| Contrary to pop gossup Jimmy was not the first to use distortion. Many of the effects he made popular were being played with for years particulaly by west coast surf music strumps, what he did do was with his touch, style and technique make what was theretofore a novelty into an acceptable mainstream sound. Being an original has its price. The old guard did not embrace Jimmy's playing for sometime and if not for the 'help of friends' Jimmy could not have kept strings on his ax let alone any meat on his bones. It took a visionary like Chas Chandler to guide Jimmy into a situation here his natural talents could be best showcased and exploited. Thru meteoric rise, thruout the tempest of his sucess he continued to play. Playing ax was what he did and what he loved! While "SMASH HITS is the essential Hendrix CD to own,"RADIO ONE"(live, raw early tracks from BBC)and "LIFELINES THE JIMMY HENDRIX STORY" are very revealing works as are each of the 6 original "albums" released in his lifetime. Thousands of hours of unreleased tapes exist and are available but most were not origianlly released for good reasons-lack of completion and/or quality. Among these releases you can still find a gem or nugget worth the looking "Once There Was a Woman" on the CD "Blues" is a great example. |
BROTHERS OF THE AX |