Track Listing

1. INTRO
2. KILLING FLOOR
3. FOXEY LADY
4. LIKE A ROLLING STONE
5. ROCK ME BABY
6. HEY JOE
7. CAN YOU SEE ME
8. THE WIND CRIES MARY
9. PURPLE HAZE
10. WILD THING

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4795 in Music
• Released on: 2007-10-16
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Extra tracks, Live
• Dimensions: .17 pounds

Album Description
The DVD soundtrack features a new 5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo mixes by Eddie Kramer, Jimi's original engineer. The CD will feature the brand new, stereo mix heard here for the first time.

Amazon.com
It's no exaggeration to say this might be the most intense and groundbreaking 45-minute performance in the history of rock. Jimi Hendrix's debut American set at 1967's Monterey Pop Festival is generally considered one of the most radical and legendary live shows ever, so this re-mastered version of the rather short, ten-song gig is long overdue. Released in conjunction with the similarly titled DVD (which presents the audio in stunning 5.1 surround), the music has never sounded better. Virtually unknown to American audiences at the time, even though he was already an established entity in the UK, Hendrix and his two-piece Experience explode on stage, ripping through blues classics "Rock Me Baby" and Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor," interpreting and electrifying Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone," debuting songs from his yet-to-be-released first album and closing with the now historic sacrificing/burning of his guitar during an unhinged version of "Wild Thing" that even its writer Chip Taylor would never have imagined. Hendrix uses feedback and distortion to enhance the songs in whisper-to-scream intensity, blazing territory that had not been previously explored with as much soul-frazzled power. This may not have been the band's finest hour, but it is surely its most significant. Fortunately, tape decks and cameras were running to record the event for posterity, ensuring that rock guitar had entered a new era and there was no turning back. --Hal Horowitz

Customer Reviews

Behold - A Terrible Beauty Is Loosed Upon The Landscape
When Jimi Hendrix walked onto the stage at Monterey he was relatively unknown in the United States. When he walked off the stage, popular music had been completely transformed. The American debut of the Jimi Hendrix Experience at Monterey isn't just the most exciting live rock concert ever recorded; it's also one of the most significant moments in the history of modern American music. Hendrix took the music world completely by storm and turned it on its head. His influence today is greater than ever, 41 years after the fact. Days after the mind-boggling "set the guitar on fire" stunt, Hendrix was a household word.

The set kicks off fast and hard with Killing Floor, one wonders how Mitch Mitchell (drums) could keep up without injuring himself. Next up, Foxey Lady, soon to be a standard. The treatment of Bob Dylan's beautiful ballad, Like A Rolling Stone, is compelling and soulful. Rock Me Baby is simply beyond belief; it throws off heat like a jet engine. A hard-edged version of Hey Joe comes next; it's blues all right, but psychedelic blues. By the time Hendrix gets to Can You See Me? it's clear that he and his cronies are all settled down and solidly in the groove, this one speeds past like a bullet. The Wind Cries Mary is handled gently and carefully, it's a great song and provides a welcome break from the mayhem.

Purple Haze has never sounded ruder, more demented, and incoherent - it is riveting. If you have any imagination at all, think about what this music must have sounded like to people who'd been nursed on The Platters, The Four Freshmen, and The Beach Boys. We are now completely accustomed to the influence Hendrix has had and it's easy to forget that when this was recorded what Hendrix was doing wasn't merely new, it was earth shattering. As to the closer, Wild Thing, I remember the Troggs version, sort of a frat house crowd pleaser. Hendrix takes it into the stratosphere; in many ways it's the highlight of the performance. Burning the guitar was theatrical genius, really, after you've just invaded the greatest nation on earth and conquered it in one night, what else is there to do?

NOT THE BEST AUDIO AVAILABLE

I'm always interested in having the best audio version of any recording. Therefore, when this new version was released, I picked it up and compared it to an older edition, the fourth disc of the Rhino Monterey Pop Box, released in 1992.

I was very unpleasantly surprised and dismayed to find the new disc does not have the clarity of the Box CD. The drums & cymbals especially sound muffled.

From a historical standpoint, it's interesting to hear the small snippets of Hendrix' conversation in between songs that do not appear on the Box disc, and yes, the new CD packaging & photos are excellent.

However, it's no fun, after listening to the Box CD for the past 16 years, hearing a new version that has less clarity.

I haven't heard the other versions of this show, released after the Rhino Box, but I sure can't recommend this one.

Hendrix-Monterey
Kind of an honor to be the first, or one of the first, to review this great and historically important album.

Imagine, Hendrix appears at the Monterey pop festival in 1967, and launches full-force into guitar-driven hard rock, using distortion and blistering runs, and caps it off by torching his guitar. He almost shyly tells the audience before the last song, "Wild Thing," that he loves them and will sacrifice something that is precious. Hearing those comments for the first time explains his intent in lighting his guitar on fire, an iconic image.

The audience must have been stunned, wondering what they had just experienced when Hendrix, Redding and Mitchell walked off the stage. I suspect most of the audience had NEVER heard rock played like that before.

Forty years ago, the music is still fresh. Hendrix was a pioneer, and showed versatility, from the whimsical "Castles in the Sand" to the driving "Foxy Lady." Hendrix's innovations, making his instrument a wailing creature or a droning storm, are still copied today.