The never-ending Woodstock saga continued with this double CD release (put together by Eddie Kramer this time), which must have infuriated those who had bought the Alan Douglas single CD version five years earlier. Jimi was the headlining act for the festival and was programmed to close the event on the Sunday night, in front of the estimated 400,000 visitors to the site. Things ran late, so the band ended up playing at 9 a.m. on Monday morning in front of some 25000 die hard fans! Jimi said a year later (N.M.E. September 5, 1070 and in Tony Brown's The Final Days) "Strangely there were only around 15,000 people left when we played at Woodstock as I insisted on playing in daylight which meant waiting until the fourth day and most of the kids had split by then" - so the Monday morning appearance wasn't due to the festival running late.
Jimi's new band is introduced as The Jimi Hendrix Experience but Jimi makes a point of correcting that, telling the audience that this line-up is called "Gypsy Sun & Rainbows" … for short, it's nothing but a band of gypsies" , a little hint of what lay ahead. It's Mitch in the drum seat however and he drives things along with Jimi and Billy Cox as the other musicians try to keep up.
Five previously unreleased numbers made their appearence on this album. This still doesn't give us the complete concert. Bootleg recordings reveal that on the day, guitarist Larry Lee sang a couple of numbers (The Impression's "Gypsy Woman" and one of his own songs called"Mastermind") which were very raggedy and sung out of tune, almost amateur-hour. The two songs can be heard on the full concert tapes of course and it's interesting to hear Jimi supplying back up guitar and vocals I suppose but it was the right decision to leave them off this release. The booklet admits also that some of Lee's out of tune guitar playing had to be chopped out, so we are spared his guitar solo on "Red House" for example. We do get to hear his contributions on "Beginning" and "Voodoo Child" however. In fact Eddie Kramer made a good job of tidying up the recording on the whole, delivering a very good album.
The booklet does tend to run down the performance somewhat and even in the John McDermott/Eddie Kramer book, Kramer admits that at the time, he thought the gig marked the beginning of the end. In retrospect, that is a bit unfair. It was their debut gig and it took place first thing on a cold Monday morning, after just about everyone had left the party. Not the most inspiring of situations. Mitch also said that the welcome and atmosphere at the Woodstock site was lousy, "Peace and love or I'll break your arm". So under the circumstances, I'd say the band's performance is miraculous. It is a ramshackle affair but Jimi is on top form.
Jimi was himself unhappy with the results of this morning performance and that his new band's scheduled position as final night headliners had been botched. It's true that the band were very untogether compared to The Experience, but good old Mitch and Billy Cox do lock together quite well, as a foretaste of their future teaming in 1970. It is a shame that Larry Lee's back up guitar and the percussion section didn't take this formation into decisive new territories, but that said, the music here is a delight as Jimi's strong playing carries everything along in it's wake.
The opening "Message To Love" (introduced as "Message To The Universe" by Jimi) is a bit tatty, but the song was in its early stages. Despite some great soloing, "Lover Man" also gets a little tied up, Jimi even going back to the old "Rock Me Baby" lyrics at one stage. The only real moment when some constructive interaction is attempted is on "Beginning", before Jimi takes hold of the riff, driving it on and on hypnotically and punctuating it with a stunning solo.
The climax suite, from "Voodoo Child" to the last waltz of "Villanova Junction" is just brilliant, Jimi seems to have limitless creative energy as he winds up the set, the festival, the sixties, and the whole hippy movement (as Vernon Reid describes in the booklet).
When you think, it took thirty years for all of this to get to us.
Some who had seen Jimi at Woodstock claim that the band played "Wild Thing" at the end also, which seems unlikely and nothing has ever surfaced to confirm this (you can hear fans calling for the song before "Hey Joe" which must be at the root of the rumour).
Label: Experience Hendrix – 88697 77225 1, Legacy – 88697 77225 1
Format: 3 × Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue
Country: US
Released: 2010
Genre: Rock, Blues
Style: Classic Rock
Tracklist
A1 Introduction 2:10
A2 Message To Love 7:31
A3 Hear My Train A Comin' 9:36
B1 Spanish Castle Magic 7:20
B2 Red House 5:24
B3 Lover Man 4:58
C1 Foxey Lady 5:23
C2 Jam Back At The House 8:47
C3 Izabella 5:08
D1 Fire 3:58
D2 Voodoo Child (Slight Return) 13:43
E1 Star Spangled Banner 3:43
E2 Purple Haze 4:23
E3 Wood Stock Improvisation 3:59
F1 Villanova Junction 4:28
F2 Hey Joe 5:52