Bang The Drum All Day: June 1970 - Hendrix's 'Band of Gypsys' album reviewed by Melody Maker

The final album released by Jimi Hendrix in his lifetime was the live record 'Band of Gypsys'. Recorded on New Year's Eve 1969/70 at the Fillmore East in New York, the record showcased new material reflecting a more mature and soulful Hendrix, backed by his old army friend Billy Cox on bass and Buddy Miles on drums and vocals.

Jimi had lost a bit of momentum after the release of his masterpiece album Electric Ladyland in 1968. With manager Chas Chandler and bassist Noel Redding both departing during the EL sessions, which they saw as indulgent and directionless, Hendrix put a random bunch of musicians together for his performance at Woodstock in August 1969. They were loosely billed as "Gypsy Sun and Rainbows" and Hendrix referred to them as “just a band of gypsies”.

Dec 1969 - click on the image to expand it

In this interview with Melody Maker in December 1969, Jimi talks about wanting to get the Experience back together and waiting on Noel and drummer Mitch Mitchell to agree.

In the meantime, he mentioned he was working on a recording for the Band of Gypsies project with Buddy Miles on drums and Billy Cox on bass.

Cox had played in a band with Jimi when they were both in the US army and he joined Hendrix for his performance at Woodstock in August 1969.

Buddy Miles had played on the Electric Ladyland two-part track Rainy Day, Dream Away and Still Raining, Still Dreaming and the Band of Gypsies material reflected this slightly more funky approach, though with less of the humour and lightness evident on EL.

Band of brothers

Hendrix’s business affairs were complicated by the fact he was contracted to provide an album to a former manager, Ed Chalpin and his company PPX Enterprises. With Cox and Miles now in tow, Hendrix was encouraged by his manager Mike Jeffrey to work on material that could be used to settle the contract with Chalpin.

Bill Graham booked Hendrix to appear at the Fillmore over New Year’s and plans were made to record the shows. The recordings were not perfect. Hendrix had problems with mild feedback and he admitted he was out of tune on some numbers. Nonetheless, his playing is still remarkable and the album's standout track, Machine Gun, bears all the hallmarks of his iconic performance of the Star-Spangled Banner at Woodstock.

Hendrix dedicated Machine Gun "to all the soldiers that are fighting in Chicago and Milwaukee and New York, oh yes, and all the soldiers fighting in Vietnam". The combination of his wailing and swooping guitar and Miles' rat-a-tat-tat drums give the track a haunting power that few other rock artists could get close to at that time.

But during the two-night run at the Fillmore Jimi couldn't resist showing off and Bill Graham had harsh worlds for him after the first set on the second night.

When Hendrix asked him during the intermission what he thought, Graham said, "You're Jimi Hendrix and anything you do is taken as gospel because of who you are. You humped the guitar, you played it with your teeth; you stuck it behind your back. You just forgot to play."

Stunned, Jimi went back on stage for the second show and really played. The incandescent version of Machine Gun on Band of Gypsys was recorded at that show.

Ad for the UK release in June '70

Hendrix went up to Graham when he came off stage and said, "Alright motherfucker? That good enough for you?" He wheeled around to the stage for the encore and did, in Graham's words, "fifteen minutes of the greatest shtick you'd ever want to see." grinding up against his Strat and all his old showboating tricks.

"At one point he looked to the side of the stage and stuck his tongue out at me," said Graham. "It was very, very funny."

The contractual obligation nature of Band of Gypsys cast an unhappy shade over the whole episode though, despite the album being well-received on release in March 1970 (in the US). It became his best-selling album since his debut ‘Are You Experienced’.

An ongoing dispute between Chalpin and Hendrix’s management meant that the album wasn’t released in the UK for another three months.

Plans were made to take it on the road, but it didn’t last long. A concert at Madison Square Garden on January 28 1970, ended prematurely after just two numbers.

Just 'Hendrix' - the contractual obligation honoured

Observers at the show, including other performers such as Johnny Winter, commented on how down and detached Hendrix appeared. There were a lot of rumours about the effect drugs were having on him.

There were also tensions between Hendrix and Buddy Miles, with the latter reluctant to play second fiddle. Whatever the truth, the band dissolved right then and Hendrix was encouraged to reconvene the Experience, with Cox on bass replacing Noel Redding.

What we have left is a reminder that on his day, Jimi Hendrix was still way ahead of everyone else in terms of imagination on the guitar. That he couldn’t sustain the high quality he established from 1967 and '68 onwards is perhaps not surprising.

In his album review, Melody Maker's reviewer Chris Welch noted that Hendrix's playing is at times restrained and even "old-fashioned". But he still has "a sense of drama that gives an eerie slightly menacing mood to his performance".

Below is a clip containing interviews and footage of the band playing "Who Knows", the first track of the album. The music is quite different from the Experience and funkier, for sure. But I don't buy the narrative that the Band of Gypsys documentary is putting across, saying this was the real Jimi because he was playing with black guys. If the black community got off on it more than the Experience albums, that's understandable. Producer Eddie Kramer has it right though - the albums are just different and that reflects the breadth of Jimi's abilities and his musical vision. He could have gone anywhere musically, he was that talented.

Here's a non-album version of Power of Soul, from the first show at the Fillmore.
and this film has recently surfaced of the new year's celebration and extracts from the first show at the Fillmore.