If you want a real treat, gather some friends over to your place grab disc four of this 5 disc set of Jimi Hendrix’s two day concerts at the Fillmore East, and put on “Steal Away” for a Blindfold Test. I will guarantee you that your friends will think that the guitarist is one of the Kings, or some obscure blues guitarist, and NO ONE will guess that it’s Hendrix, particularly with the mournful vocals by Buddy Miles. That song itself will demonstrate the path that Jimi Hendrix was taking with his Band of Gypsy band that also included bassist Billy Cox, and we can only conjecture and speculate where he would take his new direction.
This essential 5 disc set (with a wonderful and insightful 38 page booklet which includes notes by Cox) includes essentially all of the material that Hendrix, Cox and Miles performed during their Dec 31, 1969 and Jan 1, 1970 gigs at the Fillmore East. These songs were condensed to become the Band of Gypsys album, which is that last “legit” Hendrix album, but this 5 disc set shows what has been missing all of these years, not only in the selection of the songs themselves, but in the shortening of the released material. Buddy Miles’ soul rap on the funky Sly and the Family Stone-influenced “We Gotta Live Together” is trimmed down from its rabbit trail excursions, for instance.
What makes this boxed set such a treasure chest is for the golden nuggets that have finally been surfaced, and in excellent sound as well. It feel like Hendrix is tapping into his old Curtis Knight days on hip and deep blues such as “Bleeding Heart” and “Earth Blues” while he moans in both voice and ax on “Isabella”. Cox and Miles bring a soul and relaxed R&B feel to the music that Redding and Mitchell never attempted, as the former was a rock guitarist and the latter a jazz drummer. The difference is palpable on boogie-ing pieces like “Easy Rider” and “Lover Man”. Hendrix is able to make his guitar range from wailing wah wahs to riff grooves at literally the flick of a wrist.
Fans of his Experience days will drool on his read of “Hey Joe” , the wailing “Wild Thing,” extra terrestrial “Foxy Lady” anthematic “Purple Haze” and riveting rapid repeater “Fire”. Even on these songs, however, Hendrix doesn’t come off as a hip rock star (although his ultra cool humor is ever present when he’s at the mic talking to the crowd) as much as a guitarist looking for the next world to explore. Would it have been jazz a la Mahavishnu Orchestra? Fusion a la Jeff Beck? A return to roots with southern swamp? This collection shows hints of it all. Not only was Hendrix ahead of his time, but these songs show that he was also timeless.