Jimi Hendrix – TV Experience (Apocalypse Sound AS 201)

TV Experience (Apocalypse Sound AS 201) 

French TV Show “Bouton Rouge” (Broadcast May 21, 1967) Gaumont Cinema, Ipswich, UK, April 1, 1967 – Purple Haze, Wild Thing 

German TV Show “Beat Beat Beat” Stadthalle, Offenbach, Germany, May 18, 1967 – Stone Free, Purple Haze, Hey Joe 

“Top Of The Pops”, BBC Lime Grove Studios, London, UK, May 10, 1967 – The Wind Cries Mary 

Studio B, T.T.G. Inc. Sunset-Highland Recording Studio, Hollywood, CA, October 29, 1968 – Gloria 

Newport 69 Pop Festival, San Fernando Valley State College, Devonshine Downs, Northridge, CA, June 22, 1969 – The Things I Used To Do, The Sky Is Crying/We Got To Live Together, Earth Versus Space, Earth Versus Space (Diff. Edit), The Things I Used To Do (Diff. Edit) 

Fillmore East, 2nd Avenue & 6th Street, New York, NY, December 31, 1969 – Stepping Stone, Fire, Ezy Rider 

“Popside” Swedish Television, Stockholm, Sweden, May 24, 1967 – The Wind Cries Mary, Purple Haze 

“Happening For Lulu”, BBC Television Centre Studio 4, Shepherds Bush, London, UK, January 4, 1969 – Voodoo Child (Slight Return), Hey Joe, Sunshine Of Your Love 

Jimi Hendrix Death Reports on New York TV – CBS News Report – Walter Cronkite, ABC News Report – Frank Reynolds – Reporter Gregory Jackson 

Apocalypse Sound presents a great compilation of Hendrix footage from a variety of pro-shot sources. TV Experience runs just shy of an hour and a half and almost all of the quality here is excellent and very enjoyable to say the least. 

First up we are treated to the footage from the French TV show “Bouton Rouge”. This was filmed in black & white and is a single camera angle from Jimi’s side of the stage. I had never seen this particular footage before and was excited to see this and am happy to say it didn’t disappoint. The visual, even though it’s a bit dark, is pristine quality while the performance is raw Hendrix at its best.  

The “Beat Beat Beat” material is also black & white and in near perfect quality as well. “Stone Free” is abruptly cut at the end but “Purple Haze” and “Hey Joe” are both complete. “The Wind Cries Mary” from “Top Of The Pops” is mimed to the studio track and contains the time code at the bottom of the screen. This is the only non-live portion of the DVD. 

“Gloria” from TTG Studios was filmed while the Experience was laying down the actual track. It does jump around a bit and contains other bits of film edited in but for the most part the audio and video are pretty well synched up. This makes for good viewing where footage of the Experience in the studio is extremely rare. The audio from this track made its way onto the official 4CD box set, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, released in 2000 and is an outstanding version of the Van Morrison track. 

Jimi played the Newport ’69 Pop Festival on both June 20th and June 22nd. He played with the Experience on the 20th and came back on the 22nd to jam with friends. Hendrix always seemed right at home no matter who he was playing with and this footage reveals some of these great moments thankfully captured on 16mm film. This comes from at least two angles with the front stationary camera in better quality than the somewhat shaky and grainier mobile shots. Hendrix jams with Buddy Miles on drums and Brad Campbell on bass during “The Things I Used To Do”, “The Sky Is Crying” and “Earth Versus Space”. (The latter actually opened the set) The funky “We Got To Live Together” highlights some horns from “Snooky” Flowers and Terry Clements who are also joined by Lee Oskar on harmonica as well as Tracy Nelson and an unknown woman on backing vocals. The audio is very clear and appears to come from the live camera mics although the entire set was professionally recorded. 

Three tracks from the Fillmore East on New Years Eve with the Band Of Gypsys are featured from a somewhat faded color print from 16mm film. The Band Of Gypsys played two shows this evening with these coming from the late show. I always considered this to be some of Jimi’s most tasteful playing and to physically see these performances only adds to the enjoyment factor. He seems relatively reserved in attitude but his playing was incredibly fluid during these shows. Unfortunately, “Ezy Rider” fades prematurely. 

The “Popside” material has been officially released on the DVD, Experience, from 2001. Apocalypse Sound is slightly inferior. 

After about a month off from touring, Hendrix returned to the BBC on January 4, 1969 for the “Happening For Lulu” television show. This version comes from a re-broadcast on Old Grey Whistle Test with a Bob Harris lead in. According to the liner notes on the inner cover, Jimi was supposed to do a duet with Lulu after “Voodoo Child” but blew her off and started “Hey Joe”. Hendrix shortens the performance and surprises everyone, including Mitch and Noel, and launches into “Sunshine Of Your Love”. This would send them over their time limit and the BBC was forced to pull them off the air. The BBC were reportedly not impressed and vowed never to have them back. 

The DVD closes with two news reports of Hendrix’s death in reasonable quality considering its age. Interesting for the historic value but both reports got his age wrong. 

Once again, Apocalypse Sound comes through with some very interesting Hendrix material. Packaged in a nice tri-fold cardboard case, it stands up to the labels high standard for their titles. Some of this material will probably never see any type of official release making TV Experience a title worth grabbing.