First Listen: Jimi Hendrix, 'People, Hell And Angels'

npr.org ^ | February 27, 201310:30 PM | by Stephen Thompson

[Windflier]

Yep, got it that time. Thanks!

I guess I could have just told you to go to the main link and find the embedded player, but I was trying to dial it in with one click for ya :-)

I'm now hearing the original Villanova Junction in my head!

[cpdiii]

I think he was a genius, but that is my personal opinion.

Yes!!!!!!!!!!! Some people can play a guitar. Hendrix owned it and drove it like a Crazed Mad Man behind the wheel of Mack Truck.

Hendrix
Joplin
Morrison
All geniuses who threw it all away. I miss their music.

[Lurking Libertarian]

We would have said, “far out!” in those days.

Far up! Far down! Far around!

[Windflier]

Which brings me to my second favorite Hendrix song, 'Pali Gap'. I actually went and saw the movie 'Rainbow Bridge' in the theater when it was released.

Dude! So did I! LOL

We must be brothers of the Sky Church or something...Pali Gap is one of my very favorite Hendrix pieces. I couldn't get enough of it when the Rainbow Bridge album came out.

Speaking of that, I've still got an unopened, shrink-wrapped copy of that album. Picked it up in 1990 in London and never opened it.

[Windflier]

Far up! Far down! Far around!

Dig it. We're copacetic, bro'.

[yawningotter]

I think Jimi was overrated AND underrated. All most people hear on the radio are the same few cuts, which don’t get into his really good guitar work. However, there have been times when I have heard something beyond the usual suspects and thought “Wow!”. There was more to his playing than just the psychedelic sound that most people associate with him, and, like many rock acts, the best stuff often didn’t get released as singles or even properly recorded, or in Jimi’s case, fully developed before he died.

[real saxophonist]

Robert Fripp On Meeting Jimi Hendrix

[Windflier]

You’re missing a good one here. Look Over Yonder...

[Windflier]

All most people hear on the radio are the same few cuts, which don’t get into his really good guitar work.

That's one of the saddest facts about this great artist's contributions. As a fan from waaaaay back, I'm familiar with his entire catalog of work, so my appreciation of it is a lot more fine tuned than most.

Then again, Hendrix never was everyone's cup of tea. Back in the day, even some friends who liked many of the same artists I did, just could not 'get' Hendrix. Eye of the Beholder and all that, you know?

[FreeReign]

Which brings me to my second favorite Hendrix song, 'Pali Gap'. I actually went and saw the movie 'Rainbow Bridge' in the theater when it was released.

Never saw Rainbow Bridge.

Pali Gap, yesss. Here's some audio.

[Gene Eric]

Sweet - thanks for the heads-up!

[Windflier]

Here's another version, Lancey:

Villanova Junction - Live at Rainbow Bridge

[Windflier]

Sweet - thanks for the heads-up!

You bet, Gene. Enjoy!

[Revolting cat!]

I listened to this "Pali Gap" for the first time and lost the count of flat notes that this Jimmy fellow hit. To recover the health of my ears I had to reach for real rock and roll manic gittar!

[RC one]

agreed. Check these two out if you haven't already: Country Blues and Stray Blues.

Room Full of Mirrors is great too though some versions are greater than others.

[Lancey Howard]

Excellent! Thanks for that. I haven’t often seen Jimi playing anything but his Strat. That video also shows how Jimi could play a lot of complete riffs hammer-style (ie., without picking). Speaking of a different guitar, did you ever see Jimi play a 12-string acoustic?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9LPoU8j7hI

[Windflier]

Speaking of a different guitar, did you ever see Jimi play a 12-string acoustic?

Oh sure. There's the clip of Jimi playing 'Hear My Train A'Comin' ' on 12 string acoustic. It was in the movie about his life (produced by Warner Brothers).

I love that clip. He's actually quite funny in the beginning of it, when he asks the camera crew to start over because, "I was scared to death." He was a real gent with a great sense of humor.

The man would (and could) play just about anything with strings on it.

[DAC21]

Villanova Junction’

That is perhaps Jimi’s most beautifully written and rendered song.

Agree, seems he closed Woodstock with this, or at least that was how the Movie was edited.

[TurboZamboni]

BFL

[newfreep]

Villanova Junction’

Is that a suburb of Petticoat Junction?