{"id":97,"date":"2015-09-29T19:50:02","date_gmt":"2015-09-29T19:50:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/perfectmusictoday.com\/?p=97"},"modified":"2015-09-29T19:50:02","modified_gmt":"2015-09-29T19:50:02","slug":"jimi-hendrix-electric-church-concert-released-on-dvd-and-blu-ray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/perfectmusictoday.com\/index.php\/2015\/09\/29\/jimi-hendrix-electric-church-concert-released-on-dvd-and-blu-ray\/","title":{"rendered":"JIMI HENDRIX: ELECTRIC CHURCH CONCERT RELEASED ON DVD AND BLU-RAY"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Michael Hepworth<\/p>\n

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JIMI HENDRIX: ELECTRIC CHURCH<\/i><\/b>\u00a0OUT ON DVD AND BLU-RAY OCTOBE<\/span>R 30<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Documentary About Historic July 4, 1970 Performance In Front Of His Largest Ever U.S. Audience Features Footage Not Included in Showtime Version\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe footage will take your breath away<\/i>..\u00a0\u00a0the definitive Hendrix cover of \u2018Star-Spangled Banner.\u2019<\/i>\u201d \u2013 Jeff Slate, Esquire<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201c.\u00a0. . always fascinating.<\/i>.\u00a0\u00a0you\u2019ll be consistently entertained and often enthralled.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0\u2013 Will Harris, AV Club<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition to showing the guitar god at the height of his power, \u2018Electric Church\u2019 also offers a fitting coda to Hendrix\u2019s amazing yet all-too-brief career<\/i>.\u201d \u2013 Carlton Fletcher, Albany Herald<\/p>\n

\u201cJimi Hendrix\u2019s talk about using music as an agent to bond souls in peace and love has yet to become a worldwide reality. But when you hear Hendrix himself in this documentary . . . it\u2019s hard not to wish and dream<\/i>.\u201d \u2013 David Hinckley, New York Daily News<\/p>\n

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HOLLYWOOD(Perfect Music Today)9\/29\/15\/–On October 30, Experience Hendrix L.L.C. and Legacy Recordings will release\u00a0Jimi Hendrix: Electric Church<\/i>\u00a0on DVD and Blu-ray. The much-lauded documentary, \u00a0an abridged version of which aired on Showtime, tells the story of the Jimi Hendrix Experience\u2019s involvement as the headliner of the Second Atlanta International Pop Festival, then hailed as the \u2018Southern Woodstock.\u2019 The audio soundtrack includes stereo and 5.1 surround sound mixes by Hendrix\u2019s recording engineer Eddie Kramer, taken directly from the original master tapes. The DVD and Blu-ray versions include two songs not seen in the televised version: \u201cRed House\u201d and \u201cFreedom,\u201d and a special added bonus music video for \u201cRoom Full Of Mirrors\u201d that combines the existing footage with never-before-seen photographs of the performance.<\/p>\n

The film details the efforts by Atlanta promoter Alex Cooley to create the definitive music festival.\u00a0 Cooley secured such talent as Bob Seger, BB King and the Allman Brothers, but Hendrix was the critical component he needed to elevate the three day festival to a major cultural event.\u00a0\u00a0Electric Church<\/i>\u00a0features interviews with Hendrix\u2019s Experience band mates Billy Cox and the late Mitch Mitchell as well as Paul McCartney, Steve Winwood, Rich Robinson, Kirk Hammett, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, festival organizer Alex Cooley and many others.\u00a0 The film contains breathtaking, color 16mm footage of Jimi Hendrix\u2019s Independence Day appearance, a mere ten weeks before his untimely passing.\u00a0 Standout performances include such Hendrix classics as \u201cHey Joe,\u201d \u201cVoodoo Child (Slight Return),\u201d \u201cPurple Haze,\u201d as well as confident, compelling versions of songs such as \u201cStraight Ahead,\u201d and the aforementioned \u201cFreedom\u201d and \u201cRoom Full Of Mirrors\u201d that had not yet been issued by Jimi on an Experience album, but were intended to be part of the album he was working on that summer. \u201cThe Star Spangled Banner,\u201d played against a backdrop of exploding fireworks, is another highlight, which Cooley recalls as having \u201cknocked peoples\u2019 socks off.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the beginning of the 1970s, Jimi Hendrix was unquestionably one of the most exciting rock musicians of his generation, having captivated the world with his highly stylized approach to blues guitar. In\u00a0Electric Church<\/i>, Paul McCartney freely admits to worshipping him, adding, \u201cWe all played guitar. We all knew a bit. But he seemed to know more than us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jimi Hendrix put the rock festival concept on the map with his blistering performance at California\u2019s Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, headlining 1968\u2019s inaugural Miami Pop Festival, and providing the soundtrack for the counterculture with a dazzling set at Woodstock in 1969.<\/p>\n

His performance at the Second Atlanta International Pop Festival was not only significant on a musical level, but also in terms of socio-political dynamics. The organizers were keen to push back against the cultural divide that was very much in evidence in the Deep South. It was assumed that rural audiences would not take kindly to \u201clong-hair\u201d bands, and that black and white artists could not comfortably exist on the same bill; Atlanta Pop set out to challenge those beliefs. Hendrix\u2019s music and message of universal love made him the ideal artist to represent that pushback, and, appropriately, was the first act booked for the festival.<\/p>\n

In the sweltering Georgia heat, amongst intimidating bikers who were hired as security, hundreds of thousands of mostly young music fans descended upon the festival grounds, eventually knocking over fences and leaving the organizers with no choice but to declare it a free event. Law enforcement, not equipped to handle such crowds, adopted a hands-off policy with regards to crowd control, drug use and nudity. Against incredible odds, the event proved to be largely peaceful. By the time the Jimi Hendrix Experience took the stage on the evening of July 4, the audience swelled to more than 300,000.<\/p>\n

Massive, anarchic music fests in the U.S., unencumbered by high ticket prices and corporate sponsors were soon to be extinct, and the Atlanta Pop Festival was the last of this dying breed. Glenn Phillips (Hampton Grease Band) says, \u201cThis was, certainly in retrospect, sort of the end of an era, and a great end to an era. It was a powerful moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Atlanta festival footage in\u00a0Electric Church<\/i>\u00a0was shot by Steve Rash, later known for directing such Hollywood films as\u00a0The Buddy Holly Story\u00a0<\/i>and\u00a0Can\u2019t Buy Me Love<\/i>.\u00a0 Rash intended for the footage he and his team were filming to be used for a documentary in the vein of\u00a0Woodstock<\/i>.\u00a0 When a deal couldn\u2019t be secured, virtually all of the film lay undeveloped inside Rash\u2019s barn for over three decades. The full-color film stock held up remarkably well, and makes for a transcendent viewing experience.<\/p>\n

The DVD\/Blu-ray release of\u00a0Jimi Hendrix: Electric Church\u00a0<\/i>comes on the heels of Experience Hendrix L.L.C. and Legacy Recordings\u2019 August release of the Jimi Hendrix Experience\u2019s\u00a0Freedom: Atlanta Pop Festival<\/i>\u00a0double CD and double LP, an audio companion to the documentary. It is Jimi Hendrix\u2019s 46th<\/sup>\u00a0entry onto the Billboard charts. \u00a0In his\u00a0Freedom: Atlanta Pop Festival\u00a0<\/i>liner notes, Bill Mankin, who worked on the construction and stage crews for the festival, describes Hendrix\u2019s impact on the festival. He writes, \u201cAt the center of the vortex was the master magician on guitar: the personification of a life lived fully and wildly, with no boundaries, no limitations, and aiming for the stars at light speed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jimi Hendrix: Electric Church<\/i><\/b>\u00a0DVD and Blu-ray contains the following Jimi Hendrix Experience performances from July 4, 1970:<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

1) Fire<\/p>\n

2) Spanish Castle Magic<\/p>\n

3) Red House*<\/b><\/p>\n

4) Room Full Of Mirrors*<\/b><\/p>\n

5) All Along the Watchtower<\/p>\n

6) Freedom*<\/b><\/p>\n

7) Foxey Lady<\/p>\n

8) Purple Haze<\/p>\n

9) Hey Joe<\/p>\n

10) Voodoo Child (Slight Return)<\/p>\n

11) Stone Free<\/p>\n

12) Star Spangled Banner<\/p>\n

13) Straight Ahead<\/p>\n

*Not in televised version<\/b><\/p>\n

About Experience Hendrix L.L.C.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Michael Hepworth<\/p>\n

287 S.Robertson Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90211<\/p>\n

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