Dagger Records’ latest compendium of Hendrix curios just dropped, right on schedule for the holiday consumer rush. As the mail-order boutique bootleg end of the Experience Hendrix Empire, the label specializes in minting legally-legit versions of material that’s long been circulating through the tape-trading web that crisscrosses the globe. Though probably not on par with its predecessor Morning Symphony Ideas, Hear My Music still looks mighty inviting.
Ideas was a minor revelation. Jimi and Band of Gypsys drummer Buddy Miles jamming at length through a litany of familiar melodies and riffs (the opening cut “Keep on Groovin’” clocks just south of a half-hour and another woodshed improv “Scorpio Woman” sprawls over 21 fret-filled minutes). Boon compounded on boon, their prolix antics were preserved in nearly pristine studio fidelity. Music doles out the first Hendrix family sanctioned release of “Jimi/Jimi Jam”- a 17-minute improv bender previously available in only edited form on the old Reprise cassette Nine to the Universe (my copy’s long been on the verge of conking out). Also in the mix: a full-length version of “Trash Man” that renders the previous abridgement on Midnight Lightning (another antique Reprise tape release) obsolete, and demo versions of “Valley of Neptune” on guitar and piano(!?)
Hendrix’s lasting appeal remains a difficult phenomenon to pinpoint or explicate. He’s been six feet under for nearly thirty-five years, yet the posthumous releases keep coming (now outnumbering those albums issued during his egregiously-short 27 years on the planet by a ratio of nearly 30:1). A lot of it revolves around a cult of personality- Jimi was the quintessential counter-culture icon on a myriad of levels; a black rock patriarch when the world desperately needed one. And there’s also the relentless branding and commodification that’s continued unabated since his passing. But even with all the ceaseless deifying hype I still hold fast to comforting belief that the crux of his enduring fame still rests in his music. Hendrix’s experiments, even his effluvia, are frequently more stimulating to my sensibilities than much of what passes as rock these days. I’d rather slip the ear goggles on and eavesdrop on a thirty-year old loosey-goosey living room jam- the principals stoned out on whatever cocktail of substances was the menu for the evening. Hear My Music is definitely chalking near the top of the post-Christmas purchase list.
Posted by derek on December 15, 2004 3:31 PMNearing the top, Derek? What's AT the top?! Yikes, Christmas looks like it could be expensive. I like Jimi's posthumous interview with Lester Bangs :)
Posted by: Dan Warburton at December 15, 2004 9:56 PMThe upcoming Schlippenbach MONK’S CASINO set, probably (assuming I can’t score a gratis copy for review).
Already ordered Fukasaku’s YAKUZA PAPERS (any opinions on this out there? It’s my ingress into the genre) and went on an OJC spree. And there’s a Cadence credit still sitting in the coffers to be spent. Plus the usual piles of socks & underwear, & a fruitcake or two from relatives.
I know Nate treated himself to the Thomas Chapin box. What are others putting on the plastic for themselves this holiday season? (hmm, maybe this query should have its own thread?)
I’m with you on that Bangs-Jimi confab, Dan. A masterstroke in playfully deflating the myth.
Posted by: derek at December 16, 2004 5:52 AM"What are others putting on the plastic for themselves this holiday season?"
Berio, SEQUENZAS [complete]
The Ray Charles live in Brazil 1963 DVD, O GENIO (film footage of Tina Brooks...)
The Dexter Gordon Mosaic Select set (NIGHTS AT THE KEYSTONE complete)
A few of those French [?] re-issues of the Free America material, specifically the Alan Shorter, Clifford Thornton, and Rudd - Tchicai dates
Posted by: Joe Milazzo at December 16, 2004 6:34 AMJoe, is there any ‘new’ material on that Dex Select? I have the old 3-volume Blue Note series & wonder whether it’s worth trading up.
Posted by: derek at December 16, 2004 6:47 AMDerek -- according to the discography accompanying the set. no new material has been added to the Dex set.
Posted by: Joe Milazzo at December 16, 2004 7:02 AMscrew Hendrix, he is no dimebag darrell
Posted by: paige hamilton at December 16, 2004 10:23 AMI think I finally got my wife to get a Mosaic box for me after months of leaving the catalog open to the Farmer/Golson box everywhere she happened to be in the house.
I just ordered "Ivey Divey" and I'm hoping that's as good as I've heard it is.
Posted by: Clay Fink at December 16, 2004 10:30 AMI just bought all five of the early 60s Joe Henderson Blue Note discs, and Bobby Hutcherson's Dialogue. What I'm really jonesing for, though, is non-musical: the hardcover Jaime Hernandez collection Locas, which collects the complete Maggie 'n' Hopey story from the first run of Love & Rockets. (It doesn't seem to contain the Maggie stuff from Love & Rockets Vol. II, but that's okay.)
Posted by: phil at December 16, 2004 10:35 AM“screw Hendrix, he is no dimebag darrell”
Imposter! The *real* Paige Hamilton would never argue such a fallacious claim.
The "real" Page Hamilton probably wouldn't spell his first name with an "i," either.
Posted by: phil at December 16, 2004 11:49 AMI got me the Machito you recommended, Derek!
Oh, and some pantry moth traps.
Posted by: walto at December 16, 2004 4:14 PMGot the Mosaic Pullen set. Fuckin' hot.
Posted by: Jason at December 17, 2004 7:14 AMProphetic photo pic above, derek. Check out this recent press release from porn purveyors Vivid.com:
LOS ANGELES - (April 30, 2008) - Jimi Hendrix, the iconic rock 'n roll guitarist, will be seen in a new role - as an adult film star - in "Jimi Hendrix The Sex Tape" to be released online at www.hendrixsextape.com today, Tuesday, April 29th by Vivid Entertainment, the world's leading adult film studio. It will be available in stores across the country a week later on Tuesday, May 6th.
Vivid obtained the footage from a collector of rock 'n roll memorabilia. It was shot about 40 years ago in a hotel room as Hendrix had an erotic liaison with two slender brunettes. When the footage starts, Hendrix appears mellow while on the receiving end of bi-racial lovemaking from the two girls. In contrast, his enthusiasm to give back pleasure appears to be boundless.
The Vivid DVD is a sexual documentary that gives insight on the uninhibited rock 'n roll scene of the Sixties. The company consulted with several experts to authenticate the footage and the movie features commentary by two of the experts that Vivid brought in: Pamela Des Barres, author of "I'm with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie" and other books, who teams up with Cynthia Plaster Caster, famous for creating plaster molds of the penises of rock stars, including that of Hendrix. We learn more about the sexual side of Hendrix' music through the commentary from both women who knew him personally.
"This new movie shows that Jimi Hendrix could have been as great a porn star as he was a rock star. He could clearly play more than just his guitar," said Vivid co-chairman Steven Hirsch. It's easy to see that he turned women on with his music and his passion."
As consultants, the first job of Des Barres and Plaster Caster was to confirm that it is actually Hendrix portrayed in the 8 mm footage. "No doubt about it," says Plaster Caster. "That's Jimi Hendrix' d*ck and I should know." She then relates how she was invited to Hendrix' hotel room on February 25, 1968, where she made a plaster mold of his penis which she compares to Jimi's on film.
Plaster Caster says Hendrix had an orgasm while in her cast for the mold, which she numbered #0004 and called the "Penis de Milo." "It was a magical process that only lasted a half hour," she recalls. In the Vivid DVD she also reveals that on the night she cast Hendrix' penis she also had sex with musician Noel Redding, bassist for The Jimi Hendrix Experience band.
Des Barres says in her commentary: "Hendrix liked to be filmed having sex. He's the ultimate adult film movie star. I understand why everyone wanted to sleep with the guy. He played like an all-encompassing rock orgasm. He reeked of sex. You wanted to strip to keep up with him when he played 'Foxy Lady.'"
Des Barres and Plaster Caster talk extensively about Hendrix and his influence on the Sixties. "It was a time of exploring bodies, music, drugs, of the coming together of like-minded souls who thought they would change the world," says Des Barres. She and Plaster Caster were both among the "top groupies" invited to all of the major musical events. "The footage proves," says Des Barres, "that Hendrix was fabulous in bed and really wanted to please his partner." Consumers can learn more about the movie by visiting www.hendrixsextape.com
Posted by: narew ramsh at May 3, 2008 8:04 AM.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................