Jimi Hendrix: new album "Magic Boy: The Jimi Hendrix Experience Live At Berkeley (First Show)" in October

At long last the first show on May 30 at the Berkeley Community Theatre in Berkeley, CA by The Jimi Hendrix Experience will be released in full (well, almost, because Foxy Lady is missing). Magic Boy: The Jimi Hendrix Experience Live At Berkeley (First Show) is the long overdue companion piece for the Jimi Plays Berkeley DVD and the Live At Berkeley album (which only covered the second show).

Bootlegs of the first show have been circulating among collectors for decades, as that show was also recorded professionally. A box set with all of it (audio & video) would be nice, but for now mark you calendars for October 16 to get your hands on either the 2LP or the CD. Here's the blurb from the offical website:

The fascination with this Berkeley performance and its lore steadily grew over the years when two early posthumous releases featured recordings from that set; “Hear My Train A Comin'” made it onto Rainbow Bridge (1971) and the electrifying rendition of “Johnny B. Goode” can be heard on Hendrix In The West (1972). The 1971 concert film Jimi Plays Berkeley includes extracts of “Purple Haze” and “Star Spangled Banner,” stoking the fires further. Magic Boy finally assembles the performance in the order it was experienced by attendees. The album provides fans with the opportunity to hear Hendrix confidently shift between familiar favorites such as “Fire” and “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” to then-brand new material like “Ezy Ryder” and “Freedom” before they had been completed in the studio. Hendrix also incorporated Band Of Gypsys material into the set list; “Message To Love” and “Machine Gun” were executed with returning drummer Mitch Mitchell’s unique flair. These Berkeley recordings have been newly remixed by Eddie Kramer from the original multi-track tapes, and mastered by multiple-Grammy Award winner Bernie Grundman.

Tracks:

1. Fire
2. Johnny B. Goode
3. Hear My Train A Comin’
4. Machine Gun
5. Freedom
6. Red House
7. Message To Love
8. Ezy Ryder
9. Star Spangled Banner
10. Purple Haze
11. Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

Foxy Lady was played after Hear My Train A Comin', but is missing from both the 2LP and CD. Track down a copy fo the excellent The Early Show Berkeley Community Centre 1970 bootleg for the full show.

» jimihendrix.com