The Jimi Files Vol. 1
Jimi Hendrix
It was pretty much inevitable for me to be a music lover. As a kid my mother played everything in our house, plus growing up in the 80’s I became a cross cultural music lab rat, listening to everything from Guns & Roses, to Wham, to L.L Cool J and of course my all time favorite Michael Jackson. My mother was a Parliament Funkadelic and GAP band fan, so that’s what I cut my teeth on and to this day still love to this day. With that being said I really didn’t hear too much Jimi Hendrix growing up . However two of my favorite artist of all time are self admitted huge Jimi fans. Prince loves Jimi and Andre 3000 will be Jimi in the upcoming bio pic about the rock legend. So I have been curious for the past couple of years to see why these current musical legends and also with a few of my friends worship at the feet of the Hendrix experience. So I decided I would review these remastered classics The Cry of Love and Rainbow Bridge.
Starting off the 1970’s The Cry of Love‘s first track Freedom is a mid-tempo funky dance track where Jimi speaks about kicking his drug habit but talks as if he addressing an old lover. Lyrics like…
You got my heart
speak electric water
You got my soul
screamin’ and howlin’
You know you hook my girlfriend
You know the drugstore man
But I don’t need it now
I was trying to slap it out of her head
The second song on the album, Drifting gives a smooth psychedelic backdrop over more thought provoking Jimi lyrics. You can truly hear how flawless his guitar skills are, as everything sounds effortless yet complex at the same time. Jimi gives the perfect combination of soul, funk, and rock that I am looking for when I listen to his music. The aggressive EZ rider follows and there are harder drums on this song and I like it! As the album journeys on it provides much of the same formula hard guitar, easy going drum rhythms, cool electric piano, and syrupy thick bass. Other stand out songs like Night bird flying, My Friend, and straight ahead which are all cool and funky in their own right. I thought the futuristic sounding Astro Man was humorous and that Angel was touching. It’s amazing how one artist can cover such a broad spectrum of feeling and emotion in their music.
This is my first time truly digging into Mr. Hendrix and it wont be my last. If anything listening to his music has made me more excited for the movie to hit theatres. I will most definitely be checking for his other musical offerings and digging into Jimi a little deeper. In the next part of the series I will review Rainbow Bridge.
Track List:
- Freedom
- Drifting
- Ezy Ryder
- Night Bird Flying
- My Friend
- Straight Ahead
- Astro Man
- Angel
- In From the Storm
- Belly Button Window
For more information visit JimiHendrix.com or LegacyRecordings.com
Steve Stephens II
My name is Steve and I am an early 30s family man from (you guessed it!) Tulsa, Oklahoma currently residing in a major metropolitan city on the east coast. I was born in Tulsa and lived there most of my early life then I moved to several cities in the south and mid-west and moved to the east coast after finishing undergrad. Moving around gave me an early view on different cities, regional cultures, styles, and taste that has always stuck with me and to this day I always notice the differences both major and subtle when I travel. I am truly excited to share my loves, dislikes, passions, memories, accomplishments, failures, and life with you. Look for my weekly updates and if you enjoy please tell others and drop me a line with some feedback.
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