1983. This is a real "masterpiece". Top 5 for me. 🙏🏻🙏🏻 Its also brilliant how Jimi bookends or sandwiches 1983 as the dream in the Rainy Day Dream Away.
Yes I agree. 1983 + Third stone from the Sun are my two favourites, probably the most experimental pieces that he made. I would love to know how 1983 was put together in the studio.
"Castles Made of Sand" was the first Hendrix track I ever heard: it _astounded_ me as no music ever had before, and I determined then and there to learn to play electric guitar, which I did! Now I am going to grab my Strat, tune it to Eb, and give thanks to Jimi for this gift which has enriched my life immeasurably for 35+ years... But first, some other magnificent Hendrix moments, off the top of my head: The intro to "Killing Floor" at Monterey - greatest start to a concert ever? The sublime "Axis: Bold as Love", ending in apotheosis as a purple spaceship descends to take Jimi and the boys back to Neptune... "Drivin' South" - Jimi is the only person who can solo over one chord for three minutes and have it be deliriously, wildly exciting. "Little Wing" - the solo is so moving, so short and delicate - everyone who covers it wrecks it, IMHO! "Rainy Day..." (I wish this was all in one piece on the record.) I put it on when it rains and dance around grinning like an idiot at the talking wah-wah guitar! "Like a Rolling Stone" at Monterey - the bit at about 00:50 where his guitar surprises him with a lovely sliding-sixths riff and he has to excuse himself to play it. "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Woodstock - iconic or what? (And, as Jimi said later, "I thought it was beautiful!") Thanks Andy for a great video! You are right, it is simply _true_ that Hendrix was the best.
I saw Jimi 6 times, from Herford Germany, in May '67, when I had no idea who he was, to Berkeley, where I flew from LA to catch the 2nd show, in May 1970, only able to make the last half-hour or so. In between, I saw him at Charlotte NC, Newport '69 (Devonshire Downs), and Denver Pop. I was at the Forum shows, in LA, too, but I couldn't get a ticket (an acute case of poverty, at the exact wrong time). He was a master showman, a commanding presence, and the most amazing musician I've ever seen. Fifty-four years after the last time, I still remember him like it was yesterday. Best of Jimi Hendrix Songs 01 A L L A L O N G T H E W A T C H T O W E R 02 L I T T L E W I N G 03 V O O D O O C H I L D ( S L I G H T R E T U R N ) 04 A R E Y O U E X P E R I E N C E D ? 05 H E Y B A B Y ( N E W R I S I N G S U N ) 06 A N G E L
07 I F S I X W A S N I N E 08 T H E W I N D C R I E S M A R Y 09 L I K E A R O L L I N G S T O N E 10 S T E P P I N G S T O N E 11 H E Y J O E 12 C O M E O N ( P A R T 1 ) 13 D O L L Y D A G G E R 14 S T O N E F R E E 15 T H E W I N D C R I E S M A R Y 16 F I R E 17 C A S T L E S M A D E O F S A N D 18 G Y P S Y E Y E S 19 R O O M F U L L O F M I R R O R S 20 N I G H T B I R D F L Y I N G
Thank you Andy. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I feel exactly the same way about Jimi Hendrix as you do. And like you, it's not just the guitar playing, which in itself is enough to have him as the greatest musician in rock history, but also Hendrix the performer, Hendrix the songwriter, Hendrix the producer. He did all these...better than anyone. The fact that so many people who are musicians and don't understand his greatness shows just how much music, popular music, has been dumbed down over the last 40-50 years. It's been a gradual decline in the quality of the music in mostly 3 key areas: musicianship, songwriting, and production. Andy, you said you might do a deeper dive into Hendrix, possibly entire albums. Yes please. It's so refreshing listening to another musician speaking about Hendrix with such admiration and knowledge of what he did and how big a shadow he cast over every single rock artist (and other genres) who came after him. He was the best. The greatest. No other musician, let alone guitarist has gotten anywhere near him in the 54 years since his tragic early death. Thanks Andy.
I was 12 when I discovered Jimi Hendrix, this was at a time when my taste in music was evolving. The first heavy riff that caught my attention was from "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" which my crew and myself wore out during the summer of '68. That riff was topped by the stuff on Led Zeppelin II, particularly "Heartbreaker" for me, the first Zep tune I ever heard. Then a friend turned up one day with Are You Experienced. There was much rejoicing. It's hard to convey the revelatory nature of that album. When we put the record on the turntable and placed the needle on that first track "Purple Haze" (American release) leapt out of the speakers and grabbed us by the throat. It was beyond heavy, it was massive! Kids today will ask me, "What's the big deal about Hendrix?" and I tell them that what you have to understand is that after the release of Are You Experienced electric guitarists didn't just have to reevaluate their relationship with their instrument, but had to reevaluate their relationship with electricity itself. Prior to Hendrix feedback was generally regarded as an unfortunate byproduct of electrified sound. But he saw feedback as a sound to be tamed and tame it he did. It felt at times that he could barely contain the beast he was attempting to master, and this added a tremendous amount of excitement to a Hendrix performance. And thus was Thor usurped as the God of Thunder.
The Wind Cries Mary was only on the American release of the first album, which had a totally different track list , but did include the first three singles
My favorite songs are the blues songs: 1. Red House - all-time best song, no question about it. There are so many good versions and each time he plays it he takes a different path. I like Royal Albert Hall version best (Feb 24, 1969) followed by Bologna Italy (May 26, 1968), Fillmore East (May 25, 1969), Winterland (October 10, 1968 1st show), New York Pop Festival (1970), San Diego. 2. Hear My Train a Comin' - Berkeley Community Theatre (1st show, 1970) live version is best followed by People, Hell and Angels album version 3. Machine Gun - the famous Fillmore East version is best followed by Isle of Wight version. 4. Voodoo Chile - the 14 minute version from Electric Ladyland If you like Voodoo Child (Slight Return) go for Berkeley Community Theatre (2nd show) live version or Los Angeles Forum: April 26, 1969. 5. Catfish Blues - about 11 minutes, Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, Feb 4, 1968. 6. Bleeding Heart - Feb 24, 1969, Royal Albert Hall And then, of course, go for Hey Joe from Winterland, 1st show, Oct 12, 1968.
Castles Made of Sand-it’s my all time favorite of his…his worldview Machine Gun Angel Voodoo Chile Wind Cries Mary Crosstown Traffic 1983 Bold as Love Little Wing I did not include Banner and Watchtower for obvious reasons even though they might contain his best guitar phrasing emotiveness.
That documentary you're thinking of was Tony Palmer's "All You Need is Love" series, made in 1974/75, and the Hendrix clip was "Wild Thing" from Clark University, Texas , which Palmer had filmed for an earlier doc called "All My Loving" in 1968. For me "Third Stone from the Sun" and "Voodoo Chile (slight return)" are those lightning-in-a-bottle moments that very rarely get captured on tape, while "All Along the Watchtower" and "1983..." are pinnacles of production, arrangement and an unparalleled imagination. Great choices here Andy, as ever.
Spot on Andy. I had my eureka moment with Hendrix at the Windsor Free Festival in '74 in an enhanced state on my way to the main stage to see Gong. Burning of the Midnight Lamp came over the PA,and stopped me in my tracks. Felt like he was talking directly to me. From that point onwards i dived into his music to soak up to make up for all the wasted years. An astonishing and otherworldly talent of which we will never see the like of again.
Jimi needed a high grade drummer like Mitch or Buddy because he had an incredible sense of timing himself. He was admired for this, as well as for his innovation and abilities with playing and writing, singing while playing, et cetera. The best guys back then all recognized this.
@@jazzpunk Yep, I liked Mitch and Buddy and Billy on bass, but I was never a fan of Noel Redding .. that was just not the best matchup for the Jimi Hendrix Experience imo, although a lot of great stuff came out of the band with that lineup anyway.
1. Little Wing (from Hendrix in the West) 2. Cross Town Traffic 3. Isabella 4. Pali Gap 5. Love or Confusion 6. Red House (long version) 7. Voodoo Child Slight Return (from Hendrix in the West) 8. Hey Baby 9. Hear ma Train a Comin 10. Villa Nova Junction
1.All Along The Watchtower 2.Voodoo Child (Slight Return) 3.Hear My Train A Comin' (Valleys Of Neptune) 4.Hey Joe 5.Voodoo Chile 6.Purple Haze 7.Fire 8.Bold As Love 9.Red House 10.Stone Free
@@BarbarraBay i agree with you. I still think the Bold as Love track definitely shines though. And is a great example of Jimi's creative lyrical writing, along with his guitar chordal voicing technique, and just one bad ass dramatic guitar solo to end such an amazing album.
@@ericfranchi1354 I agree. For me, as a work of original composition, it is Top 10. The guitar solo may be the original outro guitar solo of our time and it remains simply amazing. Of course the song is so superb; for me an extension of & better than Wind Cries Mary. As a song I must listen to, it is Top 15. There are so many brilliant songs.
Stunning live version of Johnny B Goode on Hendrix in the West (and on YT). Great album, if you haven't got it. So good to hear reverence for Jimi. He has disappeared from discourse for a while now, as you've said a few times yourself. Started to discover him just after his death! He'll always remain the greatest creative guitarist.
Best live songs - in no order (because how could I possibly figure out which is greater than which?) - - Voodoo Child (Slight Return) - Machine Gun - Hear My Train A' Comin' - Stone Free - Drivin' South - Tax Free - Red House
My older brother bought this album when it first came out and I listened to “3rd Stone from the Sun”. It’s what I then measured all other musicians to in both lyrics and music.
Can't think about Jimi without loads of good memories floating in. Red House is the song I always go back to although Voodoo Chile is there as well. As a college dj (in the age of vinyl) I once played a full hour comprised of every version of Red House I could get my hands on. That was bliss. I was hoping you would offer some insight, if there is any, connecting Purple Haze to Duke Ellington's Magenta Haze. On another note, I find myself missing the studio setting with its wall of records and assorted musical gear that provide a unique container for your meanderings. I'm much more engaged with the discussion in that setting where your personality and quirkiness are enhanced as opposed to the sterile feel of your recent white background look combined with the distractions of album covers and background music. I like that you're experimenting with the format but remember we dig you for who you are and what you have to say.
Thanks for this. I was in high school when are you experienced came out. There was nothing like it, he changed everything. I saw him live 3 times, nothing comes close. When I hear him agai over the decades, my appreciation deepens, it never wanes. On Loud Hailer Beck’s last album, he quotes a little wing line. When asked about it he said he loved Jimi now more than ever.
Some of my favs: Third Stone 1983 Dream Away Like A Rolling Stone - the euphoric Monterey version. Watchtower - 3 of the best solos in rock all in one song.
I remember revising for my o levels one sunday in 1980 and a certain dj who we don't like to talk about anymore had a radio one show playing top 10 charts from previous decades and years and that day he did a week from April or May 1967 and it was in the background and suddenly the opening intro to Purple Haze came on and something shifted in me, like a bolt of energy I couldn't explain and I still blame that moment for failing that o level exam as that sound seemed to have me in a trance that I probably never came out of. The image I'd held of him growing up was as he was on the Lulu show in 1969 in black and white and so I think probably as a 5 year old in 69 I must have caught that performance live without being aware at the time what I was watching. After he died in 1970 he should have been just a name memory like Janis Joplin or Jim Morrison because those artists would have still been quite obscure in our house back in the 70s but there was always a sense in my brain that I had heard and seen Hendrix when he was alive if only briefly. Hearing Purple Haze in 1980 for the first time around the same time as new wave of British metal was happening made me realize how incongruous and ahead of his time Hendrix was in his time especially listening to other songs from May 1967 charts like Engelbert Humperdinck and Puppet On A String or whatever.
I really can't argue with anything you said, except this: there are two songs you left out that exemplify Jimi's melodic genius better than any others: May This Be Love and Little Wing. Melody & counter-melody as great as any composer in history.
I was lucky enough to have a very hip Uncle who leant me Electric Ladyland in the 80s. I still love it and never feel the need to skip a track. As a guitar teacher I am still trying to decode him for the next generation of players!
How about the bass solo on 1983! I was deep into Hendrix as a 15 yr old bass player when his first album came out me and my band mates dove in and played almost the entire first album!!
I was in high school in 67-69 and Jimi Hendrix was supremely influential at the time. I had just picked up the guitar but wanted to play Flamenco of all things. I rediscovered Jimi when I delved into jazz more seriously decades later. Of all those losses due to the lifestyle of those times I think Jimi’s is the most heartbreaking. What that man could have done.
Two comments: 1. One of the great things about "If 6 Were 9" is Noel Reading's bass. He was thought of as a so-so bass player, but he was great on that track, and 2. "Pali Gap" is a great Hendrix track, and not too many people know of it.
I remember rainy days spent rifling through my Mother's records. Are You Experienced blew my tiny little mind and definitely derailed my classical guitar yearnings for a time... other albums followed, of course. Red House, Little Wing, If 6 was 9, Crosstown Traffic, Axis, The Wind Cries Mary, so many amazing cuts... he is still, perhaps eternally, brilliant today...
So, what’s crazy to me is I can’t or at least don’t want to argue with any of these and yet, like everyone has said in the comments I could easily name 4-5 incredible songs that could be on a top 10 list but didn’t make this one. He is under appreciated as a song writer and extemporaneous composer.
You hit so many nails on the head it's unreal! It motivated me to recount a Jimi Hendrix tale on my fb. Thanks and please do lots of Hendrix episodes in the future.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Easily your most moving video. Great to see you coming around to seeing Hendrix as the best. Hearing Voodoo Child ("Chile" seems to be a typo) on German radio in 1969 (at age 13) was a pivotal moment for me, and initially I didn't even know who it was! (Of course, your other videos and the comments provide lots of inspiration to check out bands I haven't heard before. Invaluable!)
It's been a long time since I listened to Jimi, but he was very important to me at a formative time, and I don't think his importance can be overestimated. One of the things I take from this musical era is how different bands, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream, The Who and Led Zeppelin took the basic one guitar, bass and drums format and found different ways of integrating them to make the music work. I think they may be the templates for all the rock bands who came later, but somebody else may have a different idea. I think, in this age where people seem to be so obsessed with genres and sub-genres, it's very hard to accommodate artists and bands whose music was more wide ranging. Just like the modern experience of listening to music is not geared towards albums with a wide dynamic range. If it's not predictable and it's not programmable, it's not going to work. And you are right to say that focusing on Hendrix as a guitar player has marginalised his songwriting, and it's that that aspect of creativity that should be the true determinant of greatness and longevity.
In my 45 years listening to music I have never been able to get into Hendrix despite being a big guitar fan, thanks Andy I will use these songs to try again.
@@Williamottelucas No that was Little Miss Strange which was a kind of throwaway novelty song. Little Miss Lover was sung by Jimi and is one of his funkiest songs.
Back in 1969 or 1970, when I was probably 11 years old and in grade 6, a friend from school invited me to his place where he played for me his older brother's Hendrix album "Are You Experienced". This scared the shit out of me! Up until that point the heaviest tune I'd ever heard was probably The Ballad of John and Yoko. Other than that, all I knew was AM radio pop songs. It didn't help that the only lights that were on were a single red incandescent bulb and the burning tip of an incense stick, if memory serves. This Hendrix music seemed almost demonic to me at the time, and when I finally left to go home it wasn't a moment too soon. At the very minimum this was a revolutionary experience for me and, at least subconsciously it prepared me for what was to come. This music had scarred me somewhat, but had also expanded my consciousness and opened me up to the fantastical musical universe that I would come to love and appreciate within the next couple of years. It would be a long time before I came back to Hendrix, but slowly I began to get acquainted with bands such as Santana, The Guess Who, CCR, Grand Funk Railroad and Steppenwolf. And I don't know that I would have been able to appreciate their music as much as I did without Jimi Hendrix blowing my mind and scaring me as much as he did back in grade 6. So I thank Hendrix for that, for his revolutionary explosiveness and raw power, and for jolting me out of my stupor and onto my future musical journey. What a ride!
So sad he died so young. I think he might have done some great stuff in the 70s had he lived, perhaps exploring the jazz fusion direction indicated on Tax Free. Obviously, there was the proposed collaboration with Miles Davis too. I could see him playing with Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin too (there is a poor quality recording of a jam session with John McLaughlin called 'Hell's Session' which illustrates that the mutual interest was there).
Excellent description of the impact of a musical comet that hit the world. I like the psychedelic video effects you added to emphasize the atmosphere of the era. My first single was All Along The Watchtower, featuring the stereo pingpong guitar, which was mindblowing for me at the time.
While Andy's video is about his ten best Jimi songs, I'd love to put a list of some of Jimi's more underappreciated - and absolutely brilliant - tracks on here. Tracks that need some love. Love or Confusion. Are you experienced. Burning of the midnight lamp. Rainy day dream away/still raining still dreaming - gotta join em up! Freedom. Night bird flying. Message to love. Isabella. Drifting. Pali Gap.
Its so difficult to list 10 Hendrix songs. I'm going to list 10 Hendrix genres I must hear: 1. Machine Gun - BOG - nothng compares for me 2. 1983 - the ultimate showcase of Jimi's creativity & lucidity 3. AYE? & 3rd Stone - psychadelic showcase of AYE? 4. Side D Electric Ladyland - showcase of Jimi's finest electric guitar tone playing 5. Red House/Hear My Train - foundation of great blues live performances 6. LittleWing/Castles/1RainyWish/BoldAsLove - four stunning groundbreaking ballads 7. Stone Free Royal Albert Hall - ultimate psychadelic shamanistic guitar 8. Bleeding Heart RAH/Villanova Woodstock - ultimate live blues guitar 9. Midnight/Trashman - April 1969 - show how far ahead Jimi was 10. Somewhere/Drifting/NewRisingSun - my farewell to Jimi songs ♥♥
I'm getting deeper into Hendrix. I'm trying to feel out the shape of his output which is insane. What he recorded in 1970 was fed on for the next ten years by Alan Douglas/Eddie Kramer/ Michael Jeffery
It's funny, the 4 songs I love and covered and posted are not on your list -- LIttle WIng, Angel, Waterfall, and Castles Made of Sand. Voodoo Chile is cool but never thought it was on par with so many of his other songs. It's basically a riff and a jam.
Excellent appraisals, I'd have included Burning of The Midnight Lamp, yea Stone Free can move over. Re Jimi's eclipsing by the lightweights you mentioned, it seems the influencers who produce 'reaction' vids for this platform won't go near him because of ferocious copyright strikes by the JH estate, thus he's off the radar.
When I first heard Purple Haze, I had an out on body experience. When I heard Voodoo Child Slight Return I was in shock with my jaw on the floor. When I heard the intro to Little Wing, I was in rapturous disbelief. That outro solo to Bold As Love, OMG. Thanks Andy for reminding us that Jimi was a great songwriter and brilliant arranger, as well as the most exciting, soulful, creative charismatic and feel guitarist ever.
1) „The Wind Cries Mary“ was a single and not part of the origial first LP. But it was included on the LP version with the yellow cover for the British colonies. 2) In Germany „Voodoo Chile“ and „Watchtower“ were released as a double A-side single in 1968. This is probably the greatest piece of plastic I ever had.
A superb list Andy, with a really thoughtful analysis of why you’ve made this selection. Of the posthumous releases, I think ‘In The West’ is a worthy and much underrated live album. It’s a largely accurate and undoctored record of the Experience live, and as such it reinforces much of what you say here regarding the dynamic between the three of them as a band. The version of Red House clearly shows that Jimi really was the first truly electric guitarist. It is almost the polar opposite of Machine Gun in that the guitar sound is largely clean, but it’s no less a staggering a display of virtuoso electric guitar technique for that. You can clearly hear what both Jeff Beck and John McLaughlin took from him in terms of picking and the control of microtonal note bending. The version of Voodoo Chile is a tour de force, amply demonstrating that no studio trickery went into the original. The sound and playing are simultaneously wild and yet completely under his command. The thing that young musicians don’t get - and it’s a hard thing to grasp - is that he was the first of his kind and he came out of nowhere. Charlie Parker was much the same. Now everyone plays like that and it’s hard to comprehend the shock of the arrival of the new.
Spanish Castle Magic. Yes, very LZ but not even in my Top 50. But Jimi also must have liked it because Jimi played Spanish Castle Magic in concert always.
Inspired to go and listen to some Hendrix. Checking the UK release date of Are You Experienced, if you'd waited a week to post, then would have been on the 57th anniversary to the day it was released.(May 12th 1967)
A great video and wonderful tribute to Hendrix. Thanks also for highlighting the Dylan link to Jimi's wonderful lyric writing (for which Hendrix is very underrated for). I was about 13 years old when I first heard the Are You Experienced album and it was truly a monumental experience and for me is the moment Pop changed to Rock Music (although there is an argument to say that accolade goes to Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited album). It is one of the most important debut albums of all time. Also thanks for highlighting Mitch Mitchells incredible contribution to The Experience. For me he is/was the best drummer by far in the rock world. Looking back now it is incredible to think that a lot of these songs were top ten hits - a time when a large percentage of the record buying public wanted to hear new sounds and were willing to pay out hard earned cash for it.
A great tribute to Jimi. We are indeed losing the meaning of his intense, heavy, and ethereal sound. I need to make Jimi Hendrix piece before you make your heaviness video, which I really want to hear. But I think my research on where the heaviness came from will inspire you. I'll give myself a week to get it together and shoot you a line when I do. I believe Hendrix is the third leg of the tripod of the greatest changes of the rock in the 60s Dylan > The Beatles > Hendrix. Thanks Andy. And I was very glad to hear your 1983 reference. Astounding sounds.
I met Steve Winwood at a restaurant/bar in Nashville, TN long enough to shake his hand and say a couple words. He was quite gracious and patient even though he was having dinner with a group of friends. But I regret not asking him to comment on playing organ for the Voodoo Chile recording.
Brilliant - passionate and articulate. And thought provoking. The first 10 seconds of Stone Free had me and became a devotee ever since. A couple of Hendrix moments - his rhythm guitar genius on Fire live at the Albert Hall. live Little Wing on Hendrix in the West .. and Who Knows from BOGs which kicks off Funk Rock and takes me straight to Prince.
Man, I totally agree with your intro synopsis. I have all of the Hendrix albums (studio and live) plus several of the later releases and videos of Monterey, Woodstock and Isle of Wight.
Castles Made of Sand is one of my favorites. I love 3rd Stone From the Sun. I've noticed too that its sort of in fashion to claim that Hendrix is overrated etc. Love Mitch Mitchell's drumming.
Of all the post Jimi guitarists SRV most worshiped at the alter and was most successful at playing Jimi with his own spirit included. I don’t think any other player has ever come close. Stevie’s love for Jimi was always evident.
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer I would agree with that! Saw Robin twice mid 80s. Nice theater in Pensacola Fla. , had great acoustics. Hmm the Sanger. We have a young guy, new employee, guitar player, asks me about what he should be listening to…. This past Friday suggested Bridge of Sighs .
Frank Marino, Robin Trower & SRV are my 3 favorite post-Hendrix guitarists. Allan Holdsworth holds his own place in an entirely different universe. I suspect Hendrix & Holdsworth will be studied 100 years from now.
@@MarkB-SnowyMtn I love the way Frank Marino started out as the most derivative of all the players heavily influenced by Jimi but overtime found his own corner of the universe on the outskirts of infinity. What do you think of Randy Hansen?
Top Boy Andy. Read the biography "Room Full of Mirrors". Despite his impoverished childhood and poor upbringing. Jimi overcame all these deprivations. Thank you Chas Chandler for bringing Jimi to London.
The first time I heard another Hendrix song than hey Joe was when they played third stone from the sun on the radio. Was just maybe 12 or 13 years old but I was flabbergasted.And I didn't even know then that it was Jimi Hendrix! Discovered that later when I bought his albums. Great list and great video. Love your enthusiasm!
He was a true genius of the guitar the Monterey Pop Festival' Woodstock' band of gypsies concert and Jimi Hendrix plays Berkeley. Those four of his greatest live performance. jimi was spiritual and his soul is coming out of the speakers when he was playing that guitar.
this is a great video, love your analysis. the only problem is that 10 is just not sufficient... but, Richie Havens and "All Along the Watchtower" YOU MUST EXPLAIN I am well more than intrigued
Interesting that is was a documentary that got you into Hendrix. For me it was a mate taking me along to the pictures (in 1977) to see the Hendrix documentary that intersperses 3 or 4 minutes of interviews in between live performances. I had never listened to such music before, and I was instantly hooked.
I always loved Third Stone from the Sun. Six years later, in 1973, Cozy Powell had a hit with Dance with the Devil, which was based on the Third Stone melody. Then, five years after Boney M released a track called Nightflight to Venus, which was based on Dance with the Devil. Someone dropped the ball. Ideally, there' should have been another rehash of Third Stone in 1983!
Andy, so great this tribute to an artist that means so much to me. I think you pretty much mentioned all the albums that you should consider for a ‘top ten vid’ for Hendrix albums IMHO: 3 studio albums, Band of Gypsies, Woodstock, Monterey, but then I would add Radio One and please check out the compilation album BLUES. It consists of blues recordings most of them not present on any of the other albums mentioned, and it completely changed my perspective on JH, meaning that on top of everything he was also one of the greatest blues musicians of the 20th century. It was compiled by Alan Douglas and some tracks are with the Experience, some are with the band of Gypsies, or a mix of those combined with others.
Nice. Thanks. Speaking of guitarists, Pat Metheny does an interesting version of Third Stone from the Sun. It's on a Hendrix tribute album called Stone Free.
Love Jimi. My fave and I think the definition of Hendrix is Third Stone from The Sun. Next I would have Machine and Gun. Powerful music. I would put a few next. Fully agree with Andy with Spanish Castle Magic,Stone Free. From Ladyland, Rainy Day Dream Away and Still Raining,Still Dreaming. Many others RIP legend.
"Dolly Dagger" is no lolly gagger. I've always believed it never got the fair shake it deserved - and would have undoubtedly received had he not involuntarily joined The 27 Club.
Jimi's recording of All Along The Watchtower is perfection. its a perfect recording.
No Little Wing? That intro is the archetypal Hendrix clean guitar sound/phrasing that everyone and his dog tries to emulate. It's simply beautiful.
Yep
Yea, it's like a rock n roll standard as probably the most played Hendrix song played by other artist.
The guitar is delicate and emotional
No Little Wing is a crime against humanity.
@@cazgerald9471 I also love 'Drifting'
1983. This is a real "masterpiece". Top 5 for me. 🙏🏻🙏🏻 Its also brilliant how Jimi bookends or sandwiches 1983 as the dream in the Rainy Day Dream Away.
My top or second top favorite of 2000 to 3000 rock songs I've ranked.
pure genius from Jimi
Yes I agree. 1983 + Third stone from the Sun are my two favourites, probably the most experimental pieces that he made. I would love to know how 1983 was put together in the studio.
Can we all take a moment to recognize how great of a Drummer!! Mr. Edwards is.
what a suck up.
Burning of the Midnight Lamp might be my own personal favorite.
This is a top drawer detailed appreciation of Jimi Hendrix's greatest tunes.
Andy is the best
"Castles Made of Sand" was the first Hendrix track I ever heard: it _astounded_ me as no music ever had before, and I determined then and there to learn to play electric guitar, which I did! Now I am going to grab my Strat, tune it to Eb, and give thanks to Jimi for this gift which has enriched my life immeasurably for 35+ years...
But first, some other magnificent Hendrix moments, off the top of my head:
The intro to "Killing Floor" at Monterey - greatest start to a concert ever?
The sublime "Axis: Bold as Love", ending in apotheosis as a purple spaceship descends to take Jimi and the boys back to Neptune...
"Drivin' South" - Jimi is the only person who can solo over one chord for three minutes and have it be deliriously, wildly exciting.
"Little Wing" - the solo is so moving, so short and delicate - everyone who covers it wrecks it, IMHO!
"Rainy Day..." (I wish this was all in one piece on the record.) I put it on when it rains and dance around grinning like an idiot at the talking wah-wah guitar!
"Like a Rolling Stone" at Monterey - the bit at about 00:50 where his guitar surprises him with a lovely sliding-sixths riff and he has to excuse himself to play it.
"The Star-Spangled Banner" at Woodstock - iconic or what? (And, as Jimi said later, "I thought it was beautiful!")
Thanks Andy for a great video! You are right, it is simply _true_ that Hendrix was the best.
This is an almighty review. It took me back to how utterly thrilled I was when I first heard these songs, back when they first came out. Thanx
I saw Jimi 6 times, from Herford Germany, in May '67, when I had no idea who he was, to Berkeley, where I flew from LA to catch the 2nd show, in May 1970, only able to make the last half-hour or so. In between, I saw him at Charlotte NC, Newport '69 (Devonshire Downs), and Denver Pop. I was at the Forum shows, in LA, too, but I couldn't get a ticket (an acute case of poverty, at the exact wrong time). He was a master showman, a commanding presence, and the most amazing musician I've ever seen. Fifty-four years after the last time, I still remember him like it was yesterday.
Best of Jimi Hendrix Songs
01 A L L A L O N G T H E W A T C H T O W E R
02 L I T T L E W I N G
03 V O O D O O C H I L D ( S L I G H T R E T U R N )
04 A R E Y O U E X P E R I E N C E D ?
05 H E Y B A B Y ( N E W R I S I N G S U N )
06 A N G E L
07 I F S I X W A S N I N E
08 T H E W I N D C R I E S M A R Y
09 L I K E A R O L L I N G S T O N E
10 S T E P P I N G S T O N E
11 H E Y J O E
12 C O M E O N ( P A R T 1 )
13 D O L L Y D A G G E R
14 S T O N E F R E E
15 T H E W I N D C R I E S M A R Y
16 F I R E
17 C A S T L E S M A D E O F S A N D
18 G Y P S Y E Y E S
19 R O O M F U L L O F M I R R O R S
20 N I G H T B I R D F L Y I N G
One of my favorite bits of Jimi’s was the instrumental from Woodstock as folks are staggering out. Its mellow, melancholy, full of sad emotion.
Villanova Junction. My fave bit from his woodstock gig.
@@Les537 its just so moving, like an elegy for the end of the 60s to me really
Near as dammit perfection.. so rare in music...
Hard to leave out Little Wing. The tone of heaven.
Especially when you consider how many people have covered it... Clapton (Derek and the Dominos), Sting, SRV, others...
Thank you Andy. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I feel exactly the same way about Jimi Hendrix as you do. And like you, it's not just the guitar playing, which in itself is enough to have him as the greatest musician in rock history, but also Hendrix the performer, Hendrix the songwriter, Hendrix the producer. He did all these...better than anyone. The fact that so many people who are musicians and don't understand his greatness shows just how much music, popular music, has been dumbed down over the last 40-50 years. It's been a gradual decline in the quality of the music in mostly 3 key areas: musicianship, songwriting, and production.
Andy, you said you might do a deeper dive into Hendrix, possibly entire albums. Yes please. It's so refreshing listening to another musician speaking about Hendrix with such admiration and knowledge of what he did and how big a shadow he cast over every single rock artist (and other genres) who came after him.
He was the best. The greatest. No other musician, let alone guitarist has gotten anywhere near him in the 54 years since his tragic early death.
Thanks Andy.
I was 12 when I discovered Jimi Hendrix, this was at a time when my taste in music was evolving. The first heavy riff that caught my attention was from "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" which my crew and myself wore out during the summer of '68. That riff was topped by the stuff on Led Zeppelin II, particularly "Heartbreaker" for me, the first Zep tune I ever heard. Then a friend turned up one day with Are You Experienced. There was much rejoicing. It's hard to convey the revelatory nature of that album. When we put the record on the turntable and placed the needle on that first track "Purple Haze" (American release) leapt out of the speakers and grabbed us by the throat. It was beyond heavy, it was massive!
Kids today will ask me, "What's the big deal about Hendrix?" and I tell them that what you have to understand is that after the release of Are You Experienced electric guitarists didn't just have to reevaluate their relationship with their instrument, but had to reevaluate their relationship with electricity itself. Prior to Hendrix feedback was generally regarded as an unfortunate byproduct of electrified sound. But he saw feedback as a sound to be tamed and tame it he did. It felt at times that he could barely contain the beast he was attempting to master, and this added a tremendous amount of excitement to a Hendrix performance. And thus was Thor usurped as the God of Thunder.
The Wind Cries Mary was only on the American release of the first album, which had a totally different track list , but did include the first three singles
Fortunately the later reissues had all the tracks so you can listen to both versions 😊
My favorite songs are the blues songs:
1. Red House - all-time best song, no question about it. There are so many good versions and each time he plays it he takes a different path. I like Royal Albert Hall version best (Feb 24, 1969) followed by Bologna Italy (May 26, 1968), Fillmore East (May 25, 1969), Winterland (October 10, 1968 1st show), New York Pop Festival (1970), San Diego.
2. Hear My Train a Comin' - Berkeley Community Theatre (1st show, 1970) live version is best followed by People, Hell and Angels album version
3. Machine Gun - the famous Fillmore East version is best followed by Isle of Wight version.
4. Voodoo Chile - the 14 minute version from Electric Ladyland
If you like Voodoo Child (Slight Return) go for Berkeley Community Theatre (2nd show) live version or Los Angeles Forum: April 26, 1969.
5. Catfish Blues - about 11 minutes, Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, Feb 4, 1968.
6. Bleeding Heart - Feb 24, 1969, Royal Albert Hall
And then, of course, go for Hey Joe from Winterland, 1st show, Oct 12, 1968.
Castles Made of Sand-it’s my all time favorite of his…his worldview
Machine Gun
Angel
Voodoo Chile
Wind Cries Mary
Crosstown Traffic
1983
Bold as Love
Little Wing
I did not include Banner and Watchtower for obvious reasons even though they might contain his best guitar phrasing emotiveness.
10 songs is a task. Is like the topic should be: "What ten Jimi Hendrix must be heard?"
@@BarbarraBay Well put
Rainy Day Wish, Castles Made of Sand, Bold As Love, Manic Depression
Rainy Day, Dream Away. Izabella. Long Hot Summer Night.
Villanova Junction!
hey, man. it’s rainin’
Rainy Day! Oh yeah!!!! So good
That documentary you're thinking of was Tony Palmer's "All You Need is Love" series, made in 1974/75, and the Hendrix clip was "Wild Thing" from Clark University, Texas , which Palmer had filmed for an earlier doc called "All My Loving" in 1968. For me "Third Stone from the Sun" and "Voodoo Chile (slight return)" are those lightning-in-a-bottle moments that very rarely get captured on tape, while "All Along the Watchtower" and "1983..." are pinnacles of production, arrangement and an unparalleled imagination. Great choices here Andy, as ever.
Spot on Andy. I had my eureka moment with Hendrix at the Windsor Free Festival in '74 in an enhanced state on my way to the main stage to see Gong. Burning of the Midnight Lamp came over the PA,and stopped me in my tracks. Felt like he was talking directly to me. From that point onwards i dived into his music to soak up to make up for all the wasted years. An astonishing and otherworldly talent of which we will never see the like of again.
I have loved his music since i was a teen when he absolutely blew my mind and i will love his music 'till the day i die.
I agree with you, Andy! Jimi was also getting into jazz when he died (and teaming up with Miles who loved him).
Machine Gun, Drifting, Pali Gap, Red House, Here My Train A Coming….gosh there’s loads
Who Knows!
Midnight
Yes. Forgot Hear My Train A Coming
Pali gap gives me goose bumps every time I hear it
Jimi needed a high grade drummer like Mitch or Buddy because he had an incredible sense of timing himself.
He was admired for this, as well as for
his innovation and abilities with playing and writing, singing while playing, et cetera. The best
guys back then all recognized this.
I just wish I'd been old enough to see Jimi Hendrix live. He was unparalleled brilliance.
I like Hendrix with either Mitchell or Miles...for different reasons. The constant, for me, is Billy Cox.
@@jazzpunk Yep, I liked Mitch and Buddy and Billy on bass, but I was never a fan of Noel Redding ..
that was just not the
best matchup for the Jimi Hendrix Experience imo, although a lot of great stuff came out of the band with that lineup anyway.
1. Little Wing (from Hendrix in the West)
2. Cross Town Traffic
3. Isabella
4. Pali Gap
5. Love or Confusion
6. Red House (long version)
7. Voodoo Child Slight Return (from Hendrix in the West)
8. Hey Baby
9. Hear ma Train a Comin
10. Villa Nova Junction
I agree that All along the watchtower is possibly the greatest guitar solo ever recorded. Jimi wrote the book with that one ❤
which of the two solos? I love them both
1.All Along The Watchtower
2.Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
3.Hear My Train A Comin' (Valleys Of Neptune)
4.Hey Joe
5.Voodoo Chile
6.Purple Haze
7.Fire
8.Bold As Love
9.Red House
10.Stone Free
Hear My Train A Comin' (Valleys Of Neptune)
My number 1 is Axis Bold as Love. I personally think everything that represents Hendrix's talent is all wrapped up in that one song.
Jimi is too brilliant for a Top 10. You end up tripping all over everything.
@@BarbarraBay i agree with you. I still think the Bold as Love track definitely shines though. And is a great example of Jimi's creative lyrical writing, along with his guitar chordal voicing technique, and just one bad ass dramatic guitar solo to end such an amazing album.
@@ericfranchi1354 I agree. For me, as a work of original composition, it is Top 10. The guitar solo may be the original outro guitar solo of our time and it remains simply amazing. Of course the song is so superb; for me an extension of & better than Wind Cries Mary. As a song I must listen to, it is Top 15. There are so many brilliant songs.
@@BarbarraBay Right on. 👍
@@ericfranchi1354 I tried to rank Jimi songs and struggle with a Top 50.
oh man, Third Stone From The Sun. Making a top 10 is so difficult but Third Stone is there for me. So freaking phenomenal. 🙏🏻🙏🏻
Third Stone is the phenomenon Jimi
@@tonypeake467 Third Stone from the Sun + 1983 (A merman I should turn to be) are the two Hendrix experimental masterpieces for me!!!
Stunning live version of Johnny B Goode on Hendrix in the West (and on YT). Great album, if you haven't got it.
So good to hear reverence for Jimi. He has disappeared from discourse for a while now, as you've said a few times yourself. Started to discover him just after his death! He'll always remain the greatest creative guitarist.
Best live songs - in no order (because how could I possibly figure out which is greater than which?) -
- Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
- Machine Gun
- Hear My Train A' Comin'
- Stone Free
- Drivin' South
- Tax Free
- Red House
Jam Back at the House!
My older brother bought this album when it first came out and I listened to “3rd Stone from the Sun”. It’s what I then measured all other musicians to in both lyrics and music.
Great narrative Richard. 3rd Stone is epic Jimi and glad that Andy put it on his list. Tony from Australia
I really enjoy your program. You're a very good presenter. Always thoughtful.
Can't think about Jimi without loads of good memories floating in. Red House is the song I always go back to although Voodoo Chile is there as well. As a college dj (in the age of vinyl) I once played a full hour comprised of every version of Red House I could get my hands on. That was bliss. I was hoping you would offer some insight, if there is any, connecting Purple Haze to Duke Ellington's Magenta Haze. On another note, I find myself missing the studio setting with its wall of records and assorted musical gear that provide a unique container for your meanderings. I'm much more engaged with the discussion in that setting where your personality and quirkiness are enhanced as opposed to the sterile feel of your recent white background look combined with the distractions of album covers and background music. I like that you're experimenting with the format but remember we dig you for who you are and what you have to say.
Thanks for this. I was in high school when are you experienced came out. There was nothing like it, he changed everything. I saw him live 3 times, nothing comes close. When I hear him agai over the decades, my appreciation deepens, it never wanes. On Loud Hailer Beck’s last album, he quotes a little wing line. When asked about it he said he loved Jimi now more than ever.
I had flashbacks watching this.
Some of my favs:
Third Stone
1983
Dream Away
Like A Rolling Stone - the euphoric Monterey version.
Watchtower - 3 of the best solos in rock all in one song.
I remember revising for my o levels one sunday in 1980 and a certain dj who we don't like to talk about anymore had a radio one show playing top 10 charts from previous decades and years and that day he did a week from April or May 1967 and it was in the background and suddenly the opening intro to Purple Haze came on and something shifted in me, like a bolt of energy I couldn't explain and I still blame that moment for failing that o level exam as that sound seemed to have me in a trance that I probably never came out of.
The image I'd held of him growing up was as he was on the Lulu show in 1969 in black and white and so I think probably as a 5 year old in 69 I must have caught that performance live without being aware at the time what I was watching. After he died in 1970 he should have been just a name memory like Janis Joplin or Jim Morrison because those artists would have still been quite obscure in our house back in the 70s but there was always a sense in my brain that I had heard and seen Hendrix when he was alive if only briefly. Hearing Purple Haze in 1980 for the first time around the same time as new wave of British metal was happening made me realize how incongruous and ahead of his time Hendrix was in his time especially listening to other songs from May 1967 charts like Engelbert Humperdinck and Puppet On A String or whatever.
I really can't argue with anything you said, except this: there are two songs you left out that exemplify Jimi's melodic genius better than any others: May This Be Love and Little Wing. Melody & counter-melody as great as any composer in history.
I was lucky enough to have a very hip Uncle who leant me Electric Ladyland in the 80s. I still love it and never feel the need to skip a track. As a guitar teacher I am still trying to decode him for the next generation of players!
How about the bass solo on 1983! I was deep into Hendrix as a 15 yr old bass player when his first album came out me and my band mates dove in and played almost the entire first album!!
Total agreement, I’ve been doing a Jimi tribute band over the last few years, it’s all just so amazing
I was in high school in 67-69 and Jimi Hendrix was supremely influential at the time. I had just picked up the guitar but wanted to play Flamenco of all things. I rediscovered Jimi when I delved into jazz more seriously decades later. Of all those losses due to the lifestyle of those times I think Jimi’s is the most heartbreaking. What that man could have done.
Two comments:
1. One of the great things about "If 6 Were 9" is Noel Reading's bass. He was thought of as a so-so bass player, but he was great on that track, and
2. "Pali Gap" is a great Hendrix track, and not too many people know of it.
I remember rainy days spent rifling through my Mother's records. Are You Experienced blew my tiny little mind and definitely derailed my classical guitar yearnings for a time... other albums followed, of course. Red House, Little Wing, If 6 was 9, Crosstown Traffic, Axis, The Wind Cries Mary, so many amazing cuts... he is still, perhaps eternally, brilliant today...
Well done, Andy. I think you did Jimi justice.
Another great video. Voodoo Chile is so good it's terrifying. Kids don't get improvisation, they think all music is preplanned.
So, what’s crazy to me is I can’t or at least don’t want to argue with any of these and yet, like everyone has said in the comments I could easily name 4-5 incredible songs that could be on a top 10 list but didn’t make this one. He is under appreciated as a song writer and extemporaneous composer.
You hit so many nails on the head it's unreal! It motivated me to recount a Jimi Hendrix tale on my fb. Thanks and please do lots of Hendrix episodes in the future.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Easily your most moving video. Great to see you coming around to seeing Hendrix as the best. Hearing Voodoo Child ("Chile" seems to be a typo) on German radio in 1969 (at age 13) was a pivotal moment for me, and initially I didn't even know who it was! (Of course, your other videos and the comments provide lots of inspiration to check out bands I haven't heard before. Invaluable!)
It’s not a typo. They are quite different, Voodoo Chile is the adult version of Child.
It's been a long time since I listened to Jimi, but he was very important to me at a formative time, and I don't think his importance can be overestimated. One of the things I take from this musical era is how different bands, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream, The Who and Led Zeppelin took the basic one guitar, bass and drums format and found different ways of integrating them to make the music work. I think they may be the templates for all the rock bands who came later, but somebody else may have a different idea. I think, in this age where people seem to be so obsessed with genres and sub-genres, it's very hard to accommodate artists and bands whose music was more wide ranging. Just like the modern experience of listening to music is not geared towards albums with a wide dynamic range. If it's not predictable and it's not programmable, it's not going to work. And you are right to say that focusing on Hendrix as a guitar player has marginalised his songwriting, and it's that that aspect of creativity that should be the true determinant of greatness and longevity.
In my 45 years listening to music I have never been able to get into Hendrix despite being a big guitar fan, thanks Andy I will use these songs to try again.
Focus on the songwriting, not the guitar playing
This uploaded a day ago: Jimi Hendrix & John McLaughlin - Record Plant, New York, March 25, 1969
I hope Little Miss Lover is included - Mitch's drumming on that is amazing!
little miss strange
@@robertwiles8106 .. I was going to say that!!
Wasn't that sung by Noel Redding?
@@Williamottelucas No that was Little Miss Strange which was a kind of throwaway novelty song. Little Miss Lover was sung by Jimi and is one of his funkiest songs.
@@DarkSideOfTheMoule Thanks for the correction. I'll rectify that mistake right now by having a listen.
Back in 1969 or 1970, when I was probably 11 years old and in grade 6, a friend from school invited me to his place where he played for me his older brother's Hendrix album "Are You Experienced". This scared the shit out of me! Up until that point the heaviest tune I'd ever heard was probably The Ballad of John and Yoko. Other than that, all I knew was AM radio pop songs. It didn't help that the only lights that were on were a single red incandescent bulb and the burning tip of an incense stick, if memory serves. This Hendrix music seemed almost demonic to me at the time, and when I finally left to go home it wasn't a moment too soon. At the very minimum this was a revolutionary experience for me and, at least subconsciously it prepared me for what was to come. This music had scarred me somewhat, but had also expanded my consciousness and opened me up to the fantastical musical universe that I would come to love and appreciate within the next couple of years. It would be a long time before I came back to Hendrix, but slowly I began to get acquainted with bands such as Santana, The Guess Who, CCR, Grand Funk Railroad and Steppenwolf. And I don't know that I would have been able to appreciate their music as much as I did without Jimi Hendrix blowing my mind and scaring me as much as he did back in grade 6. So I thank Hendrix for that, for his revolutionary explosiveness and raw power, and for jolting me out of my stupor and onto my future musical journey. What a ride!
So sad he died so young. I think he might have done some great stuff in the 70s had he lived, perhaps exploring the jazz fusion direction indicated on Tax Free. Obviously, there was the proposed collaboration with Miles Davis too. I could see him playing with Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin too (there is a poor quality recording of a jam session with John McLaughlin called 'Hell's Session' which illustrates that the mutual interest was there).
Excellent description of the impact of a musical comet that hit the world.
I like the psychedelic video effects you added to emphasize the atmosphere of the era.
My first single was All Along The Watchtower, featuring the stereo pingpong guitar, which was mindblowing for me at the time.
'Manic Depression' and 'Castles Made of Sand' are my most favourite Jimi Hendrix songs.
While Andy's video is about his ten best Jimi songs, I'd love to put a list of some of Jimi's more underappreciated - and absolutely brilliant - tracks on here. Tracks that need some love.
Love or Confusion.
Are you experienced.
Burning of the midnight lamp.
Rainy day dream away/still raining still dreaming - gotta join em up!
Freedom.
Night bird flying.
Message to love.
Isabella.
Drifting.
Pali Gap.
I saw an interview with either Geezer Butler or Tony Iommi where they said that they got the idea for War Pigs from If 6 Was 9.
Really? How so? If you recall, and you don't mind me asking!!
Think about the punctuated riff from D to E followed by the hi-hat all on its own.
Its so difficult to list 10 Hendrix songs. I'm going to list 10 Hendrix genres I must hear:
1. Machine Gun - BOG - nothng compares for me
2. 1983 - the ultimate showcase of Jimi's creativity & lucidity
3. AYE? & 3rd Stone - psychadelic showcase of AYE?
4. Side D Electric Ladyland - showcase of Jimi's finest electric guitar tone playing
5. Red House/Hear My Train - foundation of great blues live performances
6. LittleWing/Castles/1RainyWish/BoldAsLove - four stunning groundbreaking ballads
7. Stone Free Royal Albert Hall - ultimate psychadelic shamanistic guitar
8. Bleeding Heart RAH/Villanova Woodstock - ultimate live blues guitar
9. Midnight/Trashman - April 1969 - show how far ahead Jimi was
10. Somewhere/Drifting/NewRisingSun - my farewell to Jimi songs ♥♥
I'm getting deeper into Hendrix. I'm trying to feel out the shape of his output which is insane. What he recorded in 1970 was fed on for the next ten years by Alan Douglas/Eddie Kramer/ Michael Jeffery
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer Superb video Andy. Love to watch your love. 🙏🏻🙏🏻
It's funny, the 4 songs I love and covered and posted are not on your list -- LIttle WIng, Angel, Waterfall, and Castles Made of Sand. Voodoo Chile is cool but never thought it was on par with so many of his other songs. It's basically a riff and a jam.
a jam????
Thank you, very enjoyable.
If Six Was Nine....my favorite Hendrix song forever!
I’m so glad you got no.1 right, Voodoo chile is a masterpiece.
Excellent appraisals, I'd have included Burning of The Midnight Lamp, yea Stone Free can move over.
Re Jimi's eclipsing by the lightweights you mentioned, it seems the influencers who produce 'reaction' vids for this platform won't go near him because of ferocious copyright strikes by the JH estate, thus he's off the radar.
Burning of the Midnight Lamp
Drifting
Angel
When I first heard Purple Haze, I had an out on body experience. When I heard Voodoo Child Slight Return I was in shock with my jaw on the floor. When I heard the intro to Little Wing, I was in rapturous disbelief. That outro solo to Bold As Love, OMG. Thanks Andy for reminding us that Jimi was a great songwriter and brilliant arranger, as well as the most exciting, soulful, creative charismatic and feel guitarist ever.
1) „The Wind Cries Mary“ was a single and not part of the origial first LP. But it was included on the LP version with the yellow cover for the British colonies.
2) In Germany „Voodoo Chile“ and „Watchtower“ were released as a double A-side single in 1968. This is probably the greatest piece of plastic I ever had.
A superb list Andy, with a really thoughtful analysis of why you’ve made this selection.
Of the posthumous releases, I think ‘In The West’ is a worthy and much underrated live album. It’s a largely accurate and undoctored record of the Experience live, and as such it reinforces much of what you say here regarding the dynamic between the three of them as a band. The version of Red House clearly shows that Jimi really was the first truly electric guitarist. It is almost the polar opposite of Machine Gun in that the guitar sound is largely clean, but it’s no less a staggering a display of virtuoso electric guitar technique for that. You can clearly hear what both Jeff Beck and John McLaughlin took from him in terms of picking and the control of microtonal note bending. The version of Voodoo Chile is a tour de force, amply demonstrating that no studio trickery went into the original. The sound and playing are simultaneously wild and yet completely under his command. The thing that young musicians don’t get - and it’s a hard thing to grasp - is that he was the first of his kind and he came out of nowhere. Charlie Parker was much the same. Now everyone plays like that and it’s hard to comprehend the shock of the arrival of the new.
Spanish Castle Magic. Yes, very LZ but not even in my Top 50. But Jimi also must have liked it because Jimi played Spanish Castle Magic in concert always.
Wonderful video Andy
Thanks for all you do
35:00 It looks like that fret board was a dulcimer in a past life. I also dig the six fingers in his left hand.
Love the Radio One sessions album...great sound.
Radio One stole my girl. (jimi quote from the album).
Nightbird Flying - a masterpiece that hints at what he could have achieved if he had had more than 3 months to work at his Electric Lady Studios.
Inspired to go and listen to some Hendrix. Checking the UK release date of Are You Experienced, if you'd waited a week to post, then would have been on the 57th anniversary to the day it was released.(May 12th 1967)
Wow!! Now that would've been "Freaky, MAN!!" . . Or . . . Far Out and EVEN FURTHER!!
Thank you for Wind Cries Mary
A great video and wonderful tribute to Hendrix. Thanks also for highlighting the Dylan link to Jimi's wonderful lyric writing (for which Hendrix is very underrated for). I was about 13 years old when I first heard the Are You Experienced album and it was truly a monumental experience and for me is the moment Pop changed to Rock Music (although there is an argument to say that accolade goes to Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited album). It is one of the most important debut albums of all time. Also thanks for highlighting Mitch Mitchells incredible contribution to The Experience. For me he is/was the best drummer by far in the rock world. Looking back now it is incredible to think that a lot of these songs were top ten hits - a time when a large percentage of the record buying public wanted to hear new sounds and were willing to pay out hard earned cash for it.
I like the experimentation in your video and then in the audio leading to and including the number one pick.
A great tribute to Jimi. We are indeed losing the meaning of his intense, heavy, and ethereal sound. I need to make Jimi Hendrix piece before you make your heaviness video, which I really want to hear. But I think my research on where the heaviness came from will inspire you. I'll give myself a week to get it together and shoot you a line when I do. I believe Hendrix is the third leg of the tripod of the greatest changes of the rock in the 60s Dylan > The Beatles > Hendrix. Thanks Andy.
And I was very glad to hear your 1983 reference. Astounding sounds.
I met Steve Winwood at a restaurant/bar in Nashville, TN long enough to shake his hand and say a couple words. He was quite gracious and patient even though he was having dinner with a group of friends. But I regret not asking him to comment on playing organ for the Voodoo Chile recording.
Brilliant - passionate and articulate. And thought provoking. The first 10 seconds of Stone Free had me and became a devotee ever since. A couple of Hendrix moments - his rhythm guitar genius on Fire live at the Albert Hall. live Little Wing on Hendrix in the West .. and Who Knows from BOGs which kicks off Funk Rock and takes me straight to Prince.
Pali Gap was great. I also liked when psychedelic was turned down to a more forward rock like
Ezy rider.
Man, I totally agree with your intro synopsis. I have all of the Hendrix albums (studio and live) plus several of the later releases and videos of Monterey, Woodstock and Isle of Wight.
Castles Made of Sand is one of my favorites. I love 3rd Stone From the Sun. I've noticed too that its sort of in fashion to claim that Hendrix is overrated etc. Love Mitch Mitchell's drumming.
Of all the post Jimi guitarists SRV most worshiped at the alter and was most successful at playing Jimi with his own spirit included. I don’t think any other player has ever come close. Stevie’s love for Jimi was always evident.
He got the blues, Robin Trower has the psychedelica
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer I would agree with that! Saw Robin twice mid 80s. Nice theater in Pensacola Fla. , had great acoustics. Hmm the Sanger. We have a young guy, new employee, guitar player, asks me about what he should be listening to…. This past Friday suggested Bridge of Sighs .
Frank Marino, Robin Trower & SRV are my 3 favorite post-Hendrix guitarists. Allan Holdsworth holds his own place in an entirely different universe. I suspect Hendrix & Holdsworth will be studied 100 years from now.
@@MarkB-SnowyMtn I love the way Frank Marino started out as the most derivative of all the players heavily influenced by Jimi but overtime found his own corner of the universe on the outskirts of infinity. What do you think of Randy Hansen?
Top Boy Andy. Read the biography "Room Full of Mirrors". Despite his impoverished childhood and poor upbringing. Jimi overcame all these deprivations. Thank you Chas Chandler for bringing Jimi to London.
The first time I heard another Hendrix song than hey Joe was when they played third stone from the sun on the radio. Was just maybe 12 or 13 years old but I was flabbergasted.And I didn't even know then that it was Jimi Hendrix! Discovered that later when I bought his albums. Great list and great video. Love your enthusiasm!
He was a true genius of the guitar the Monterey Pop Festival' Woodstock' band of gypsies concert and Jimi Hendrix plays Berkeley. Those four of his greatest live performance. jimi was spiritual and his soul is coming out of the speakers when he was playing that guitar.
This was beautiful. Thank You
this is a great video, love your analysis. the only problem is that 10 is just not sufficient... but, Richie Havens and "All Along the Watchtower" YOU MUST EXPLAIN
I am well more than intrigued
Interesting that is was a documentary that got you into Hendrix. For me it was a mate taking me along to the pictures (in 1977) to see the Hendrix documentary that intersperses 3 or 4 minutes of interviews in between live performances. I had never listened to such music before, and I was instantly hooked.
I always loved Third Stone from the Sun. Six years later, in 1973, Cozy Powell had a hit with Dance with the Devil, which was based on the Third Stone melody. Then, five years after Boney M released a track called Nightflight to Venus, which was based on Dance with the Devil. Someone dropped the ball. Ideally, there' should have been another rehash of Third Stone in 1983!
Andy, so great this tribute to an artist that means so much to me. I think you pretty much mentioned all the albums that you should consider for a ‘top ten vid’ for Hendrix albums IMHO: 3 studio albums, Band of Gypsies, Woodstock, Monterey, but then I would add Radio One and please check out the compilation album BLUES. It consists of blues recordings most of them not present on any of the other albums mentioned, and it completely changed my perspective on JH, meaning that on top of everything he was also one of the greatest blues musicians of the 20th century. It was compiled by Alan Douglas and some tracks are with the Experience, some are with the band of Gypsies, or a mix of those combined with others.
The first time I heard "1983 Merman Turn to Be," it reminded me of Pink Floyd "Echoes." Probably my favorite track by both artists.
Nice. Thanks.
Speaking of guitarists, Pat Metheny does an interesting version of Third Stone from the Sun. It's on a Hendrix tribute album called Stone Free.
Andy, nice 'gushing' presentation and visual aesthetic. It's Bold As Love!
I agree one million percent Andy!
Love Jimi. My fave and I think the definition of Hendrix is Third Stone from The Sun. Next I would have Machine and Gun. Powerful music. I would put a few next. Fully agree with Andy with Spanish Castle Magic,Stone Free. From Ladyland, Rainy Day Dream Away and Still Raining,Still Dreaming. Many others RIP legend.
"Dolly Dagger" is no lolly gagger. I've always believed it never got the fair shake it deserved - and would have undoubtedly received had he not involuntarily joined The 27 Club.
i always hated it but recently i can to appreciate it after placing it with a group of songs that give it context.