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Jimi Hendrix and The Monkees Had More in Common Than Met the Ear
Rock Town Hall apologizes in advance for the Prince-directed video that is used to represent Jimi's last great single.
It's a truism that the live bill briefly pairing The Monkees with opening act Jimi Hendrix was the most mismatched live bill in rock. Of course, at the heart of this mismatch was the fact that the headliners were a concocted, confected bubblegum band put together to serve a tv version of a fictional American Beatles while the opener was soon to make his mark as the Greatest Guitar Hero of the genre, a true artist and visionary. However, Jimi Hendrix and The Monkees had more in common than initially met the ear.
Follow up:
They were both great singles artists. In fact, I'd argue that, the unparalelled guitar playing and Look of Hendrix aside, each artist's main contributions to rock were through their hit singles.
Except for the most dire pop nerds among us - you know the type, the ones who shelled out for the 8-CD, limited Rhino Handmade edition of Headquarters - we're content in our knowledge that The Monkees were a great singles band, definitely worthy of two standard-issue, vinyl-era volumes of Greatest Hits. Some might even argue that The Monkees were a better singles band than The Byrds, and that's cool if you feel that way.
Where we might get into difficulty is the notion that I hold that Jimi's Smash Hits collection is in dire need of a volume 2...and that Smash Hits, Vol. 2 is all else that rock fans need to own by Jimi Hendrix. If you're studying to be the next Steve Ray Vaughn or Frank Marino, go ahead and buy the full Hendrix albums, including a handful of those pseudo-lost ones with the posthumous overdubbed studio parts. For the rest of you, think about what I'm saying.
I know what you're thinking: "Interesting idea you've put forth, Mr. Mod-- I wouldn't expect less from you--but what would this Smash Hits, Vol. 2, look like?"
I'm not all the way there in developing the track listing--and this is one area in which I'll need your help--and I won't even begin to try sequencing this collection, but let's start with the tracks that didn't make it to Smash Hits from Hendrix's one great album, the debut, Are You Experienced?:
- "Love or Confusion"
- "I Don't Live Today"
- "May This Be Love"
- "Third Stone From the Sun"
- "Are You Experienced?"
Not a bad start for side 1, is it? Whoops, did I just hear someone ask, "If you're going to spread all of the tracks on Are You Experienced? over the two volumes of Greatest Hits, how can you say none of Hendrix's studio releases are worth owning?"
Fair question, and truth be told, we could keep the first album in print, but I think my plan of the two volumes of Greatest Hits better serves rock consumers in the iPod age. Each of those cool tracks from the debut are now available for download and Shuffle Play, and you, the 21st Century Consumer, are not faced with essentially buying the same album twice.
Let's move onto some other selections I envision worthy of inclusion on Smash Hits, Vol. 2. From the fat-laden and horribly titled Axis: Bold as Love I'm culling the following:
- "Spanish Castle Magic"
- "Little Wing"
- "If 6 Was 9"*
- "Castles Made of Sand"
By the way, I never noticed this before, but Smash Hits (Vol. 1) failed to include even one cut from this album! And you call me a Hendrix miser...
From the double-album and greatly titled Electric Ladyland I'll add the following tracks not already covered on Smash Hits, Vol. 1:
- "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)"
A "slight return" to pop structure, I suppose.
There are some Hendrix leftovers to throw onto this collection--and to be released separately should be a double-album collection of Jimi's finest live performances. Here's what else I'm hearing to make Smash Hits, Vol. 2 a worthwhile purchase:
- "Dolly Dagger"
- "Angel"
*Yeah, I know I don't really like that song, but it has some funny parts.
31 comments
You know what I mean. Hendrix was a great singles artist YET a great LP artist as well. AXIS is no less vague in concept than than the SPLHCB LP is. I would argue AXIS holds together at least as well as SGT PEPPER'S as an LP. One could (and probably should) argue that SGT. PEPPER'S is a collection of singles with tossed-off musical bridges to give it the illusion of cohesion".
I can't buy the pretense of your essay enough to get to whatever this SMASH HITS 2 idea you're peddling. SMASH HITS 2. Geez. Andy's "Greatest Hits" mentality is creeping like cholera.
I'm not even sure I'm buying your "Monkees not an LP idea." Now The Band, there's a singles band...
-db
It's the post-Experience stuff that is a little dicey for me, I find BAND of GYPSIES, the assorted live stuff, the leftovers and the BBC sessions to be hit and miss, although there is some crucial things there as well. Still, not bad for four years work, if a bit below the Mod's strict standards.
Still, not bad for four years work, if a bit below the Mod's strict standards.
Indeed! How many artists release 3 albums worthy of 2 greatest hits collections? We're nearly on the same page.
The title Smash Hits is problematical. There doesn't have to be a second volume, just a two-CD collection of Hendrix's music. But that already exists -- it's called Experience Hendrix. Even the single CD comp called The Ultimate Experience does a better job of acting as an overview than Smash Hits.
(Sorry bout that last sentence, I've been reading a lot of Dr. Suess lately).
-db
Maybe Electric Ladyland, with 15+ minutes of “Voodoo Chile” and the 20 minutes of the 1983/Rainy Day suite is daunting (though I love it), but perhaps what this thread is pointing to is a re-evaluation – Critical Upgrade, do they call it? – of Axis: Bold As Love.
I'm slightly more on the Mod's side than some here, in the sense that a second sets of "greatest singles" from Hendrix could have immense playability in some contexts in which I wouldn't want to play Axis. A Smash Hits Vol 2 would be great fist-pumping car music.
-nice dig on the byrds in there...("some might say"? hardy har har...why don't you just come right out and say that YOU hold this view?).
-LOTS of bands were great singles bands. why not talk about what Creedence and the Monkees had in common? Everybody released singles. But as has been pointed out, Hendrix made great albums, like so many other bands / artists who *aren't* described as singles bands.
-your vol. 2 is mostly deep cuts, which sort of goes against the grain of your premise of him as a "singles" maker, doesn't it? I mean, just plucking them off their albums and calling them "smash hits" doesn't change where they came from.
whatev...i'm passionate about hendrix and all, but i don't really think you're desecrating a sacred cow by wanting to re-package him yet again.
the hendrix / monkees bill was still an ill-conceived mismatch any way you revise it...
It's not as complex as the points I've made in this detailed essay, and the Cool Patrol will not judge you harshly. If I may offer some advice, go with the underdog point of view. I'm staying out of this poll, of course, and so far only one Townsperson has supported my views. You can still download a bootleg of Axis, if it matters to you.
-LOTS of bands were great singles bands. why not talk about what Creedence and the Monkees had in common?
Because that would be boring and obvious. I'm trying to clear new ground for discussion, man, not be Dick Clark.
-your vol. 2 is mostly deep cuts, which sort of goes against the grain of your premise of him as a "singles" maker, doesn't it? I mean, just plucking them off their albums and calling them "smash hits" doesn't change where they came from.
Chalk this up to my generosity of spirit, if you must, but I don't like taking credit for this stuff. I don't think "Remember" was really a "smash hit," was it? One way of looking at what I'm saying is "Jimi's long songs typically suck." For a guy who could play guitar like no one else on earth, he wasted a lot of time with those spoken-word hippie-space cadet passages when he could have been soloing over two chords, like Verlaine and Lloyd used to do when they didn't have enough to make a real song.
It takes one to know one,
HVB
p.s.: on a COMPLETELY unrelated topic, I finally ditched my piece of shit Nextel brick phone and moved up to an iPhone, and let me tell you, it really is the muthaf*ckin' SHIT. What an astonishing gadget. Amazing!
Name a long Hendrix song that I like. Seriously.
Name a long Hendrix song that I like. Seriously.
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Man, this is going to be a hard argument to prove, but I think I've seen the Mod bob his head at "Voodoo Child" at a party once. He might not even be aware that he likes it.
"Voodoo Child (slight return)": 5:14
"Dolly Dagger": 4:44
"House Burning Down": 4:35
"Angel": 4:22
"Ezy Rider": 4:09
"All Along the Watchtower": 4:01
As for your other suggestions, HVB, beside "If 6 Was 9", which I do consider long and which I've already stated I don't really like, I don't consider 4:00- to 5:00-minute Hendrix songs long. I don't hold him to "pop song" standards in terms of song length. The man needs some room to stretch out. I've also included "Dolly Dagger" and "Angel" on Smash Hits, Vol. 2, and "All Along the Watchtower" is covered on the original SH. The other songs you list are OK to bad, so they don't make the grade on merit, not song length.
The long songs I have in mind are of the 8-minute-plus variety. There's some song about a "Merman" that our old friend and bandmate Saigon used to play me. Ugh. I'd rather hear a long, plodding Pink Floyd song (Roger Waters era).
I discussed this issue with three members of the Hall tonight. They had solid reasons for not logging on and supporting me online, but face to face they fully supported my position.
I'm open to suggestions of other long songs by Hendrix that I like. In the coming week I'll try to revisit Axis: Bold as Love.
And hey, while you're at it, name one Jackson Browne song that I approve of.
As for long rock songs that I love, theree are many, including the following:
"Marquee Moon"
The long songs on side 2 of Funhouse
"Street Hassle"
"Sister Ray"
"Travels in Nihilon"
The two long songs on Van Morrison's St. Dominic's Preview
And so on...
There are at least two things they have in common: they're repetitive and they don't have visionary, space-cadet poetry breaks and unnecessary panning.
To that list you can add a handful of long songs by Yes, King Crimson, Henry Cow, Art Bears, etc.
To that list you can add probably another 50 songs that break the 8-minute mark - long rock songs. Chances are none of them fill time with that stoned poetry stuff.
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