Search - Jimi Hendrix :: Midnight Lightning

An Alan Douglas release of questionable worth

Walter Five | 13th Floor Elevator, Enron Hubbard Bldg. Houston T | 10/27/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"For those of you who are counting, this is the 10th Hendrix studio LP, and the 6th posthumous studio LP. For whatever reasons, Producer Alan Douglas doctored these tapes, bringing in a lot of studio session musicians to overdub and record portions and parts of each number-- people who'd never even *met* Jimi Hendrix. The album wasn't well recieved-- the perception was that it wasn't original Hendrix. But it is what it is, and to be fair, it includes several studio tracks of Hendrix songs that we'd otherwise only hear live-- he played "Midnite Lightning" at "The Isle of Wight" show; "Machine Gun" and "Hear My Train A-Comin'" at Woodstock, "Gypsy Boy" is a working of "Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)" performed in the film "Rainbow Bridge". "Blue Suede Shoes" appears to originate from the studio jam track on the posthumous "Loose Ends" LP.



Here's the track listing:



Side one

"Trashman" - 3:15

"Midnight Lightning" - 3:49

"Hear My Train A Comin'" - 5:43

"Gypsy Boy" - 3:45 [edit]



Side two

"Blue Suede Shoes" (Carl Perkins) - 3:29

"Machine Gun" - 7:36

"Once I Had a Woman" - 5:20

"Beginnings" (Mitch Mitchell) - 3:02



The origins of the tapes used for these tracks is obscure. The only original musician on this recording (apart from Hendrix himself) is Mitch Mitchell, who's drumming on "Hear My Train A Comin'". Fan response to this LP (and its predecessor, "War Heroes") is mixed. Some people like what Douglas did here. Some people think it's a disgrace to Jimi's memory. What is certain is that at the time it was released it was regarded as "product" more than anything else, and that what artistic merit it might have comes purely from Jimi's guitar and vocals; practically everything else was a posthumous add-on."