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Tired of the showboating image that his early live performances had saddled him with--and that his black audience viewed as demeaning and degrading to his musical talent--Hendrix dissolved his Experience in 1969 in search of a more terra-firma-grounded, blues-oriented persona. On New Year's Eve, Hendrix, his old Army buddy bassist Billy Cox, and ex-Electric Flag drummer Buddy Miles performed a loose, jam-filled set at New York's Fillmore East (completists will want the panoramic though uneven Live at the Fillmore East). Released a few months after his New Year's Eve 1970 concert, Band of Gypsys underscored Hendrix's desired return to basics--even if his basic was at a level most guitarists could never attain in a lifetime of playing. --Billy Altman
Track Listing:
1.
Who Knows
2.
Machine Gun
3.
Changes
4.
Power to Love
5.
Message of Love
6.
We Gotta Live Together - Jimi Hendrix, Miles, Buddy
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Roots rockDec 21, 2008 Thankfully Hendrix captured his brief stint with a more homegrown blues-rock pair in this 1970 New Year's concert slice. It starts out a little unbalanced, which is to say that the first two songs seem to always dominate the mix, cutting through any fat, right to the purity of an unhinged solo. Despite that, the less jam oriented, though equally funky majority reveals a worthy vocalist in Miles and tight southern rock which unabashedly rocks to a demographic marketing restrictions would have excluded prior.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
MACHINE GUN !!! (the twelve minutes of tumultuous brilliance in this one song make Band Of Gypsys worth every penny)Dec 02, 2008 "...Happy New Year, first of all. I hope we have a million or two million more of them."
Recorded live at the Fillmore East on December 31, 1969, Band Of Gypsys (1970) was the last album that Jimi Hendrix personally authorized to be released before he died on September 18, 1970. The Band Of Gypsys was a new group put together by Jimi after he dissolved The Jimi Hendrix Experience. It consisted of Hendrix, Electric Flag drummer/vocalist Buddy Miles and bassist Billy Cox (Jimi's old Army buddy).
"...I'd like to dedicate this one to, uh, to the draggin' scene that's going on. All the soldiers that are fighting in Chicago and Milwaukee and New York. Oh, yes...and all the soldiers that are fighting in Vietnam. I'd like to do a thing called Machine Gun."
If for no other reason at all, get Band Of Gypsys for Machine Gun, an awesome twelve minute guitar screaming electric storm that protests the violence in America and Vietnam during the 1960s. The song is really the main reason this album is getting a five-star rating from me. It features rapid-fire drumming and siren-wailing guitar feedback sound effects, and is quite possibly the greatest rock guitar recording ever made. Jimi cries out in pain from the perspective of a soldier being hit with machine gun fire.
Machine gun
Tearing my body all apart
Machine gun
Tearing my family apart
The rest of the album features then new Hendrix material and two Buddy Miles songs (Changes, We Gotta Live Together). The atmosphere is 1969/70 in-the-streets-hip, socially aware and informally intimate. The opener, a laid-back and funky Who Knows, sounds a lot like a loose jam session with Jimi and Buddy trading lead vocals, and Jimi adding some nice effects-pedal guitar work. The soulful Power To Love and Message To Love highlight the fact that Hendrix was moving into a more thoughtful, and less flamboyant, direction with his music.
I said find yourself first
And then your talent
Work hard in your mind
So you can come alive
Jimi's guitar playing here is fantastic as always, and especially because most of the songs were new material at the time, Band Of Gypsys is essential to any Jimi Hendrix collection. I wouldn't start my Hendrix collection with this one, but don't leave it out, either. There are some classic Hendrix moments here.
Absurdling AmazingNov 16, 2008 Hello!
Machine Gun alone is a reason for buying this CD. It is well worth the price of admission!
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Don't bypass this albumOct 25, 2008 Band of Gypsys was released in the US in 2 CD versions - the first was released in 1995 as the 25th anniversary CD (Capitol 96414 jewel case or the mini-vinyl card version Capitol DPRO 79534). Both contain the same CD as issued under the Alan Douglas control of the Hendrix Estate. In 1997, after the Hendrix family took control of the estate, Experience Hendrix released the Experience Hendrix/Capitol CD release (72434 -93446). The mixes used are the same but they appear to have been remastered from different stereo tapes.
The 25th Anniversary CD issue was sourced from a copy of the master tape, not the original Eddie Kramer-mixed stereo master tape. The original master tape had been marked "Do Not Use" by EMI-Capitol Records (possibly because it was deteriorating while the copy was in good condition), so the copy-master was used for any versions on vinyl after the initial green label Capitol version and the 25th Anniversary edition CD. They sound like it - obvious bass and vocal distortion abounds (especially in Who Knows), along with very slight treble phase shift.
The new version by EH/Eddie Kramer uses the "Do Not Use" tape (the original stereo master) and sounds much better than the Douglas version. The bass is excellent now and the treble and vocals are much clearer. The uneven fade up of the original Bill Graham introduction has been changed to a drop-in, and Eddie Kramer mentioned in an interview with Michael Fremer in Stereophile that some tape splices were retrimmed. A minor caveat is the appearance of occasional soft crackling noises on the new release (e.g. at about 5 and 11 secs into Machine Gun in the left channel). I seem to remember these on the original 1970 Capitol (green label) vinyl (STAO 472 - released in April 1970), and bought several copies thinking - wrongly as it turns out - that they were pressing faults. These noises weren't present on the Australian Polydor vinyl release (2406-002), nor later Capitol (purple or red label) pressings. The copy-master, therefore, appears to have been used for most versions of Band of Gypsys beyond the original US issue, despite its inferior sound. I guess the crackling noises on the original Capitol vinyl release and the EH/Capitol release are sounds caused by the original master tape deteriorating.
Must HaveAug 06, 2008 This is one of the most important rock/soulful CD's you can have in your collection. It's like a beautiful and intense painting that you have to engage with. A rock mantra. For all guitar players to enjoy.
based on 212 reviews
