Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #77268 in VHS
• Released on: 1992-03-31
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: Color, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 33 minutes

Amazon.com
The world was turned on to the Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1967 with the release of Are You Experienced? With a unique electric spin on R&B, rock, and soul, the Jimi Hendrix Experience would take the world by storm almost overnight and become the definitive voice of psychedelic music. By the end of that summer, Hendrix had become an international superstar.

The Experience DVD can be broken down into two sections. The first part is the half-hour documentary film Experience filmed in London 1967. The second half includes over 40 minutes of bonus material; live footage and music videos. Experience is more a collage of footage, including interviews and "videos," than a documentary. There are a lot better documentaries out there if historical accuracy is what you are looking for. However, if you want a glimpse of London in the late '60s and to see a young, optimistic, and happy Jimi Hendrix, Experience will deliver. The bonus material is what makes this DVD. The live footage is strong and the sound and visual reproduction is outstanding, particularly on the May 24, 1967, Stockholm performances of "Wind Cries Mary" and "Purple Haze." The highlight is the performance of "Red House" for SAT Swedish television on January 9, 1969; in spite of the obvious tension between the band members, the performance is perfect. The one low point: with these great extras and all the yet-to-be-released live footage that is still out there, one wonders why the DVD included an absurd "Dolly Dagger" video shot in 1997 and featuring Fawn Reed and James Hong. It's just awful. Fortunately it's at the end and doesn't take away from the overall strength of this title. -- Rob Bracco

Customer Reviews

Don't Be Mislead--There are better Hendrix videos
When I read the short description of this video, I had hoped it was the video of the unreleased film 'Experience' from Hendrix' Royal Albert Hall performance. It definitely is not. First, the production quality of this video is horrendous. It appears to be a bootleg of previously released clips. Most of it is so overexposed as to be a blur on the screen. There are three 'live' performances documented. One can be found on the 'Soundtrack from the Film Jimi Hendrix' (Hear My Train a Comin' [acoustic]). The other two are 'Purple Haze' and 'Wild Thing'. Both appear to be from the same performance, but unfortunately the poor video and audio of this tape get in the way of making this tape a nice find. There is also a 1960s 'video' (in 8mm format) of the studio version of the song 'Foxy Lady', comprising mostly of a woman in a fur coat running around what appears to be a parking lot. Nice retro piece, but no big deal. There are also interviews with Hendrix, Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell. These appear to have been lifted and slapped together to stretch out this tape. In short, look elsewhere. There are better performances recorded on film. Look for Pennebacker. The poor quality and scant content make this a letdown even for a hardcore Hendrix enthusiast.

"I THINK HE'S THE ONLY PART RED INDIAN, PART NEGRO,
EX-ARMY AIRBORNE, ELECTRONIC BLUES PLAYER THAT I'VE EVER MET." (NR?)

Frankly, I was disappointed with the sound quality the most and also the picture quality of this DVD, however; I told myself to be THANKFUL for ANY Jimi I can get! He is GONE and I should CHERISH this--and I do! I wish he was still here with us today! Think how amazing that would be!

Included on this DVD is:

EXPERIENCE: [Color] Includes live performances and rare footage. It has "Purple Haze", "Wild Thing", a photo session with Jimi, Noel and Mitch, a short video of Indians with comments by Jimi, Jimi answering short questions of Mitch and Noel (particularly humorous is Jimi's pet peeve about gimmicks), "Foxey Lady" video, Jimi skydiving and Jimi describing his feelings of it, and it ends with "Hear My Train A Comin'."

POPSIDE: [Black & White] Stockholm, Sweden May 24, 1967. Jimi performs in studio for a Swedish Television Program. This section of the DVD has more closeups of his fingering, much better picture and somewhat better sound quality than EXPERIENCE (above.) He plays "The Wind Cries Mary" and "Purple Haze." POPSIDE is an awesome clip!

NUMBER NINE: [Black & White] Stockholm, Sweden January 9, 1969. "Time for some electric church music..." says the announcer. This is definitely my favorite section of the DVD. Jimi plays "Red House"--it is an amazing performance of the song with much improved and diverse camera angles. The angles include closeups of each player, of all three, plus priceless closeups of Jimi's fingering and full body angles! Jimi goes straight into "Sunshine Of Your Love" and it is awesome too! This and the other Swedish performance, POPSIDE, are worth the purchase price of this DVD in my opinion! DIG!

OLYMPIA: [Color] Paris October 9, 1967. An incredible performance of "Wild Thing." What can I say? GROOVY!

"HEY JOE": ORIGINAL PROMOTIONAL FILM [Color] January 1967. Not a lot of lighting on but this has a much better picture quality than some clips on this DVD. I have always loved this song.

"DOLLY DAGGER" [Color] 1997 Music video with Fawn Reed and James Hong. I liked this but especially the ending! WOW! You have to see this!

All in all, I think you should enjoy this if you are a big fan as long as you are forewarned of the sound and picture quality which are no better than average (I am being generous here.)

For Collectors Only
I myself am a collector; I own over 85 videos from Beatles to The Who to... well, just about every band in the history of rock and roll.

As a fan of Hendrix, this video, a mere 69 minutes in length, was sloppy, disorganized, random bits of footage that seemed to come out of nowhere.

As a collector, I enjoyed very much of it. The Dolly Dagger video alone was worth the price, plus to finally see the 1969 Sweeden concert was really cool.

I would suggest that they make a film documenting Hendrix' entire life, like "The Definitive Elvis" or "Beatles Anthology." That way, we not only see the film clips, but we get a better understanding of how everything fits together.

All in all, I'd say it has a lot of material that a collector would enjoy, but as a fan, I enjoyed "Jimi Plays Monterey" more.