It seems like every guitar player out there reveres Jimi Hendrix as the greatest, end all guitar player ever. Sure, we give him some props for bringing a new sound to the late 60's that exploded. Technically, he knew very little about music as far as theory. I'm no Segovia myself however I can hear genius when it's played and this song called "Ezy Rider" is one of those tunes. Completely non mainstream and probably never played on any radio station since the day the album came out.
It shows the pure, raw emotion in the chord structure and the pure beef of the tune. There are plenty of recordings of it but I found a cover version that stayed true to the original.
I read an interview with one of the Isley brothers one time. Jimi was in the Isley Brothers backup band for a time and lived with them. The brother said that James, as he was known then, never went anywhere without his guitar, from the time he got up in the morning until he went to bed. He'd sit at the breakfast table, you'd ask him what he wanted for breakfast and he'd respond with a couple of chords.
When I was stationed in Ft. Campbell, Kentucky in 1987, they had a picture of him on the wall in the headquarters building. He served for a short time, broke an ankle during a jump I believe and finally got out. The word was he liked playing guitar more than soldiering.
Interesting that Jimi Hendrix first single "Hey Joe" was released in the UK in Dec 1966 and not in the USA...#6 in the UK. "Purple Haze" released Mar 1967 in UK and went to #3...#65 in USA. Jimmie Hendrix biggest single was "All along the Watchtower" that made it to #20 USA and #5 UK. I remember walking into a Bellingham record store and Hendrix "Cry of Love" was just released. The store was playing it on a huge sound system with huge speakers and I couldn't move. I remember how cool Ezy -Rider sounded. So I go back to "Hey Joe" as the first Jimmie Hendrix song I heard and think still stands the test of time...
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In the fall of 1967, I was a visitor to Ohio U in Athens and stayed in a dorm room with some guys who had a brand new Hendrix album. I'd never heard of him until then. I think they also had the first Cream album, Fresh Cream, of course, nobody then had heard anything like that before, at that time, I'd never heard of Clapton, either.
Don't get me wrong, Hendrix had some mind blowing shit in his day. I just like the sounds of a more "pure" guitarist such as Ritchie Blackmore. No distortion, no waa waa pedals, and no effects other than his famed Echoplex.
Some of the non-album tracks from Hendrix were awesome just listening to him jam. The mainstream tunes like Purple Haze, Hey Joe, etc were so overplayed, they are like fingernails on a blackboard these days.
Remember attending a few "battle of the bands" during my high skoolen days and interestingly enough that some bands were able to do the Deep Purple version of Hey Joe instead of the Hendrix version mainly because of the focus on the organ and not so much on the guitar. I saw Ritchie Blackmore play his guitar in Bellingham WA on first Deep Purple tour.
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If you are in a horror movie, you make bad decisions, its what you do.
So to finish up on "Hey Joe"...I was around to hear "The Leaves" version of "Hey Joe" which is the prototype/original and Jimi Hendrix used the same words/lyrics and "covered" the song. Great song to cover for Jimi Hendrix and I just learnt that 10 minutes ago. so enjoy the original "Hey Joe" by The Leaves.
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If you are in a horror movie, you make bad decisions, its what you do.
Ezy Rider and the whole Rainbow Bridge album was spun frequently back in the day
where I was at.
Amen. They wore it out around these parts, tuu. Enough tu where just the mention of Ezy Rider has gotten that riff stuck in Snippy's air geetar of his head.
YouTube has restricted a lot of Jimi Hendrix availability with copyright thing. I notice the music/songs now going by different names and the jimi Hendrix tune you love can still be heard except the one I want most "Still raining still dreaming" as that seems impossible currently. For sure the Electric Ladyland LP is my Hendrix choice to stand all time as the best. Celebrating Jimi's birthday I found this "Voodoo Chile long version" by a guy I don't know but he knows how to play Jimi. The presentation doesn't look like much but don't let that stop you from the enjoyment.
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If you are in a horror movie, you make bad decisions, its what you do.