Jimi Hendrix Experience - Live at Monterey

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Customer reviews

review by: jbezzo date: 2008-04-13 rating:
Definitive live Jimi
Of all his live concert performances, Jimi at Monterey should be an essential part of any Hendrix fans collection. Woodstock? Moments of brilliance in an overlong and under rehearsed set. Isle of Wight? Not perhaps as horrible as they say but still, Hendrix at a physical and creative low ebb. Monterey captures Jimi at an ascendant point in his career. He'd left America a few months earlier, as Jimmy James, an unknown struggling musician, and now he was coming back as the cause celebre of London's music scene, having been embraced by everyone from the Beatles and the Stones, to Eric Clapton and the Who.

This was Jimi's chance to make a name for himself in the land of his birth and he took it with the same sense of purpose of a wannabe taking the stage at talent night at the Apollo. His set was short (compared to Woodstock, which clocked in at over two hours) yet he pulled out all the stops, kicking of with a blistering "Killing Floor" (the song with which he had slain Eric Clapton the previous year) and included his three hit UK singles, "Hey Joe", "Purple Haze" and a tender "Wind Cries Mary". His obvious debt to Bob Dylan was marked by a majestic version of "Like A Rolling Stone" and the set built towards an fiery climax as Jimi's strat surrendered to the flames at the end of "Wild Thing"

Sure, Hendrix would reach greater creative peaks over the course of the coming years, but as a single snapshot of legend being born, this is the CD to rescue if the house is burning down.

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review by: date: 2007-11-08 rating:
Fabulous
A truly historic concert when Hendrix 'pulled all the stops' for his first US show after making it in the UK and Europe. Despite sometimes embarrassing stage patter and Wild Thing, which doesn't wear well, the other tracks on this CD show Jimi and the band at their early best. Like a Rolling Stone, even with a forgotten verse, is a highlight of Jimi's career and the rest of the songs aren't too far off.

The under-rated Mitchell and Redding provide excellent support and Mitch's arms must have been ready to fall off after his efforts in this show.

While this CD has exactly the same content as the previous Alan Douglas produced release (long out of print), it has far better sound than the older CD.

The Douglas sound was rather harsh and the bass a bit thin, but this remix by Eddie Kramer has real warmth and presence.

If you're a Hendrix fan, buy the DVD and the CD, but if you're not a fanatic, I'd suggest buying the DVD. Much of this show's appeal is visual, not just the guitar-burning, but the sense of fun and triumph that you see in Jimi's face when he knows he's won over the crowd.

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review by: date: 2007-11-02 rating:
Crystal Clear Limitations
First the good news. This is a great remix by Eddie Kramer and the sonic benefits of 20 years of digital technology since the last (official) issue are crystal clear. This set (albeit in truncated form) was issued while Jimi was alive, so unlike some of the not so good gigs issued since ( Isle of Wight/Berkeley etc)this at least has some of Jimi's blessing.

The bad news is as a performance it has dated badly. Jimi still had someway to go as a musician before producing really great live sets ( Woodstock & Band of Gypsys come to mind ) and the straight ahead performances here do not benefit from the pyschedelic studio trickery on his first studio album.

What is very apparent having bought the latest (2007) japanese remasters of Cream Live at the Fillmore (recorded only 8 months later) is how much better on all levels that band was compared to the experience. The interplay, power and dexterity on display totally bombs the Experience.

Sure then Monterey is an historic document, very well presented & packaged. Essential in the Hendrix story, but far from essential musically.

Cream at the Fillmore is poorly packaged (still spread over 3 albums;Wheels of Fire;Live Cream Vols 1 & 2 after 35 years!)and has only been remastered to the latest standards in Japan. BUT it is the greatest musical document of any power trio at the height of their powers. Totally essential purchasing. If only Universal would get their act together and put it together as well as the Hendrix Family have done with its favourite son.

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review by: The Dude date: 2007-10-29 rating:
If you have never listened to Hendrix before...check this out!
Ok first let me start by saying that despite being a major lover of music and massive SRV fan I have never really got on that well with Hendrix, that was until now! This album is brilliant and sadly short, but captures what was a career changing performance from arguably one of the greatest guitarist ever. Re mixed by Eddie Kramer who was Hendrix's original engineer and just the man for the job, and boy the result is...well the sound just leaps out of the speakers at you, and has a new freshness to it that one might not expect from an original recording of this age.

I could go through and tell you how great each song is but to be honest that would not paint the whole picture, because it's about the whole performance, and the vibe they were on. You can feel this, and its no surprise to me that Hendrix fans are so excited by this release...now I get it, and my advice to you is if you haven't got it (Hendrix that is), get this album. Simple.



review by: date: 2007-10-23 rating:
Jimi At His Very Best.
Old enough to have seen him on his very first Top Of The Pops appearance, on The Lulu Show and live at Bournemouth Winter Gardens both on The Walker Brothers and The Pink Floyd/Move tour, in my opinon, which you can take or leave as you wish, this is Jimi Hendrix at his very best.
His first gig back in America after ripping the whole scene apart with his genius here in the UK, Jimi and The Who didn't want to follow one another on the bill, so he and Pete Townshend flipped a coin, and Jimi lost; hence, after The Who destroying their equipment, Jimi had to go one better, setting fire to his guitar AND destroying it. But even with that aside, it is, for me, his best era; with him still 'on his way up' and a little naieve, yet a superb performance and jaw-dropping guitar playing.
A definite 'must have' for the aspiring guitarist or rock fanatic's collection, every track a gem.

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