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Jimi Hendrix had many talents and could play in many different styles. He is as good of a blues player as he is anything else. Here he takes blues standards and updates them in his own style.

It should be noted that the sound quality isn't perfect throughout and there are some pretty rough mixes to some of the songs. There is some background noise and hissing in some songs, and one song sounds like it was spliced together. This was material that wasn't originally intended for commercial release, but has been remastered well enough to make an amazing CD. Afterall, it's the Blues, it isn't supposed to be pretty.


Not bad for an Alan Douglas release   March 16, 2002
 24 out of 26 found this review helpful

It is ironic that Steven Mirkin would begin his review with:

"After the disorganized and often unlistenable Alan Douglas-produced reissues in the '70s and '80s, MCA has been releasing the vast Hendrix archives in an intelligent and methodical manner. Blues is a perfect example..."

Why is this ironic? Because Blues is very much an Alan Douglas production and, while he had at least temporarily overcome his habit of overdubbing Hendrix's sidemen (he would backslide on the next MCA release, Voodoo Soup), there are still plenty of Douglas-isms on the album. I give the album three stars in spite of Douglas' tampering, which I would never grace with adjectives like "intelligent" or "methodical." Douglas was a butcher and he lives up to that title here.

Examples: "Voodoo Chile Blues" is a composite of three different takes sewn together with the usual Douglas subtlety (think nails on a chalkboard.) The following cut, "Mannish Boy", is likewise stitched together from various takes. That leads into "Once I Had A Woman" which, while at least only one take is used, has had its section order completely (and needlessly) altered.

There are other examples (the spoken intro preceding "Electric Church Red House" comes from a recording of "Electric Church" done eight days before the take of "Red House" it segues into here; the "Electric Church" jam is omitted altogether) that serve to show that this album was not the Douglas-free zone Mr. Mirkin believes it to be. Also, the fantastic live version of "Hear My Train" suffers from an embarrassing burden of posthumous studio effects. Compare it to the version Eddie Kramer prepared for "Rainbow Bridge" and you'll see why people hate Douglas so much. Luckily, the earlier version is once again available on "Voodoo Child: The Jimi Hendrix Collection."

It's worth a listen (and nowhere near as bad as the out-of-print Midnight Lightning), but hopefully Experience Hendrix will soon pull this album in favor of a more accurate representation of Jimi's blues playing. This should be the last of the currently available titles on anyone's Hendrix list.


It is a Douglas release!   December 15, 2000
 22 out of 53 found this review helpful

Dont be fooled by the 'editorial' review. This was originally produced and released by Alan Douglas. The Hendrix family decided to correct the liner notes and re-release it. Other than the notes, it is the same one. This is a cd only for fans, like most of the recent releases. So why 3 stars? because it does not includes all the best blues performances of Jimi, as you may expect.And some of what you have here its pretty sloppy. Mannish boy and Once I had a woman are just third class performances.


Jimi goes into a low groove   February 5, 2002
 20 out of 24 found this review helpful

In "Blues," Jimi goes low. He gets down where only dust, bums and rhythm live. He brings us a great album, and gives us another good reason to miss his work.

He tells you 'bout his woman (the one who has him wrapped around her left finger, the one in Dallas), and you miss her too. He wants to know if you can help him. Maybe not, but she sounds worth singing about.

Slowly picking out familiar blues riffs, strolling down paths you know, but he takes it farther. He rocks and he struts, and he screams out notes that would be distorted on many other guitarists' tool. But here, Jimi boldly pulls the notes far until it hurts, until they reach that point where pain becomes pleasure.

I'm listening right now to "Once Had a Woman," an almost eight minute jam (mentioned in the first paragraph), and realize that tune alone could last all night. Rough cut or not, there is a tune which any bar needs to hear done justice.

For those fans of "All Along the Watch Tower" and "Purple Haze," grab this, expand why you already know Jimi deserves his title as a great guitarist, but in a whole new light.

I fully recommend "Blues" by Jimi Hendrix.

Anthony Trendl