed to know him well, has different versions of his state of mind in 1970. Critics have variously mused that he was going to go into jazz, that he was going to get deeper into the blues, that he was going to continue doing what he was doing, or that he was too confused to know what he was doing at all. The same confusion holds true for his death: contradictory versions of his final days have been given by his closest acquaintances of the time. He'd been working intermittently on a new album, tentatively titled First Ray of the New Rising Sun, when he died in London on September 18, 1970, from drug-related complications.

Hendrix recorded a massive amount of unreleased studio material during his lifetime. Much of this (as well as entire live concerts) was issued posthumously; several of the live concerts were excellent, but the studio tapes have been the focus of enormous controversy for over 20 years. These initially came out in haphazard drabs and drubs (the first, The Cry of Love, was easily the most outstanding of the lot). In the mid-'70s, producer Alan Douglas took control of these projects, posthumously overdubbing many of Hendrix's tapes with additional parts by studio musicians. In the eyes of many Hendrix fans, this was sacrilege, destroying the integrity of the work of a musician known to exercise meticulous care over the final production of his studio recordings. Even as late as 1995, Douglas was having ex-Knack drummer Bruce Gary record new parts for the typically misbegotten compilation Voodoo Soup. After a lengthy legal dispute, the rights to Hendrix's estate, including all of his recordings, returned to Al Hendrix, the guitarist's father, in July of 1995.

With the help of Jimi's step-sister Janie, Al set up Experience Hendrix to begin to get Jimi's legacy in order. They began by hiring John McDermott and Jimi's original engineer, Eddie Kramer to oversee the remastering process. They were able to find all the original master tapes, which had never been used for previous CD releases, and in April of 1997, Hendrix's first three albums were reissued with drastically improved sound. Accompanying those reissues was a posthumous compilation album (based on Jimi's handwritten track listings) called First Rays of the New Rising Sun, made up of tracks from the Cry of Love, Rainbow Bridge and War Heroes.

Later in 1997, another compilation called South Saturn Delta showed up, collecting more tracks from posthumous LPs like Crash Landing, War Heroes, and Rainbow Bridge (without the terrible '70s overdubs), along with a handful of never-before-heard material that Chas Chandler had withheld from Alan Douglas for all those years.

More archival material followed; Radio One was basically expanded to the two-disc BBC Sessions (released in 1998), and 1999 saw the release of the full show from Woodstock as well as additional concert recordings from the Band of Gypsies shows entitled Live at the Fillmore East. 2000 saw the release of the Jimi Hendrix Experience four-disc box set, which compiled remaining tracks from In the West, Crash Landing and Rainbow Bridge along with more rarities and alternates from the Chandler cache.

The family also launched Dagger Records, essentially an authorized bootleg label to supply harcore Hendrix fans with material that would be of limited commercial appeal. Dagger Records has released several live concerts (of shows in Oakland, Ottawa and Clark University in Massachusetts) and a collection of studio jams and demos called Morning Symphony Ideas.

 

I rest my case!

 

Is it just me, or does rob sound like he's talkin' about jee-zuz? haw haw
Bottom line: Hendrix was a pioneer in feedback and loud noise. He was a good guitarist, but not the best. Case closed.

 

Feedback and loud noise? How thick are you? To say that something like 'Little Wing' or 'Angel' is either loud or noisy is off the map in terms of ignorance and stupididty. And who else back then could control his guitar like that? Or since, for that matter?

Take, for example, Jimmy Page. Many people view him as one of the best guitarists ever. I am one of them. You probably are, too. But what can he do outside of writing riffs? The solo on 'STH'. That's it. Jimi Hendrix wrote great riffs ('Foxy Lady', 'Power Of Soul') great solos ('Machine Gun', 'All Along The Watchtower') great lyrics ('Little Wing', 'Straight Ahead') great instrumentals ('Villanova Junction', 'Pali Gap') and, above all else, he was the greatest improviser that has ever lived. Just watch 'Message To Love' and 'Voodoo Child (Slight Return)' on the 'Live At Woodstock' DVD, and you will understand why. In fact, just see any of his live stuff.

BTW I AM TALKING BULLSHIT.

 

Well, I have to consider the source. I think I'll stick to the opinions of people like Les Paul and Chet Atkins. You know, guitarists who know a whole lot more than YOU do about what is or isn't great guitar chops. As I said before, take away Jimi's toys, his Roger Mayer Octavia, his Vox wah, his Arbiter, and his uni-vox uni-vibe, and his guitar chops really weren't that special. Sorry to rain on your parade, but you need to learn the difference between someone who really plays well, and someone who simply knows how to use gadgets well.
P. S. "All Along the Watchtower"???? Great solos? It's a three chord song (Cm, Bb, Ab) played with a pentatonic scale. I figured out the whole song when I was 18. It's really no big deal.

 

Axis-If your ever in Seattle check out the museum dedicated to Jimi-It's called the EMP-Experience Music Project built by Paul Allen -the 4th richest man in the world was/is a huge Hendrix fan-There is alot of his guitars and other things of his in there.-Ya know you must be good to have your own museum!-He is buried outside Seattle and you can visit the grave-many people do and leave small "tokens" behind. It was another "geriatric hippie" from the 60s who wrote All Along The Watch Tower-the greatest song writer of his time-Bob Dylan-wrote the 3 chords!