An exclusive look at the new Jimi Hendrix Experience mini-documentary has been shared, showing the guitarist’s journey to making it in the US. Watch it first on NME below.
Shared today (October 25), the 10-minute mini-documentary takes a look back at the early days of Jimi Hendrix’s career, and the long road he took towards international acclaim. It also comes ahead of a new live album of his historic live set at Hollywood Bowl in 1967, set to arrive later this year.
Titled From The Monkees To The Hollywood Bowl, the documentary details the musician’s brief post-Monterey Pop tenure as the opening act for The Monkees in July 1967, and his time opening for The Mamas & The Papas at the Hollywood Bowl.
It also features interviews with artists including Micky Dolenz and Chas Chandler, as well as his former Experience bandmates Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell.
In the exclusive look at the release below, previously unseen footage of Hendrix is also shown, recorded shortly before he went on to receive worldwide recognition for his debut album ‘Are You Experienced’.
As for his historic live set at Hollywood Bowl in 1967, a new live album of the set will be released next month (November 10) via Experience Hendrix, L.L.C and Legacy.
Coming in at 10 tracks long, the album showcases performances of fan favourites including ‘The Wind Cries Mary’, ‘Foxey Lady’, ‘Fire’ and ‘Purple Haze’, all held during his opening slot for The Mamas & The Papas.
According to the press release, this performance came after the band attempted to crack America, where they played a five-show stint at the Fillmore in San Francisco, followed by a US tour opening for the Monkees that only lasted seven dates.
The shows with the Monkees came to an end after the band’s on-stage antics proved to be “too much” for young fans, which left Hendrix scrambling to book live shows, before scoring the August 18 Hollywood Bowl date.
Discussing the importance of the show in launching Hendrix’s career, Brian Ray – guitarist for Paul McCartney and Etta James, who was also in the crowd for the 1967 show – stated: “The audience was there to see The Mamas & The Papas… They haven’t heard of Jimi Hendrix. I’d never heard of Jimi Hendrix, and he couldn’t be more opposite of The Mamas & The Papas.
“He starts playing the guitar under his leg, and now it’s behind his back, and now he’s playing it with his mouth, and now he’s on the ground on his knees and he’s like humping it, and it, to me was mind-blowing.
“It was sort of every human characteristic; it was beauty, grace, it was sexual, violent, gentle, it was just everything all at once in one band coming out of this one guy. I wouldn’t say that the audience response was quite the same as the response I was having. My sister and I were going bananas, and the audience was like [soft clapping] and they were trying to figure it out.”
Michelle Phillips, the only surviving member of The Mamas & The Papas, also recalled her first time seeing the guitarist at the Monterey Pop Festival, stating: “I had never seen anything like this. He was pouring lighter fluid over his guitar and then setting it on fire… I really was shocked. I had no experience with this kind of rock and roll theatre. And that was the first time I had ever seen it.”
‘Jimi Hendrix Experience: Hollywood Bowl August 18, 1967’ is available from November 10 and can be pre-ordered here. Check out the full tracklist below as well as the first track to be shared from the live album – a cover of The Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ below.
The ‘Jimi Hendrix Experience: Hollywood Bowl August 18, 1967’ tracklist is:
Side One
Introduction
‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’
‘Killing Floor’
‘The Wind Cries Mary’
‘Foxey Lady’
‘Catfish Blues’
Side Two
‘Fire’
‘Like a Rolling Stone’
‘Purple Haze’
‘Wild Thing’
The band’s cover of The Beatles track was first shared earlier this month, as a teaser to the upcoming release.
The track had its world premiere on the SiriusXM radio show Breakfast With The Beatles, which was guest-hosted by former Rolling Stone editor David Fricke. “Here is the sound of the most exciting new group in the world, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, live in rock’s greatest year – and performing the opening theme song from The Beatles’ Summer of Love masterpiece,” Fricke said as he introduced the song.
The Beatles’ Paul McCartney and George Harrison were able to witness the Jimi Hendrix Experience cover their song mere days after the ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ in the middle of 1967. Occurring at the Saville Theatre in London on June 4, Hendrix played the song for the group backstage on a portable record player and then opened the show with their own dramatic interpretation.
