Search - Jimi Hendrix :: Crash Landing

Still good inspite of over production.

P.J. Le Faucheur | Canada (ex- U.K. resident) | 01/23/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This posthumous 1975 album was over produced but it isn't ruined entirely. It's STILL Jimi playing the solos on here and they are unbelievably good ones.(some of his best solos infact) Remember, the process of overdubbing was practiced by Hendrix himself on all of his albums in the studio. Yeah, they've used Jeff Mirinov to beef up the rhythm guitar but the end product is one helluva funky album. "Come on down hard on me baby" sounds fantastic and Jimis solo will have you turning on the air conditioning. One of the best blues solos i've ever heard anyone do.

When this album was first released in the UK in May 1975 it stayed in the charts for weeks.

I would rate it the same as Jimi's "Cry of Love" album and is similar to it with regard to the use of backup singers.

Many will be offended by the singers but remember Jimi was going in this direction. He'd always been strongly influenced by vocal bands like Curtis Mayfields "Impressions"..just listen how he'd used Buddy Miles on backup on "Band of Gypsy's".

This is NOT the J.H. Experience. (that had passed a long time since) Don't expect it to sound similar. But as i recall not everything Jimi did with the 'Experience' was perfect and listenable. Like it or not THIS was Jimis new direction if he'd lived on long enough.

Some purists may say cynically at this point that maybe it was better that he died.(?)"

For collectors only.

Dawoud Kringle | New York City | 02/04/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"When I was in high school, this album came out, and created a storm of controversy. At the time my friends and I were not clear about the detail of this album's production. We were still straining to grab whatever pieces of Hendrix' music we could. Cry of Love, Rainbow Bridge, War Heros, etc. were still fairly new. But the treasure house was running dry. Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, a new Hendrix album! Some of us thought that Hendrix may have faked his death, and was holed up in a studio recording new music.



Then we bought the album and listened to it.



Douglas gave it his best shot, I guess. It was a bold move on his part; and a lot of the production was unprecidented. A considerable technical accomplishment. It would have been better had he got musicians who, like Mitch Mitchel, etc. had actually played with Hendrix. In fact, on the Rainbow Bridge film soundtrack, Mitchel had to re-do his drum parts. I understand he nailed it in one take. It would have made sense to have him on the project.



There's very little on this that is truly memorable. I have only the vaguest memory of much of this music. It actually makes me sad to listen to.



There was a line Hendrix sang on Somewhere Over the Rainbow: "Pretty soon they're gonna wrap me up in cellophane and sell me". I guess they did - especially considering all that crappy merchandise that Janie Hendrix and Experience Hendrix LLC has for sale.



I wonder if it would have been possible to record the sound of Hendrix spinning in his grave?"