For those unaware, Experience Hendrix L.L.C. in partnership with Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony Music Entertainment, is releasing the Jimi Hendrix Experience Los Angeles Forum: April 26, 1969 live recording this November 18th on 2LP vinyl, CD and all digital platforms.

Recorded in the spring of 1969 before a raucous, sold out audience, the captivating performance of the original lineup (singer/guitarist Jimi Hendrix, drummer Mitch Mitchell, bassist Noel Redding) has never before been released in its entirety.

A portion of this performance was previously included as part of a short-lived Westwood One radio documentary box set [Lifelines 1990-1992] but has been unavailable in any form for two decades and this marks the first time ever that it will be available on vinyl.

The double LP release in gorgeous gatefold packaging and a 12 page 12”x12” book - complete with liner notes from ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons who witnessed the show first hand - gives this seminal performance its proper platform, presenting the complete performance mixed directly from the original eight-track master tapes.

Furthermore, the album comes out in time for the 80th anniversary of Jimi Hendrix’s birth (November 27th).

SIDE A:
1. Introduction
2. Tax Free
3. Foxey Lady

SIDE B:
4. Red House
5. Spanish Castle Magic

SIDE C:
6. Star Spangled Banner
7. Purple Haze
8. I Don’t Live Today

SIDE D:
9. MEDLEY Voodoo Child (Slight Return) / Sunshine Of Your Love / Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

After a rousing Introduction, the Jimi Hendrix Experience (which I have always loved as the name for a band) take the stage to a billowing uproar of both vocal and bodily love, and launch into a cover of Tax Free, which was an interesting choice, given that it was an obscure 1967 instrumental by Swedish duo Hansson & Karlsson (with whom the Experience had previously shared bills in Stockholm) and then give the crowd more of what they came for in the shape of their signature crowd pleaser, Foxey Lady (where the obvious improvisation on this live version is just impeccable).

Continuing their set with a raw and earthy blues original in the shape of Red House, where he produces sounds from his electric guitar that were wholly unheard of before he hit the scene, and after that they come together to bring us their version of a track first recorded in 1733, and a song that Jimi dedicates to all the plain clothes police out there and other goofballs, the exceptional natural dowry of his that shines through on the pulsating Spanish Castle Magic.

Along next is Jimi’s now renowned reimagining of the Star Spangled Banner (which he would canonize four months later at Woodstock), and one where he intentionally played the song with unique heavy distortion to stimulate the sounds of warfare and that is followed seamlessly by Purple Haze; where playing half of the main solo one-handed is still just so badass (and which due to all the growing, and heavy police presence, he changes the lyrics to “‘Scuse me while I kiss that policeman!”).

And then, after riding a crowd-enhanced wave of adrenaline, expectation and unadulterated love for the band and the music, after Hendrix jokes that they just threw in some Smothers Brothers chords, they launch into a blistering I Don’t Live Today (complete with Jimi pleading at the end with the crowd not to rush the stage, as he didn’t need any more jokers up there with them).

After having had to leave the stage under the promise that they would return to bring them Voodoo Child, they do indeed keep that promise and come back on to a now void-of-jokers stage to launch into a simply pulsating medley of Voodoo Child (Slight Return), with Cream’s Sunshine Of Your Love sandwiched in-between it, thus like bookends, the lead song returning to deliver another scintillating rendition of Voodoo Child (Slight Return).

Following the massive success of the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s 1967-68 studio album trifecta (Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold as Love, Electric Ladyland), the trio had developed into the most popular international touring attraction in rock music.

This wide scale public interest coincided with the construction of new arenas for sporting events, among them the Forum in Inglewood, CA. Designed by famed architect Charles Luckman (who also designed New York’s rebuilt Madison Square Garden), this multi-purpose venue opened in 1967 as the home of the Los Angeles Kings hockey team and Los Angeles Lakers basketball team, but also began to serve as a music venue.

Among the earliest concerts held there was Aretha Franklin in January 1968 and the Cream farewell tour with opening act Deep Purple in October of that year. The Jimi Hendrix Experience were booked to perform on April 26, 1969 with opening acts Chicago Transit Authority (soon-to-be renamed Chicago) and Cat Mother & The All Night Newsboys, the latter of whom shared management with the headliners. Floor seats cost $6.50 ($51.20 adjusted for inflation).

By the time the Jimi Hendrix Experience took the stage to blaze through a spirited set, live concert sound had drastically improved from the time of the Beatles baseball stadium tours, but crowd control was still a major concern. Between songs, Jimi pleads with audience members to stop rushing the stage and a heavy police presence is felt throughout.

Hendrix treated each performance as a unique event. He never relied on a standard set list comprised only of his biggest commercial hits. This approach was on full display at the Forum performance, blending more familiar tunes such as “Foxey Lady” with “I Don’t Live Today” from Are You Experienced and his signature blues original “Red House” (“Everybody want to know what America’s soul is; everybody think it’s Motown . . . America’s soul is something more like this here”) which had still not yet been released in the US at this time.

Another unique highlight featured within the Forum performance was an early reimagining of “The Star Spangled Banner,” which Jimi would canonize four months later at Woodstock. “Here’s a song we was all brainwashed with,” Jimi trenchantly declares, at a time when the nation was in a state of great political unrest.

The group closed their performance with a unique, extraordinary medley of “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” and Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love”. The song was an Experience favorite and a perfect live vehicle for the trio’s unparalleled improvisational skill.

The Jimi Hendrix Los Angeles Forum was recorded by Wally Heider and Bill Halverson contemporaneously, and recently remixed by longtime Hendrix producer/engineer Eddie Kramer for maximum audio fidelity. It was produced by Janie Hendrix, CEO of Experience Hendrix, L.L.C. and the sister of Jimi Hendrix, Kramer and John McDermott, who manages the Hendrix music catalog on behalf of Experience Hendrix.

The package’s liner notes are by former LA Times staff writer/critic Randy Lewis with a preface by ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons who attended the Hendrix Forum show, having toured with the Experience, as part of the Moving Sidewalks, his pre-ZZ band. Both Gibbons and Lewis provided commentary for yesterday’s LAist piece.

Also coming out during the month of Hendrix’s 80th birthday is the book JIMI. Published by Chronicle Books imprint Chroma for a November 15 release, this comprehensive visual celebration is an official collaboration with Janie Hendrix and John McDermott.

JIMI significantly expands on the authors’ previously published titles, including An Illustrated Experience, and features a new introduction by Janie, extensive biographical texts, and a trove of lesser known and never-before-published photographs, personal memorabilia, lyrics, and more.

Additionally, JIMI includes quotations by legendary musicians such as Paul McCartney, Ron Wood, Jeff Beck, Lenny Kravitz, Eric Clapton, Drake, Dave Grohl and others who have spoken about Hendrix’s lasting influence.

Official Purchase Links

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - I Don’t Live Today (Live at Los Angeles Forum, 4/26/1969) [Official Audio Link]

Pre-Order The New Book JIMI