Live at Berkeley

Live at Berkeley is a posthumous live album by American rock musician Jimi Hendrix. It documents his second performance at the Berkeley Community Theatre on May 30, 1970, and was released by MCA Records on September 16, 2003.

Not to be confused with Live at Berkeley (Nina Simone album).
Live at Berkeley
Live album by
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
ReleasedSeptember 16, 2003
RecordedMay 30, 1970
VenueBerkeley Community Theatre in Berkeley, California
Length67:47
LabelMCA
ProducerAbe Jacob
The Jimi Hendrix Experience chronology
Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: Jimi Hendrix
(2003)		 Live at Berkeley
(2003)		 The Singles Collection
(2003)

Background

After drummer Buddy Miles and Hendrix parted ways, Hendrix's manager, Michael Jeffery, wanted to reunite the original Experience. He announced their re-formation, and set up an interview with Rolling Stone magazine (with John Burks) on March 19, 1970. However, two weeks later Hendrix decided against Experience bassist Noel Redding. Instead, bassist Billy Cox along with Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell became his backing musicians for The Cry of Love Tour.

At Berkeley, Hendrix pushed the boundaries with works-in-progress including embryonic versions of what would become "Straight Ahead" and "Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)". He did not tune his guitar down a half step as he usually did at all other shows and on most of his albums. Instead, he stayed in standard tuning.

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
About.com[1]
All About Jazz[2]
AllMusic[3]
Blender[4]
Q[5]
Tom Hull – on the WebA–[6]
Uncut[7]

Rob Fawcett of BBC Music called Live at Berkeley "the strongest newly-released Hendrix material in a long time".[8] Robert Christgau cited "Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)" and "I Don't Live Today" as highlights and deemed it "the Cox-Mitchell band at its most documentable" in his consumer guide for The Village Voice.[9] In his review for Blender, he said Cox was a significant improvement over Noel Redding in a group that was Hendrix's best.[4] Uncut magazine was less enthusiastic and felt "there are still better versions of these tracks elsewhere."[7]

Track listing

All songs were written by Jimi Hendrix, except where noted.

No.TitleLength
1."Introduction"1:47
2."Pass It On (Straight Ahead)"6:58
3."Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)"6:07
4."Lover Man"2:59
5."Stone Free"4:08
6."Hey Joe" (Billy Roberts)4:49
7."I Don't Live Today"5:26
8."Machine Gun"11:22
9."Foxey Lady"6:30
10."The Star Spangled Banner" (Francis Scott Key, John Stafford Smith)2:45
11."Purple Haze"3:48
12."Voodoo Child (Slight Return)"10:49
Total length:67:28

Personnel

Musicians

Production

  • Janie L. Hendrix – compilation production
  • Eddie Kramer – compilation production, mixing
  • George Marino – mastering
  • John McDermott – compilation production
  • Pete Scriba – assistant engineering

References
  1. Gordon, Keith A. "Jimi Hendrix Experience - Live At Berkeley (2012)". About.com. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  2. Collette, Doug (November 10, 2012). "Jimi Hendrix Experience: Live at Berkeley". All About Jazz. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  3. Westergaard, Sean. "Live at Berkeley: 2nd Show - Jimi Hendrix". AllMusic. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  4. Christgau, Robert (December 2005). "Back Catalogue: Jimi Hendrix". Blender. New York. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  5. "none". Q. New York. 2003. p. 153. Missing or empty |url= (help)
  6. Hull, Tom (n.d.). "Grade List: Jimi Hendrix". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  7. "The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Live At Berkeley". Uncut. London (December). 2005. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  8. Fawcett, Rob (2002). "BBC - Music - Review of Jimi Hendrix - Jimi Plays Berkeley". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
  9. Christgau, Robert (2005). "Consumer Guide: Christians and Heathens". The Village Voice (November 1). New York. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.