Is it just me, Jimi Hendrix albums are crap

[MartinBarre]

Martin, Martin, Martin, you're gonna stroke out buddy! Hendrix, as well as his albums, were so far ahead of the times, some people still haven't caught up! Look, I'm no Hendrix fanboy, but the cat was the definition of "loose" rock and roll. I hate to be so cliche', but to a degree, you just had to live that era to completely understand.

So what if you can't find a slide. The real concern was not running out of weed! Let's lose the music angle for a minute and talk movies. Rent the first Dirty Harry movie and even though it's a classic, the production is nothing like today's work. The acting is about as cheesy as it comes compared to current high action movies. It's just a different era.

Back to music. You mentioned Zep. I can remember listening to some of their early work and thinking Bonzo was the most spastic drummer on the planet. In fact, I recall an article in Circus Magazine (how many of you old fuckers remember Circus, Circus Raves, Hit Parader) where was voted as one of the worst drummers. Decades later, he's considered a drum god! To me, his drumming was every bit as loose Mitch Mitchell.

Enough of this crap. You drinking that single malt yet? Well, I am! Just remember, that was a different era and Hendrix didn't play by anyone's rules, especially the record company and their production engineers.

I don't need to rent the first Dirty Harry movie - I own the boxset. I've embarrassed my hot wife on a few drunken occassions with my "this is a 44 magnum" shite!
I'm not quite getting my point across. Dirty Harry films are awesome, the first was the best. Nothing nowadays compares. Nothing.
Same with music, nothing compares to the live yet loose feel of something like an early Tull or AC/DC or Motorhead album.

But Hendrix albums just sound disjointed and TOO loose, like there was no rehearsals, no firm plan on what each member should play - it sounds like they were all handed some drugs and told to do whatever the fuck they wanted. Then Jimi and Eddie Kramer spent months adding sound effects. Why bother when the basic tracks were so randomly played?

[SEEGERMANY]

"But Hendrix albums just sound disjointed and TOO loose, like there was no rehearsals, no firm plan on what each member should play - it sounds like they were all handed some drugs and told to do whatever the fuck they wanted."

Ding Ding Ding, you do understand!

[jacksoncsplayer]

I used to feel the same way martin. I thought it was just a jam session with alot of weed and acid involved, but now in my mid 40's I am really able to see and feel the genius behind the music. There's a ton of syncopation going on in his stuff and I think everyone has their part in the jam. Maybe all the acid an pot is catching up to me now, but I surely found a level of respect and a newfound apreciation for his albums and playing. He really was a bad motherfucker.

[Endrik]

if we talk about movies then I'd make such comparisons
the 60's was one of the most innovative eras in music
it was like the French New Wave Cinema... it changed everything in the movie biz'
Let's take 2 most important New Wave directors Francois Truffat and Jean Luc Goddard.
Francois Truffaut was a true master. The cinematography was brilliant, the stories were deep and meaningful, the acting performances were superb, his style was really new, unique and innovative, everything was well thought through put together.
Jean Luc Goddard was like Jimi Hendrix. He just didn't give a fuck. His later work were very chaotic and loose. Much of it don't make sense to most people. A lot of experimenting. A lot of the acting was improvised. It was all about getting a certain vibe, performance and colors on the screen. He wasn't that much of a perfectionist like Truffaut but he made the biggest impact on modern cinema. His out of the box thinking led the way to many different directions in film making. Truffaut said that there's a cinema before Goddard and cinema after Goddard. The same thing with Hendrix.

[jacksoncsplayer]

He really was innovative

[straycat]

Mitch Mitchell was the only drummer that could keep up with Jimi.
I saw them live in 68 and they were awesome to say the least.
No other band in the world was even close IMO.
Zep was the most sloppy band I ever saw live.The two absolute tightest live bands were Grand Funk Railroad or Ten Years After.
Yeah I'm and old fart and that was a very different time. Everything was evolving as far as production went and they would try anything.
The only effects were delay, echo and wah for the most part.
When Jimi dimed all the Marshalls it was sonic heaven if you were out in the crowd.

[MartinBarre]

I'm not denying that he was innovative. I even admit I like his playing and his songs.
It's just that they sound like shit on the albums!

[Musician78]

I don't know what it is but I just don't see it with him.... I like lots of his tunes, but I don't think he was the awesome guitarist other people say he was....

[Cleveland Metal]

I don't own ONE Jimi Album...

Not a doubt that he was a amazing groundbreaking and unique player, and did some amazingly cool stuff. For the most part tho, not much of it really moved me to the point of learning it or buying it. And I came up in the 70's.

His live stuff was mostly torrid. Mostly cuz he was trashed. There are of course a few blazingly awesome moments.

I generally think they were extremely stoned on acid mostly. Did some cool things, but I'm not all that amazed. For the time, it was groundbreaking.

I think he got famous so fast and went the fuck off with money, women and drugs. Shit was flying by way too fast for him to deal with and he just sorta partied and in the meanwhile got some stuff recorded. If he'd have controlled his drug use, he'd probably surpassed his already godlike status. Classic "Shooting Star". Very sad.

[joelayres]

I'm really not the biggest Hendrix fan, but if I could play with as much soul as he had in his little finger I would be ecstatic.
His playing and choice of notes just oozes mojo.

[straycat]

He did a 30 min solo at this concert that had elements of blues, 50's rock and roll, 40's big band even did a short burst of Mo-Town and R&B.He played them clean and dead on perfect.
He was a very well rounded player and it showed in this solo.
He just let it all out on his songs and yes he messed up a few times but he would always laugh and step up to the mike and "I know I messed up sorry but dig this anyway".

[Newc]

There seems to be some miscommunication (or just plain ignoring what's been said).

MB1 never said anything negative about Hendrix as a guitarist, yet why are people offering responses that specifically mention Hendrix' playing ability?

The issue at hand here is the studio production - the lack of proper orchestration, the "free for all" jam-type "play whatever pops in yer head and we'll call it a song" methodology on top of low-fidelity mastering.

Granted recording equipment back then wasn't as well-thought-out back then as it is today. Recording to 2" reel-to-reel back then was the norm, and the heads on those units did not have the close-tolerances that later machines had.
Magnetic tape just doesn't have the fidelity, and you lose some everytime you play it. It's just a natural wear process. I'm sure it did sound tons better in person (though the jam thing was still the norm).

Poor sound quality is a fact of life for anything that was recorded to magnetic tape, and even worse are things recorded direct to vinyl platters!


However, that doesn't excuse the lack of basic orchestration.

Then again, that is entirely optional to begin with.

[broken_fusion]

I'm sure they recorded live and then went back and Jimi played around with it. Thats why it doesn't sound tight. Today everything is tracked. Any band can sound tight on tape. You can tell that they were playing live because you can always here the snare vibrating when the drummers not playing anything. Also the guitar buzz is horrible and a lot of times you can hears whirring and whizzing sounds from effects that are running even while nothing is being played at that second.
I have a hard time listening to his studio albums. To much effects and just plain playing around in the studio for me. I love the live stuff though. Listen to like a rolling stone live.

[Endrik]

There seems to be some miscommunication (or just plain ignoring what's been said).

MB1 never said anything negative about Hendrix as a guitarist, yet why are people offering responses that specifically mention Hendrix' playing ability?

The issue at hand here is the studio production - the lack of proper orchestration, the "free for all" jam-type "play whatever pops in yer head and we'll call it a song" methodology on top of low-fidelity mastering.

Granted recording equipment back then wasn't as well-thought-out back then as it is today. Recording to 2" reel-to-reel back then was the norm, and the heads on those units did not have the close-tolerances that later machines had.
Magnetic tape just doesn't have the fidelity, and you lose some everytime you play it. It's just a natural wear process. I'm sure it did sound tons better in person (though the jam thing was still the norm).

Poor sound quality is a fact of life for anything that was recorded to magnetic tape, and even worse are things recorded direct to vinyl platters!


However, that doesn't excuse the lack of basic orchestration.

Then again, that is entirely optional to begin with.

dude, old lo fidelity gear doesn't have anything to do with sound being bad or good.
great guitars and amps are lo fi to being with.
great sounds over the time are archived thanks to noisy analog equipment... computers are noiseless but sound sterile as hell... analog gives that special tone to the music... killer overtones, warm mids, juicy low end, bigger overall sound etc.
even today when a band goes to pro tool equiped studio, many pro drummers refuse to record without an old piece of shit 2" tape... the tone is way bigger and warmer and it captures the performance with more vibe.

[joelayres]

Jimi's recordings represent the period. They are what they are.
Appreciate them or not, they are by all means classics.