First thoughts - People, Hell and Angels - James Marshall Hendrix

[HenryMc]

Ka-ching!! ka- ching draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggggggggg.....thats the sound of cash registers ringing and the bottom of the barrel being scraped in this new (ish) collection of Hendrix material recorded during his incredibly prolific period of 68-70. It appears a fair bit of this has seen the light in boots and other forms. It is jimi sure. Jimi in rehearsals , Jimi blowing some cobwebs away, Jimi jamming. Jimi playing the blues.Jimi playing at being a sideman. If I had of heard this as a 15 year old Hendrix obsessive I would have peed myself with excitement but the 43 years since Jimi's passing have somewhat taken the gloss off. But as with Bird playing in hotel rooms any Hendrix is important and though there is no way Jimi would have sanctioned the release of this material I found myself smiling as I listened. I hear the blues far more clearly now than I did when I was that starry eyed pup saving his shekels to buy electric ladyland and my feet taps and I shake whats left of my aging mane in a half remembered hippy freeform shakes. Do the songs matter? They aren't fantastic but you listen (like those bird sides) for the axe to wail and wail Jimi does ..sometimes sounding very much like a purple haze outtake, sometimes like a killing floor one and other times like he was auditioning for parl/Funk.Jimi sings on several but other singers sing on others. It seems to me that commenting on each song is pointless cause this is definitely a vibe thing and a guitar thing. All the usual clichés apply - Lordy lordy what jimi would have done had he not joined that terrible club. In the end though one wonders whether it serves the Hendrixian legacy and I have to say that second level jimi is still better than most other stringwringers A game.

Track Listing
1 – Earth Blues
2 – Somewhere
3 – Hear My Train A Comin’
4 – Bleeding Heart
5 – Let Me Move You
6 – Izabella
7 – Easy Blues
8 – Crash Landing
9 – Inside Out
10 – Hey Gypsy Boy
11 – Mojo Man
12 – Villanova Junction Blues

[HenryMc]

Im looking forward to the review from the trendy underground press

"Hendrix releases another CD but its just more of the same. Despite Hendrix bringing in a few people from outside the band they don't work for him as well as say they did for carlos Santana. What Hendrix delivers here is sixties psych and blues which I hate to say is what we continue to hear from Hendrix. Its not to say it isn't good but hes firmly rooted in the late sixties. There is no reference to anything in the last 30 years. Disappointedly these songs appear half finished. Loose jams rather than carefully crafted works. While on could argue this is a kind of roots based return to simplicity one could also argue a lack of direction. The songs are all over the place. Jazz, Blues, Pop. the whole project would have benefited from a Butch Vig. All is all I expected more from Hendrix abd the lack of growth musically since his late sixties hey day is sad to say the very least"

Of course it didn't appear but hey .......it could

[groover]

I have to agree. I just gave it a first listen and I enjoyed it to some degree, but, while I hate to pick on a dead guy too much, what is noticeable is a total lack of artistic evolution. It's not his best work, and there's nothing here that hasn't been heard from him before. I give it 3 stars. Good, but not essential.

[carlygtr56]

....message from Sony Music US : "The US #2 debut is garnering a ton of press this week as it’s the highest chart position for Jimi Hendrix in 44 years.
Total over the counter sales totaled 72,000+. This debut was accompanied by the Experience Hendrix collection re-entering the Billboard Top 200 along with
Are You Experienced and Axis: Bold As Love re-entering the Top Catalog chart. The US currently have a total of 4 Hendrix titles on the Billboard Top Catalog Chart."

Your "review" mean alot

[HenryMc]

....message from Sony Music US : "The US #2 debut is garnering a ton of press this week as it’s the highest chart position for Jimi Hendrix in 44 years.
Total over the counter sales totaled 72,000+. This debut was accompanied by the Experience Hendrix collection re-entering the Billboard Top 200 along with
Are You Experienced and Axis: Bold As Love re-entering the Top Catalog chart. The US currently have a total of 4 Hendrix titles on the Billboard Top Catalog Chart."

Your "review" mean alot

I make no claims my review is anything than my feeling towards the music ...so I don t get what you are trying to say? If you mean that because its selling my opinions are less than valid then I refer you to the Justin beieber records you have undoubtably in your collection. Heck I bought the album myself. If you don't like the "review" do better yourself

[clinthopson]

Hendricks was never my cuppa but I respect your opinion of this.

[groover]

Sean Westergaard's review for AMG is more thorough and explains why Hendrix collectors will value this set.

People, Hell and Angels is a collection of quality studio tracks recorded (mostly) in 1968-1969 as the Experience was coming to an end and Jimi was renewing his friendships with Billy Cox and Buddy Miles, who appear here as sidemen on most of these tracks. The surprising thing about this set is not the sound quality (which is exceptional) or that these all sound like finished tracks, but the fact that even avidHendrix bootleg collectors are unlikely to have heard most of this material.


A great version of "Earth Blues" kicks things off with just Jimi, Billy, and Buddy (whose drums were replaced by Mitch Mitchell on the Rainbow Bridge/First Rays version). It's a more forceful take than the other version and also has some different lyrics. "Somewhere" is also a different take than the one used for Crash Landing and, of course, contains the original rhythm section and not the egregious overdubs ofCrash Landing. "Hear My Train A Comin'" and "Bleeding Heart" are both taken from Jimi's first session with Billy and Buddy from May of 1969. In the film Jimi Hendrix, "Hear My Train" is played slow on a 12-string acoustic and sung so sadly that you can actually see a tear on Jimi's face as he sings. This version is not only electric and taken at a faster pace than normal, but it's an angry song, this time with a killer solo. "Bleeding Heart" is nice and raw and has a VERY different arrangement than he ever performed live. "Let Me Move You" was recorded with saxman Lonnie Youngblood, who released a couple singles with a pre-Experience Jimi Hendrix on guitar. It's nothing more than an old-school soul jam except the guitar is way more out front. It's a decent track, but doesn't really fit in with the sound of the rest of the album. "Izabella" and "Easy Blues" are rare studio recordings by the Woodstock band (Jimi, Billy, and Mitch Mitchell with Larry Lee on second guitar and Jerry Velez and Juma Sultan on percussion). This version of "Izabella" is now the earliest known recording of the song, while "Easy Blues" is actually a nice jazzy instrumental (previously released in edited form on Nine to the Universe).


This version of "Crash Landing" has Jimi and Billy with what is essentially a pickup band. It sounds more like a work in progress than anything else on the set and contains many elements of what would become "Dolly Dagger." "Inside Out" may have been heard by hardcore collectors, but not in this quality. It was originally cut with just Jimi on guitar and Mitch Mitchell on drums, then Jimi added bass and a guitar overdub through a Leslie. It's a great tune and it's always exciting to hear Jimi's bass playing as well. "Hey Gypsy Boy" is very closely related to "Hey Baby," and may have been an early version. On this cut, Jimi's whammy bar work is quite interesting and not his standard dive-bomb approach. "Mojo Man" was actually a Ghetto Fighters tune, recorded at Muscle Shoals. Jimi laid down a couple guitar tracks on top of the existing mix for this track. Kudos to Eddie Kramer for grafting guitar parts on to a fully mixed tune and making it sound great (he really did a spectacular job on this entire set). It's a hot tune with nice syncopated horns, improved by Jimi's addition. The album closes with a brief studio take on "Villanova Junction Blues."


People, Hell and Angels certainly isn't the place to start your Hendrix collection, but collectors will surely want to hear this and it provides an interesting perspective on where Jimi's music was headed post-Experience.