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with Billy
Cox and nabbed Buddy Miles to follow Mitchell on drums. Jimi
named the trio, The Gypsy Band. They were all black, with jazz
and R&B roots and a markedly different sound from The
Experience. In early 1970, they recorded live concerts at the
venerable Fillmore East in New York. Six of these songs are
included Band of Gypsies. Though this album receives its
fair share of acclaim (it’s a Hendrix album, after all), it’s
generally considered Hendrix’s lesser work. This is a mistake,
for Band of Gypsies is by no means lesser, merely
different. Its profundity simply lies elsewhere, namely, the
more discernable foundation of blues and rhythm and blues that
these 3 black men fused into this rock outfit.
Hendrix music was always a mixture of what he called "earth" (a
blues-jazz-funk-driven
rhythm accompaniment) with "space" (the
psychedelic
sounds he fired out of his guitar). Band of
Gypsies was his most earthy recording and
one wonders if that is why the rock & roll jury always reserved
full praise for this album.
There’s no
denying the appeal of the psychedelic moods, meandering
Dylanesque lyrics and game-changing guitar acrobatics of
Hendrix’s earlier works. But there is equal charm in the grit of
Buddy Miles’ churchy wails, Billy Cox’s funkier charged grooves
and Jimi’s more overt socio-political lyrics. The loose feel of
the tunes – the improvising, chorus chants, exploratory solos,
scatting – is most definitely a by-product of the band’s short
time together (they were said to have only rehearsed for 10 days
prior to the concert), but it also gave this album an organic
soul. No offense to The Experience, but this album feels like
Jimi got with some brothers and just dug in the crease.
Not to mention
the height to which Hendrix had now taken his guitar work. For
lack of a better word, let’s just call it “dizzying”. “Machine
Gun” is often cited as one of the greatest guitar performances
ever. It was a protest song against not only the Vietnam War,
but perhaps more importantly, the domestic war that was being
waged on African Americans struggling for their civil rights.
Hendrix introduced the song to the crowd by dedicating it to
“… all the soldiers fighting in Chicago and Milwaukee”, then
pausing before adding, “and, oh yeah, Vietnam.” Technical babble
aside, Hendrix manipulated his guitar to sound like various
elements of war (rapid-fire machine guns, bombs dropping) much
like his historic rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” at
Woodstock. It’s 13 minutes of scorching emotion (anger,
frustration, hope), capped by Hendrix admonishing, “That’s what
we don’t wanna hear anymore,” as Miles finished the sentence,
“no more bullets.”
“Power of Love”
is the type of hyper-funky rock that was a little meaner than
what Sly and the Family Stone was doing, a little more soulful
than what Led Zepplin was doing and the archetype for outfits
like today’s Red Hot Chili Peppers. “Message of Love” and “We
Gotta Live Together” are pieces that sound like they were lifted
from a church, placed on stage at a music festival and fed
through amplifiers turned all the way up.
Sometimes,
Hendrix’s virtuosity on his guitar overshadows the keen take he
had on the America in which he lived. The power of Band of
Gypsies is in the music and the message. Hendrix died
less than a year after he recorded this album. What a
magnificent swan song.
--Vincent Thomas
Vincent Thomas can be reached at musicdude@thisisrealmusic.com. |
Posted
by: APZ