Jimi Hendrix – Midnight Lightning (Vinyl) Japanese Pressing
Polydor Records (1975)

1 review for Jimi Hendrix – Midnight Lightning (Vinyl) Japanese Pressing
Polydor Records (1975)

1. 

   3 out of 5

   AMG – January 9, 2016

   An important addition to the Hendrix archives. That this record goes for big bucks on Internet auction sites says something about the timelessness of the music. The opening riff to "Foxey Lady" provides the foundation for the instrumental "Trash Man," and no amount of bastardization can take away from the genius guitarist his legacy. If you take this work at face value, without the baggage of what "producer" Alan Douglas did to the tapes, it's still Hendrix. Maybe God allowed the series of albums to happen so the world could see Hendrix's work could survive doctoring and musicians jamming with his art after the fact. That this record goes for big bucks on Internet auction sites says something about the timelessness of the music. Discs like Midnight Lightning are also a statement on how a great artist's legacy can go through various hands and the artistic consequences of tapes traveling as if under their own steam. History is an excellent vantage point from which to view. The title track is great -- and it goes along with the cover painting very nicely. Is it blasphemy to say that this is a highly enjoyable disc? All the post-Cry of Love releases -- War Heroes, Crash Landing, Voodoo Soup, Blues, Hendrix in the West, Rainbow Bridge, the soundtrack to the Jimi Hendrix film, and this -- provide another crucial look at Hendrix. The more the merrier. This version of "Gypsy Boy (New Rising Sun)," the inclusion of Mitch Mitchell's "Beginnings," another "Machine Gun," and "Blue Suede Shoes" exist, thus they are important additions to the Hendrix archives.