Rob Price
Gutbrain Records
rob + gutbrain.com = email

2023 December 08 • Friday

It's been a while since I sat down and listened to a Jimi Hendrix live recording, so I gave a listen to the recently released Hollywood Bowl: August 18, 1967 album.

After an introduction by a radio DJ, Hendrix tells the audience that “We don’t mind if you laugh as long as you laugh in key,” which is a good line, if you ask me.

They start off with a very quick run through of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, which is okay, no big deal, kind of like an amuse bouche before we get into what we’re there for.

This happens immediately in the next song as Hendrix kicks off an energetic take on Howlin’ Wolf’s “Killing Floor”. The bad news is that you’ll notice that the guitar isn’t nearly as present in the mix as it should be. The sound quality in general is decent but there needs to be a lot more guitar. The good news is that this gives you a chance to admire how good Mitch Mitchell’s drumming is, what a good partner for Hendrix’s guitar and how personal to Mitchell.

The guitar is more audible in “The Wind Cries Mary”, since it’s a quieter song, and once again, the faded guitar shifts the focus to something else, in this case Hendrix’s voice, which is lovely here, relaxed and assured and just perfect. I don’t think he himself made any claims about being “a singer” but as a singer he’s underrated.

“Foxey Lady” is next, after tuning, perfectly fine rendition, the guitar is clearer here and the playing is great, as you’d expect.

Noel Redding introduces the next number, amidst what sounds like some technical difficulty noises, Muddy Waters’s “Catfish Blues”. The guitar and drums really stretch out here and, thankfully, it’s less of a struggle to hear the guitar, though I’d still like to hear it more.

With “Fire”, the music takes a step away from blues and toward… what, exactly? This is Hendrix standing at a crossroads of blues, soul, psychedelia, pop, rock. Let’s just call it music. For some reason this song doesn’t seem to be as esteemed as several other Hendrix numbers but I think it’s more interesting than some of those.

Then there’s a cover of Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone”, which Hendrix really makes his own—not a simple matter but he navigates the twists and turns of the lyrics as if they’re just coming to mind in the moment as an expression of his own feelings. Which perhaps they are, considering that he dedicates it to every member of the audience.

After that comes “Purple Haze”. It’s not as good a song as “Fire”. It provides opportunited for Hendrix and Mitchell to go as far out as they want and the links with sex and drugs completes the classic trinity. But nonetheless, this isn’t a song I never tire of hearing.

Another one I can get tired of, “Wild Thing”, wraps up this recording. Fortunately Hendrix is really “on” here, with one of his best feedback-drenched intros. When the band launches into the groove you can sense the stirrings of heavier, sludgier music as yet unborn.

Some people have an influence that’s undeniable and it’s irrelevant whether you like them. Once they got here, they never left and they live on in many who came after.

I love Hendrix and will buy pretty much everything that gets released. This particular recording is closer to the Completist end of the spectrum, mostly because of the sound quality. But I’m very happy to have it.