Jimi Hendrix... Where to start?

[Jubei]

Well, for what it's worth, I have two Hendrix CDs from the eighties which say "Printed in West Germany". One is Electric Ladyland (thick double CD jewel case with the infamous naked ladies cover. Inside there are 2 thin slices of foam "protecting" the CDs) and the other is Crash Landing. Both were released by Polydor. Both of these discs were acquired way back in the mid-late eighties - it was only many years later that I found out the track listing on this version of Electric Ladyland was screwed up. I later bought the remastered version of Electric Ladyland for the proper track order and for the convenience of having it all on one disk. I never understood why in the early days of CDs they had to mess up track order when re-releasing classic albums.

Anyway, IMO, when listening to Hendrix sound quality is not the pressing issue - the guitar work and compositions are so awesome, I generally forget about the noise and hiss. This thread has got me digging up and revisiting Hendrix's music and now I realize there are still some discs I haven't ripped - like the BBC sessions CD and Live At Winterland. I once had a live Hendrix CD with the man playing God Save The Queen, Sgt Pepper and a killer version of Little Wing. Why oh why did I ever sell it?

 

[TheMarchingMule]

The only one I have and as far as I know will ever need is: Experience Hendrix: The Best of Jimi Hendrix

http://www.amazon.com/Experience-Hen...e=UTF8&s=music

 

[gmoffatt]

Also awesome: Blues

 

[928GTS]

To hear a live version of "Hear My Train 'A Comin'" is worth the price of admission of buying Rainbow Bridge alone. I recently picked it up on vinyl for 5$ and its just killer.

 

[regal]

Start with Electric Ladyland then get Band of Gypsies. If you are hooked at that point find his unreleased studio work, it is incredible ( I have about 50 hrs worth.) He is the only artist I can think of where unreleased bootleg studio outtakes are better than the commercial stuff. We can only imagine what he would have done as he matured and grew less dependant on commercial success

 

[fredman22]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ingo Where oh where?

At the beginning! The Experience Hendrix versions are about the best they're going to sound:

Are You Experienced?
Axis: Bold as Love
Electric Ladyland

Band of Gypsys (Polydor - Live in NY '69 w/new band)

First Rays of the New Rising Sun (contains his posthumous LP 'The Cry of Love' in its entirety, plus the best cuts off of 'War Heroes').

Catch his ominous debut on 'Monterey Pop', and some other notable appearances: Woodstock, Berkeley '69, and the '70 L.A. Forum bootleg.
"...And now if you'll excuse me, I must be on my way..."

 

[shplorgh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fredman22 /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Experience Hendrix versions are about the best they're going to sound:

Most people would disagree with you, the EH's are pretty badly compressed. There's a post on the steve hoffman forums about the best hendrix cds, I think they recommend the original polydor cds as the best.

 

[philodox]

Whatever CD has 'Manic Depression'... I love that song.

 

[markl]

Quote:

Most people would disagree with you, the EH's are pretty badly compressed. There's a post on the steve hoffman forums about the best hendrix cds, I think they recommend the original polydor cds as the best.

The original Polydors (West Germany pressings) are pretty good, but definitely not from first-gen masters. Are You Experienced is particularly grunge-y with extra noise which is a shame because otherwise, it sounds great. If onlt these had used the actual masters these would be the ones to get.

Current SH forum fav is the elusive Reprise (mid to late 80s issue) versions, the ones that don't use the dreaded No-Noise. There are similar releases in similar packaging from Reprise that all use No-Noise. The ones without NN can be identified by the lack of "RE-1" in the matrix code (the little numbers and letters around the center hub). These are hard to find.

I recently got a copy of the Reprise Electric Ladyland without No-Noise, and it was only *adequate*, IMO. A bit bland and dull, but OK.

 

[noseallinit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by markl /img/forum/go_quote.gif Current SH forum fav is the elusive Reprise (mid to late 80s issue) versions, the ones that don't use the dreaded No-Noise. There are similar releases in similar packaging from Reprise that all use No-Noise. The ones without NN can be identified by the lack of "RE-1" in the matrix code (the little numbers and letters around the center hub). These are hard to find.

tell me more about my 1989 Reprise release of The Essential Jimi Hendrix Volumes One and Two.

I see no RE-1 in the code around the center of the disc.
1 26035-2.2 SRC=06 M259

is this not telling me on the back of the disc that this CD is made from the master tape?

WARNING: Some of the music on this Compact Disc was originally recorded on analog equipment, prior to modern noise redutcion techniques. This Compact Disc preserves, as closely as possible, the sound of the original recording, but it's high resolution reveals the limitations in the master tape, including noise and other distortions.

Reprise Records 1978, 1979, 1989

 

[markl]

noseallinit, sorry, the Essential 2CD set is No-noised. That blurb is just standard verbiage they put on all CDs.

These Reprise discs (of the main Hendrix albums) came out *before* that 2CD set you have.

 

[fredman22]

Quote:

Originally Posted by markl /img/forum/go_quote.gif noseallinit, sorry, the Essential 2CD set is No-noised. That blurb is just standard verbiage they put on all CDs. These Reprise discs (of the main Hendrix albums) came out *before* that 2CD set you have.

Yeah, the only one I have left is 'Smash Hits' - but I'm sure I've owned the others at one time or other. It's kinda depressing to think I've gotten rid of the older originals for these newer discs that I thought would be better (overall they do sound a bit cleaner, and I attributed the clipped high end to just the age of the tapes along with the intact distortion!). Great.

 

[sebascrub]

Are You Experienced is a good full-out rocker. I would recommend starting out with this, and then moving on to Electric Ladyland. Axis: Bold As Love is my least favourite of the 3 studio albums, but it still contains some great songs, such as If 6 Was 9, Little Wing and Spanish Castle Magic. South Saturn Deltar is basically a studio release of more experimental songs and different takes of songs, IIRC. I may be wrong though.

As far as live albums go, I've always been partial to the DVD, Live at Woodstock. I ripped the audio from it, and I love it... far more than Band of Gypsys or Blue Wild Angel: Live at the Isle of Wight. Though these albums are great in their own right, Live at Woodstock blows them away

 

[ssportclay]

I have the 3 original Hendrix studio albums on Reprise stereo vinyl.Axis Bold As Love was recorded the best.Its my feeling that the master tapes for the other 2 albums leave something to be desired.Don't miss the music though regardless of sound quality.