Disco de The Jimi Hendrix Experience: “Live at Winterland”

There are lots of different recordings avalible of Jimi on stage. They're all mostly damn good. This one is ( I'm not kidding)the crown Jewel. Its not that he's playing that much differently to the audience, its the whole "feel" of the concert. He was completly loose and playing from the gut. Jimi had a tendency to play the way he felt at the moment. Sometimes nervous and uptight, like at Woodstock. The Winterland recording has the audience captured. He was having a damn good time that night. The version of "red House" goes on for ever with crashing hendrix blues licks, and while you're sitting there taking it all in, you ask yourself why for gods sakes didnt this album ever hit when it first showed up? Well produced and remixed for CD, this is one you need to have and actually listen to over and over. You wont get tired of it.

I have had this cd ever since I was a young lad, and I absolutely love it. The sound quality is excellent for the time period, anyone expecting any better doesn't know what they're talking about. Jimi plays his own music very well, and the bass performance by Noel Redding is very solid. My favorite tracks are probably: the 11 minute Red House (an exceptional gem), the Sunshine of Your Love instrumental (truely unique), and Hey Joe (always good). I really like the Wild Thing as well, musically its not too complex but its a fun song. Overall, this is recommended as a must have for all fans of Jimi, due to its rare jems (JACK CASADY joining in on bass) and great sound quality.

Hendrix and the Experience open with the typical set opener, "Fire" just to get the crowd going...then into the standards..."Manic Depression," etc. Noel Redding's bass playing in distorted, mellow, and solid throughout the concert, certainly his best performance, especially with the double-bass on "Killing Floor" with Jack Cassidy from the Jefferson Airplane. The long extended "Red House" with the special "Big Fat Brat sister will" ending is the best version of the song. My favorite track on this album isn't even a Hendrix Tune: "Tax Free;" the guitar's lead riffs (not really solos at all, played by Jimi) in accompaniment with the rhythm section, produces a fine composition where you simply can't help but turn the volume up. And the "Hey Joe" has a vintage, memorable, and explosive intro...the best I've heard...turn the lights down, turn the volume up...this is not the screechy electric guitar obscenity that Jimi has repeatedly produced (i.e. Radio One or even Are You Experienced?) They have a thick, bassy, hypnotic intensity in this show, and if you are in fact a Hendrix collector or aficionado, you would know that this is not typical Hendrix...it's the best of his early sound...

...at least of those that were recorded in such a brilliant audio-quality.

I know, it's not Woodstock or Monterey, but I hardly know any other live recording of the Experience, where Jimi, Mitch, and Noel are merging so perfectly into one deep, rich unit of sound. It all fits together.

As mentioned before, all the "hits" like "Foxy Lady", "Purple Haze", or "Hey Joe" that Jimi soon got tired to play, are sounding extremely vivid on this recording.

It's hard to point out some of the songs in particular, but what makes that record especially so extraordinary to me is:

the only life version of "Manic depression" (at least I've never heard any other in that quality),

a superb "Spanish castle magic",

an incredible great "Tax free"-Jam,

a version of "Killing floor" different to all the others you might know,

the best "Hey Joe" with a superb intro,

and maybe not the longest but for sure the heaviest "Wild thing" you can get.

P.S: It was my first Hendrix-record, that I bought when I was 13 years old, back in 1987.

One evening I heard the 4th side of the LP (Hey Joe, Purple Haze, Wild thing) on radio.

Until that evening I just knew the name Hendrix...it sounds stupid, but these 15 minutes of music changed my life. It was a crucial experience to me and it teached me what music -in its best moments- really is about.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Live At Winterland (single disk): This is one terrific live disk, one of the best available. I certainly prefer this CD to the repetitious box set, with one proviso - I bought this disk in a special edition that came along with a second disk called "Live at Winterland +3". That "+3" disk now has to be bought separately. Those two together made the live experience superiorly better. My advice is that if you are going to buy this single disk, you ought to find and buy the "+3" disk to go with it. If it makes more sense (economically) to buy the big box set instead of the two separate disks, then I would go with the box.