~
cover photo by Jan Blom
Fifty-three years ago today, on New Year's Eve, December 31, 1969,
Jimi Hendrix introduced his group
Band of Gypsies
at a show at the Fillmore East in New York. Parts of that show and the
following show on January 1 were recorded and later released as this
live album,
Band of Gypsys.
cover photos by Jan Blom
It the first and only album without his original group,
the Jimi Hendrix Experience and featured
Billy Cox on bass and
Buddy Miles on drums. Some of the songs represent a change in Hendrix's music from his Experience repertoire and became the basis of
funk rock.
Band of Gypsies contains previously unreleased songs and was the last full-length Hendrix album released before his death.
According to Sean Westergaard of
AllMusic,
Band of Gypsies is one of the best live albums of all time and an important recording for Hendrix.
Sputnikmusic's Hernan M. Campbell believed
Machine Gun is one of Hendrix's most captivating performances.
Miles Davis commented about the song that "Jimi liked what I had done with
Kind of Blue and some other stuff
and wanted to add more jazz elements to what he was doing. He liked
the way Coltrane played with all those sheets of sound, and played his
guitar in a similar way.
Machine Gun is as much about the late 1960s American race riots as the
war in Vietnam. Guitarist
Vernon Reid describes it as "like a movie about war without the visuals. In many commentaries about
Band of Gypsies,
Machine Gun is singled out as the highlight of the album.
What a way to end the year!
Tracklist:
Side 1:
A1 Who Knows 9:34
A2 Machine Gun 12:38
Side 2:
B1 Changes - Written by B. Miles* 5:11
B2 Power To Love 6:55
B3 Message Of Love 5:24
B4 We Gotta Live Together, written by B. Miles* 5:51
Companies, etc.
Manufactured By – Capitol Records, Inc.
Mastered At – Sterling Sound
Published By – Bella Godiva Music, Inc.
Published By – Miles Ahead Music Inc.
Credits:
Design – Victor Kahn (2), Victor Kahn (2)
Lacquer Cut By – RL*, LH*
Performer – Billy Cox, Buddy Miles, Jimi Hendrix
Photography By – Jan Blom (2)
Producer – Heaven Research
Recorded By [Live] – Wally Heider
Supervised By [Remixing & Engineering Supervision] – Eddie Kramer
Written-By – B. Miles* (tracks: B1, B4), J. Hendrix* (tracks: A1, A2, B2, B3)
Notes:
Recorded Live-New Year's Eve 69-70 At Fillmore East New York City
Green Capitol labels. Labels with Capitol™, not Capitol ® as shown on other green labels.
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (Side A runout (Variant 1)): STAO-1-472-A Z5#1 LH Sterling RL
Matrix / Runout (Side B runout (Variant 1)): STAO-2-472-B Z5#1 LH Sterling RL
Matrix / Runout (Side A runout (Variant 2) ): STAO-1-472 X1#1 STERLING RL
Matrix / Runout (Side B runout (Variant 2)): STAO-2-472 X1#1 STERLING RL
Matrix / Runout (Side A label): STAO 1-472
Matrix / Runout (Side B label): STAO 2-472
Rights Society: ASCAP
Matrix / Runout (Side 1 (Variant 3)): STAO-1-472 X1#2 STERLING RL 0
Matrix / Runout (Side 2 (Variant 3)): STAO-2-472 X1#3 STERLING RL 0
Jimi Hendrix* – Band Of Gypsys
Label: Capitol Records – STAO-472
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Gatefold
Country: US
Released: 1970
Genre: Rock
Style: Blues Rock, Psychedelic Rock
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