Pro Studio 9.5 - This collection would be for the person who does not wish to sift through exhaustive comps of early B-sides and studio sessions. Rather, it showcases a cross section of his early sessions designed to reveal only the highlights. It’s certainly easier to tackle especially if you plan on bringing the disc for a road trip.
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Audience - all shows Berlin Aud 7.2 A reasonably clear tape, Jimi vocals come through and guitar is right up front too. Drums a little buried but you get enough to know what’s going on. Enjoyable! Cologne Aud 7.0 Mono recording without much separation of instruments, guitar being the clearest here. Hamburg Aud 6.6 Very loud and distorted recording. Nuremberg Aud 6.7 Thin, with tape noise present, no dynamics, only Jimi's guitar is heard but it is heard clearly ringing out like he was the only one mic’d up! -
Aud 7.7 - Guitar is the dominant instrument on this tape, which features qualities I can appreciate knowing that there is so much worse out there than this. The DVD features a short segment of footage synced properly with the audio so collectors will enjoy that. -
Aud 7.7 - A rather clear and exciting recording. Not especially dynamic maybe, but this is one of the few 1970 audience recordings that have qualities that are more enjoyable than not. Worth having! -
Aud 6.8 - Muffled, and a short tape clocking in at under 30 minutes. But, you know what? I still think you should have this if you are a collector, the tape itself is presented as it was recorded and for a historical document it is interesting. -
Aud 7.0 - A touch of distortion and noisy but ferociously exciting in every way. You get a vivid sense of the electric atmosphere from the first notes. That alone draws you right into this show. -
Aud 6.9 - Distant, with only Jimi’s singing and a booming bass audible, except for when Jimi is soloing and then you hear his leads bouncing almost like quadraphonic around the venue. Now, that does add some cool atmospherics, but this tape is for the hard core. Lastly, I can say at least this – Red House sounds much better, and I am sure if someone remastered this tape it would bring out a lot more good stuff so it is salvageable IMHO. -
Pro Studio 9.3 - Rare studio, outtakes, 7” B-sides mostly with Jimi, some arguably without but we’ll never know for sure. A good collection nonetheless. -
Aud 8.8 - This recording sounds hella-killa man! Bonus material on the other disc is also very excellent. A fantastic collector item that you do not want to ignore if you do not have this material. -
CD1 Aud 7.6 There are several tape sources for this show, to my ears I like this one the most. CD 2 Aud 7.8 A little better here, maybe it’s just a tad bit more separation of instruments and overall timbre. -
Aud 8.8 - Utterly fantastic! Early experience, very good sound, total grooviness abounds. -
Aud 8.8 - Exceptional for an audience capture during this time period. Taken from three sources and merged, this tape offers the listener a really good idea of what to have expected from Jimi and company in 1970. Powerful, if not a little unbalanced at times, but infinitely enjoyable. -
Aud 7.4 - Thankfully this is not too much of a muddy mess, I give an average rating not because it is that bad, mainly because it is kind of distant but someone mastered it and kicked up the levels so it sounds closer. -
Aud 6.9 - Not very good, but I think someone has mastered this nonetheless because a lot of the mid band muck is gone, and you can hear Jimi sing! You get his guitar next in this mix, and at times the sun peaks from behind the clouds. I think, if you are a collector, this is of historical importance due to Jimi’s connection with the Southern blues. -
Studio Quality 9.7 Kind of a classic amongst the collectors due to its great song flow and high level playing and jamming. -
Aud 8.4 - Oh how I love this show! Why? It’s reasonably clear with only a bit of upper level distortion – but man, this just blows EVERYTHING away! The set list for one, it’s got some little gems on it, and the playing – YUP – he’s killin’ it. What else? Oh, a very intimate feel, just has a sort of immediate impact kind of sound. Mitch and Noel are spot on, Jimi feeds off of their energy as well as the audience. A MUST!