Message-ID: <39059B62.F90421F3@javanet.com>
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 09:19:30 -0400
From: csdixon <csdixon@javanet.com>
Reply-To: csdixon@javanet.com
Subject: JH+30 

(This one's a bit long, what with some general thoughts on the opening of
this new phase in Jimi's muse (just one fan's perspective, as always). Rest
assured that subsequent dispatches will get more directly to the music!)

  30 years ago today, on April 25, 1970, Jimi Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell and
Billy Cox took the stage at the Los Angeles Forum to begin Jimi's 1970
American tour, the start of a tour which would continue on and off through
the summer before moving to Europe in the fall. This was Jimi's return to
the road for the first time since the final Experience tour had ended in
Denver some 10 months earlier. The interim had seen just a handful of high
and low profile NYC area appearances, namely Woodstock, the Band of Gypsys
shows, three TV appearances and the odd small-scale gig (Harlem, Salvation
Club).  His only major release since 'Electric Ladyland' in late '68 had
been the 'Smash Hits' collection in '69 and his 4th studio album was
overdue, but the spring of '70 still saw him getting a higher profile. The
Woodstock movie, with Jimi's famous 'Star Spangled Banner' sequence as a
highlight, had hit the screens in late March '70, with the popular
soundtrack album released shortly thereafter. Also, the 'Band of Gypsys'
album had hit the stores exactly a month before the LA show, exposing the
public to a whole different side of Jimi.

  The time since the late Jan. breakup of Band of Gypsys had featured an
aborted Experience reunion, which would end up being nothing more than a
Jimi/Mitch/Noel interview for Rolling Stone magazine, carefully
orchestrated by manager Mike Jefferys. Anyone's guess why Jimi went along
with the story when it seems clear that he intended to continue playing
with his old friend Billy Cox (whose personal and musical importance to
Jimi in his last year *cannot* be overstated IMO). In the end, the only
thing that came out of the "reunion" may have been that it gave management
an excuse to book the tour as 'The Experience', later hastily announcing
that the role of Noel would be played by Billy. The band with Mitch and
Billy has often been referred to as 'Cry of Love'. This has been a useful
shorthand in the Jimi historical record, though Billy says they never
called it that at the time. Jury's out as to whether Jimi ever used the CoL
term to describe the tour, though it's likely he used it in some context at
some point as it probably wasn't invented out of the blue for the
posthumous album title. At any rate, there's no evidence that Jimi ever
actively referred to the post-Noel band as the 'Experience', so neither
will I. As always, it's the music that matters. In general I find the
combination of Billy's earthy, funky bass and Mitch's elastic, jazzier
style to be a very appealing balance behind Jimi.

  The LA show was a major event in Jimi's career. It was very gutsy for
Jimi to begin a tour especially with a new band/material and after such a
long absence, in a major market like LA (though it may not have been his
call). Nowadays a tour of this stature would typically have a 'shakedown
cruise' in a secondary market or two before hitting the major media
centers. Still, Jimi rose to the occasion and even upped the ante by boldly
overhauling his set list to introduce Band of Gypsys material and later
works in progress, much of which was totally new to the audience's ears.
Despite (or because of) countless pressures, Jimi really threw himself into
his work in 1970, inspired in large part by the building of his own studio,
Electric Lady. His modus operandi as he moved through the tour was to work
during the midweek on his long awaited 4th studio album and fly to gigs on
the weekends. I've always suspected he was feeling a bit constricted by the
power trio format by this time, especially considering the studio music he
was creating concurrently, but the live and studio sides of him always were
separate and they probably served to feed each other. He may have wanted to
concentrate more on the new album, but if nothing else the gigs were
necessary in order to keep the cash flowing into the construction of
Electric Lady, among other expenses.

  Jimi started the 70 tour with much the same gear he'd been using to that
point. He used the black and white maple neck Strats that had been his main
axes since late '68 (still some debate if there was more than one white
one, but have never seen two in the same ca.'70 pic FWIW). He apparently
starts the tour without a Gibson, though a Flying V appears a couple of
weeks later (perhaps not coincidentally, 'Red House' is not performed at
the first few shows). Amps are still three 100 watt Marshall heads powering
six 4x12 speaker cabs. He still has his trusty Vox wah and Fuzz Face but
now adds the Univibe, which had made it's debut shortly before Woodstock.
The Roger Mayer Octavio effect, as heard in the BoG shows, is in evidence
though not at all shows (since it was a custom device, he may have had only
one or two). Billy always plays his Fender Jazz Bass, acquired just before
the BoG New Years shows, through 2 or 3 Marshall bass stacks. Mitch's
Ludwig kit from '69 seems to have given way to a Gretsch kit (if we can go
by the bass drum heads). Also, these early '70 shows picture Mitch using a
smaller kit with just one bass drum, one mounted tom and two floor toms,
though the familiar double bass kit is evident later in the tour. They
appear to carry the same basic monitor system as before, with grey 'TV
front' cabinets (probably Altec) though for the first time we now
consistently see a monitor by Mitch's head. The monitor system would be
upgraded later in the summer. Presumably they carry their own main PA as
well although, as always, clear shots of the main speakers are hard to come
by.

 The Forum material exists in two different audience tapes (a third has
been rumored but never substantiated, and even more vague rumors of a
soundboard tape are probably just wishful thinking (but never say
never...)). Even more wishful are rumors of a video, as apparently they
were projecting Jimi onto a large screen and Jimi introduces himself at the
start as "yours truly, on video..". One tape was recorded further away and
features more 'boomy' hall acoustics (crank it up for the 'you are there'
effect!), the other is recorded closer and has a nicely detailed guitar
sound and stronger vocals. The bass is audible on both tapes but
unfortunately the drums are very low on both. The 'close' tape was the
source for the vinyl boots of this show, which were some of the very
earliest Jimi boots available (they hit the streets within a year or so of
the show, and were some of the earliest available rock boots, period). We
are blessed with a great many tapes from the '70 tour as Jimi is by then a
well established top concert draw and smaller tape decks, including early
cassette machines, made it easier to sneak decks into shows.

(Setlist): Spanish Castle Magic; Foxy Lady; Lover Man; Hear My Train;
Message To Love; Ezy Rider; Machine Gun; Roomful of Mirrors>Hey
Baby>Villanova Junction>Drum Solo>Freedom; Star Spangled Banner; Purple
Haze; Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

- -After some opening remarks about playing some "oldies but
moldies...dedicated to the girl in the 14th row..", Jimi launches into
'Spanish Castle Magic'. The audience claps along until the verse is
underway. Jimi's solo departs almost immediately from its more or less
standard opening phrases, building up steam to full shred wah by 2:30 to
get everyone's blood moving. By 3:00 he's back to the final verse. Another
short solo sees the song winding up with a restatement of the opening riff
at 4:00. Quite a short version, considering what an improvisational vehicle
SCM had been in the latter day EXP shows.

- -Follows up with 'Foxy Lady', to the audience's obvious delight. You can
almost see Jimi pulling out all the visual tricks with every trill and
string swipe! A bit unusual to get 'Foxy' this early in a set- perhaps Jimi
wanted to get the familiar out of the way early since, as we'll see, he's
got some new tricks up his sleeve.

- -His spoken intro to 'Lover Man' has the lover man himself cast as a "cat
getting back from the war". Jimi refers to the song as "Getting My Brothers
Shoes Back Together". Still the standard arrangement dating from the 'Rock
Me Baby' days, and still unreleased at this point (though 'Rock Me Baby'
would be released later in '70 on the Jimi/Otis Redding Monterey LP). For
the first time, Jimi and Billy do the 'Flight of the Bumblebee' section
coming out of solo, altering the standard blues progression for a different
(and occasionally a bit rough) transition.

- -'Hear My Train' begins with Jimi alternating guitar riffing with a spoken
intro. We hear him switch on the Univibe pedal just before the verses, then
off as the solo starts. Jimi's first chance of the night to really stretch
out, he starts out fast n' furious, picking out riffs and phrases for
exploration-all at high speed! Pulls back briefly at 4:00, adds wah shortly
after, then builds it up toward another quieter section at 5:30. By now
he's a little out of tune but covers it with some string bending. At around
7:00 he returns to the vocals, harmonizing with himself on guitar at the
chorus. At 8:30 he ad libs some additional words before winding it down.

- -Now that he's warmed up the crowd with some older material, Jimi's ready
for some newer stuff. The next 3 songs came to fruition during the 'Band of
Gypsys' episode (though they'd been taking form before that). I'll state up
front (and expand a bit, this time) that I always preferred Buddy's groove
and backing vocals on these songs (not that Mitch does a bad job on 'em,
mind you) but I promise not to mention it every time they come up
hereafter!  Anyway, 'Message of Love' is one of only two cuts from the
then-current 'Band of Gypsys' album that Jimi adds to the set list
('Machine Gun' being the other). He intros it as being from the BoG disc
and it gets some applause. I miss the background vocals from BoG and always
dug the way Buddy trumpeted the changes in the bridge transition, but it
sounds good here anyway and gets a decent response. Jimi uses some of the
same phrases in his solo as on the album. He improvises some unique
clean-toned chords to finish off the familiar 'climbing' ending.

- -'Ezy Rider' the first totally new song to most audience ears, it having
only been performed at the BoG New Years shows but not making it onto the
album. Jimi intros it by referencing the 'Easy Rider' movie from the
previous year (the movie soundtrack featured Jimi's 'If 6 was 9'). He
dedicates it to Peter Fonda and the "Cyclemaniacs", saying that the movie
"..said a lot of things but we want to continue from there...". First time
out for 'Ezy' with Mitch. Mitch's drum intro is a bit more heavy handed
than the subtle swing of the drums/percussion combination on the studio
version intro (which sadly got its opening roll clipped on the new 'First
Rays' disc), but to be fair Buddy never quite matched it live either. Jimi
skips a few words in the bridge and misses the odd chord but it goes over
well and will go on to be a regular high energy addition to the '70 set.

- -'Machine Gun' is next, another staple-to-be of the '70 sets. Mitch gives
this a much different feel than Buddy, sticking to more practiced military
snare rolls as opposed to Buddy's muscular (and yes, unsubtle)
'rat-a-tat-tat'. I always preferred how Buddy kicked into the groove after
the opening tattoo, whereas Mitch continues with the rolls, but again
that's strictly a matter of personal taste (I will say that my ears often
hear Jimi trying to push said groove). Jimi does a variation on the verses
(they were never the same way twice) and hits the solo at 3:00 with the
same held note as the album version. At 4:00 he does some clever sustained
notes which he turns staccato with some apparent pickup switch
manipulation. Jimi improvises some words about soldiers not having jobs
after the war. I do miss those plaintive background vocals in the middle
section, but Jimi actually imitates them with the guitar at one point! The
2nd solo at 7:00 hits the high registers with the wah. At 8:00 we hear a
variation on the 'Star Spangled Banner', Jimi cleverly flirting with its
melody without actually going into it. This morphs into a section with the
wide 'wobbly' vibrato as heard on the BoG album, ending soon after at about
10:30.

- -Having warmed up the proceeding with something old and something recent,
Jimi unveils some (almost) brand new, certainly unheard by most in
attendance, music. The basic riff and words of 'Roomful of Mirrors' had
been slipped into some jams and live medleys, typically as a one chord
vamp, as far back as 1/69 but debuts live here as a fully realized song.
This basic arrangement had *very* briefly been released as a single (w/
'Izabella') late in '69 but safe to say not many heard it. Jimi imitates
the studio version's slide guitar with some high bends in the intro. The
band gets a little off rhythm coming out of the first "yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah" transition but recovers. He holds the root chord a little longer
before the middle section. It gets a very short solo and winds up at about
3:30...

- -...Jimi bringing the band to a stop and segueing into some lovely solo
flamenco-flavored riffs, which turns into the descending Am-G-F progression
for 'Hey Baby'. This is the very first outing for this piece, which would
become a meditative interlude in many a '70 show (though he doesn't try it
again until Berkeley). At this point it's without the tightly arranged
intro as heard in the studio version. Over the opening chords, Jimi tells
the crowd that they're going to jam and to consider it an "intermission"-
yeah, like anyone's going to leave their seats! He sings a verse and
chorus, losing the band a little coming out of the latter, then takes a
nice mellow solo which features some Wes-style octave work...

- -...then, about 8:15 into the medley, he switches to some percussive strums
and starts the chords to 'Villanova Junction' (also in Am), its first
outing since closing the Woodstock fest (and album). He takes it at a brisk
pace, and in fact the audience starts clapping along. He's worked out a
slightly different chord progression and this new variation will surface
only a couple more times in '70 shows (ex. Berkeley, Maui). A studio
workout with BoG also survives, but none have the laid back feel of the
Woodstock version IMO. He only stays on it here for about a minute and a
half, switching to muted strums on the root Am chord and giving over to
Mitch for a drum solo. Mitch takes around 4 1/2 minutes and gets a good
crowd response. Without the other instruments masking it, the drum mix
sounds pretty good in the room, though not exactly hi-fi, with the snare
very prominent. At around 14:30 Jimi enters with some percussive guitar
sounds and seemingly random chords/notes...

- -...which morph into the intro for 'Freedom', a totally new song making its
debut on this night (there isn't even a documented studio recording until
the following month!). The words still seem to be taking shape. Jimi turns
in a great extended solo at 17:15, quite aggressive. Live versions of this
feature a longer bridge than the studio version, which I always thought to
be a great example of Jimi's ever more sophisticated writing and arranging
in '70- more and more do we hear Jimi soloing over complex changes. The
song winds up at the 20 minute mark, ending the long medley which served as
the centerpiece for this show.

- -Jimi begins to draw things to a close with 'Star Spangled Banner', urging
the audience to "..stand up, for once in your life...". This immediately
gets a rush of recognition as it was being featured so prominently in the
then-current Woodstock film and album but, interestingly, we also hear some
boos and hisses in the audience for Jimi's deconstructing of the National
Anthem. Seems some allegiances die hard. Nonplused, Jimi plows ahead with
his usual aural fireworks and adds some particularly aggressive whammy bar
action to the final phrases...

- -..segueing, as he did at Woodstock and before, and would at most
subsequent shows, into 'Purple Haze'. Even the hissers are clapping along
now! Finishes with the standard 'dental coda'.

- -Jimi ends the night with his near-traditional set closer of 'Voodoo Child
(SR)'. He prefaces it by asking the crowd to consider the show "..a whole
new world, forget about yesterday and tomorrow..", something which he more
typically would say at the start of shows. The SSB/PH medley seems to have
left the guitar quite out of tune, as Jimi spends some time tuning, does a
false start, goes back to tuning, and even sneaks in a few more tweaks
during the song intro. Perhaps thrown a bit, he keeps the solo fairly short
and uses quite a few wide bends. By 3:30 he's back to the final verse,
repeating "If I don't see you no more in this world" 4X. At the end he
slips in a couple of verses of 'Midnight Lightning' (aka 'Keep On
Groovin'). He would slip this into many '70 live shows, usually as part of
VC(SR), but it would only stand as its own song once, at Isle of Wight.

In all a strong show, nicely paced and a very auspicious start to Jimi's
return to the road.

Chris