Journal rdewald's Journal: The Power of Soul 8
[This is a music review, not some obtuse navel-gaze about the nature of online communities and personal identity. I'm exhausted over that. Let's talk music. Em, come back.]
I generally dislike tribute albuns. In fact, Power of Soul: a tribute to Jimi Hendrix is the only one I can remember buying in a long time. I have none on my Archos, where I store all of my music, so if I have bought one before this one, it was probably on vinyl.
I came to this one by way of The Kyle Jason Show, a Saturday night music review on WLIB, the local affiliate (and flagship) for Air America radio. All of my radios at home are tuned to this station, so last Saturday night when I was having trouble getting to sleep I flipped it on and heard track number 12, Robert Randolph's tribute of Purple Haze, which I discuss below. Randolph is the most gifted pedal steel player in the history of mankind, if you are not familiar with his music, well, you should be. His musical mentor is Stevie Ray Vaughn, a man whom I absolutely cannot be objective about. But, I digress.
Randolph's tribute of Purple Haze bolted me upright in bed and I cursed the fact that WLIB is an AM station. If you can believe it (and I have trouble believing I can say it), Randolph actually improves on the song in his version, so I decided to buy a copy of this album to own a copy of that track only, not caring if the rest of it sucked.
Well, it doesn't. It rocks. It only serves to remind me how much music died with Jimi, and by comparison how much new music still sucks today.
Like Stone Free , a tribute album from about 10 years ago, a portion of the proceeds here go to a United Negro College Fund scholarship in Jimi's name. There's a long and complicated story concerning Jimi's family's struggle to get the ownership of his music back, I won't go into that here, but this album is backed by the family.
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The first track is Jimi's Dad, Al, introducing the work. It is mercifully short.
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Are You Experienced? by Musiq
Many people, including many of Jimi's contemporary audience, missed the pun and the real question behind the title of this track. "Are you experienced?" not only means "have you had an experience?" but also "have you ever been experienced?" Simpler, have you lived? It is a Zen koan as far as I am concerned, and I actually have meditated using it as a mantra.
This is cut is fairly true to Jimi's vision, it is really more of a cover than a tribute.
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Spanish Castle Magic by Carlos Santana
Another tune that is more of a cover than a tribute. I guess I should take the time here to explain my distinction. A cover, in the vernacular of performing artists, is a performance or recording of the work of another, usually for the purposes of entertaining an audience, usually because the performer is lacking original music in his repertoire that is appropriate to the performance or recording. Often, it is used as a vehicle to display one's technical skills, and some bands do nothing but covers. I was in one of these bands. It was a bit like being a live jukebox. Good money, it gave you something to do, but it advances one no where as an artist (though it does advance one as a musician, there's a difference).
A tribute is an artistic interpretation of another's work. It's like the classic definition of pornography, i.e., you know it when you hear it. Tributes are NOT performed as substitutes or fill-in for the lack of a repertoire. They are gifts back to the composer. "Here, I shined up this apple for you, teacher."
Carlos knew Jimi, played with Jimi, they shared a stage at Woodstock, so it's not surprising that the rendition is similarly close to Jimi's vision. It's interesting hearing Carlos trying to stay true to a style that is not his at all, he's playing a distorted strat, not his ultra-smooth JRReed. I find it fun to listen to.
Clearly, before someone else says it, Carlos reveals more of a cover than an tribute interpretation because he was so close to the man, not because he lacks talent in his own right. I hope I hardly needed to say that.
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Purple House by The Artist Formerly Known as Squiggle -- Prince
Finally, a tribute.
Of course, Jimi didn't record a song named Purple House. This is Prince's tribute of Red House. As soon as it opens, even though you recognize the opening riff, you know it's Prince. He slips into the song like he is sliding into sexy, purple, silk pajamas after getting up from a night of fantastic sex, he absolutely owns it, like Frank Sinatra owns his songs. From the spare arrangement to the intuitively sparse use of choral backup vocals, this is Prince artisitically humping Jimi's artistic leg like an adoring groupie. The purchase of the plastic disc is also justified by the track alone.
I have no doubt, from hearing this track, that Prince and Jimi would have worked together if he had survived. It is absolute magic, and I listen to this track over and over again, even though I am no big Prince fan.
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The Wind Cries Mary by Sting
You know you're doing well when the weakest cut on a tribute album comes from Sting. Actually, what jumps out at me (as a guitarist who has played this song about a billion times with dozens of different garage bands) is the bass playing. Of course, it's Sting, but you see that Sting really "gets it" musically with his lazy, ambling, smooth transititions on a fretless bass. The guitar lead (John McLaughlin from Mahavishnu and Miles) is a bit over done, too many mindless arpeggios, but I forgive that, it's tight, it works.
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Voodoo Chile (slight return) by Earth, Wind and Fire
Another tribute cut that more than justifies shelling out the Jackson for the plastic disc. I have listened to this cut about 20 times, it is on my headphones as I compose this part of the JE, and it still makes the hair and goosebumps stand up on my arms it is so good. As with Squiggle's cut, this isn't EWF covering a tune, it is EWF re-birthing the tune. I grew up with EWF, I first had sex with EWF on the 8-track, I love this band, and they make me very proud.
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Power of Soul by Bootsy Collins (with George Clinton & the P-Funk All-Stars)
God I miss Funk. The best of the best of Hip Hop can approximate it's busy, collective storytelling, but 98% of it falls far short. Here it is, folks, and in the form of a tribute of a song that has a message that is still relevant today. If I could somehow get George Bush to listen to this song...
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Burning Of The Midnight Lamp by Eric Clapton
Clapton also knew Hendrix. Is there anyone that Clapton doesn't know? Again, the arrangement and performance of the song is pretty true to Jimi's vision, really more of a cover than a tribute. Damn good song, though.
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Have You Even Been (To Electric Ladyland) by Lenny Kravitz
Lenny owes a lot to Jimi, and you get the sense he realizes it in this track. It is his interpretation, more a tribute than a cover, because it has Lenny's R&B sensibility in the arrangement.
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Al Hendrix has another brief blurb about how Jimi's music still endures 30+ years after his passing.
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Who Knows by Devoted Spirits (featuring George Duke)
Devoted Spirits is a sort of R&B all-star collective which includes Sheldon Reynolds, who played with EWF and co-produced the album. Again, you get the percussive jazz sensibilities of EWF layered upon the straight-up acid rock guitar from Reynolds. Fans of EWF will recognize it, but it's not EWF, it's a bunch of hyper-talented musicians making Jimi's music. Jazz, as a musical genre, was really the casualty of Jimi's early demise (as well as SRV's), you get some sense of where he could have gone in his later career in this cut.
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Purple Haze by Robert Randolph
It is truly a wonder to me that Robert Randolph is not better known than he is. He is an amazing talent. He developed his chops playing for a church across the river from me in Jersey. He literally takes this song, another one that I have played so many times I can do it in my sleep, and not only mkaes it his, but he goes beyond where Hendrix takes this song, which is pretty far down the rabbit hole already. I know, with as much certainty that I can muster, that Jimi would have loved this cut and learned from it.
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Going Home by Velvert Turner
Well, as a music reviewer, I fail you here. All I know about Velvert is he was a student of Jimi's and he is dead now. He participated in the production of some of the early videos and films about Jimi, that's where I've seen his name. If you know more about him, feel free to enlighten us by replying to the JE. It is only
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Little Wing by Chaka Kahn & Kenny Olson
Of all of Jimi's songs, I have played this one for the longest. I play it almost every time I pick up a guitar, sometimes playing it before I even realize consciously that's what I'm doing. To say I love this song just vividly understates my feeling for it. That said, Chaka Kahn absolutely owns it. It says in the liner notes that it was this recording that inspired the assembly of the rest of the album, i.e., they wanted to put together the rest of this album to have a vehicle to release this recording. I believe it.
Kenny Olson is the guitarist that makes Kid Rock listenable
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Castles Made of Sand by Sounds of Blackness
This is the closest thing to Hip Hop sensibitlity on the album, albeit not very close. Nice job, definitely post-modern, scratching and all. Again, this is Sheldon Reynolds making his vision happen. This guy is just too talented to confine himself to one band.
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May This Be Love Eric Gales
A lot of people think this song is called "Waterfall." Know which one it is now? I thought so. My lack of musical knowledge is on display again with this cut. He is credited on the notes with every instrument. If you know they guy, feel free to chime in. His performance is soulful, very original and I like it a lot. I admire people like blinder who can do it all musically, Mr. Gale is another of them. It is a unique arrangement, but true to Jimi's vision. I don't know enough of Mr. Gale's work to know where he begins and Jimi ends in the arrangement. But it is technically perfect and quite easy on the ear. He's got some game, that's for sure.
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Foxey Lady by Cee-Lo
Well, apparently knowing Sheldon Reynolds was a good way to get on this album, again he returns as the lead guitarist with a group of musicians I know little about. Foxey is another tune I have been playing for 27 years, so I am a bit partial to it. I do a real interpretation, though, using acoustic guitar only, but I digress.
Sheldon's amazing acid rock virtuosity shines through this cut once again. Damn he can play. The rest of the players bring the water, though, I like this version.
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Red House by John Lee Hooker
If you know John Lee, this is the cut from Don't Look Back. What else can you say? It's John Lee, they broke the mold....
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Little Wing / 3rd Stone From The Sun by Stevie Ray Vaughn & Double Trouble
This is the recording from the King Biscuit Flower Hour recorded in Philly in 1983. I was closely associated with SRV's organization during this period. I've had a bootleg of this for years, plus I heard him play this medley in soundchecks many, many times. His studio recording of Little Wing that was released on The Sky is Crying is closer to what I think he wanted to really make out of the tune, but it is always a pleasure to hear SRV crank this out. He loved the tune, he really understood it, this song has a very conservative structure, it moves well, it was written to be played on a guitar, lots of open strings, easy licks, it's is just a fucken thrill to play along with SRV, even today, in September 2004. I still do it.
Damn, it's nice to hear it again. When he moves to 3rd Stone, you really get an appreciation for where SRV might have gone with jazz had he not hit the side of a mountain instead. What a loss.
Oh, and SRV thanks the crowd at the end. It's good to hear his voice.
On my wishlist (Score:2)
Re:On my wishlist (Score:1)
Ditto.
LOL!!
Seriously, I've got Stone Free, and based on the review, I'll pick this up also.
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Re:So much to reply to... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:So much to reply to... (Score:2)
SRV, well, I'm not going to pretend that I can be objective. His playing speaks to me directly, I don't have to translate it through levels of cognition to appreciate it, it just feels ri
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Robert Randolph (Score:1)
I'm going to get out and get this CD now!!!!