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Corey's Collection

Jimi Hendrix   02/04/1967

Flamingo Club, London, England
Source AUD -> ? -> CD -> EAC -> SHN
Media Shn   1 disc
J-Card Comment The Experience
February 4, 1967
Flamingo Club, Wardour Street, London
Hendrix/Redding/Mitchell

Source: AUD -> ? -> CD -> EAC -> SHN

01. Killing Floor
02. Have Mercy
03. Can You See Me
04. Like A Rolling Stone
05. Rock Me Baby
06. Catfish Blues
07. Stone Free
08. Hey Joe
09. Wild Thing

From Chris Dixon's Anniversary Series ? C S Dixon

February 4th, 2001 marks the 34th anniversary of the Jimi Hendrix Experience show at the Flamingo
Club in Wardour Street, London. This our only known tape of an early 67 club show by the band,
when they were forging their reputation in the UK before stepping into the worldwide limelight at
Monterey. It's a fascinating look at the early repertoire and represents the earliest (only, in
one case) recorded examples of a number of his stage numbers.

This is an audience tape and quality leaves a bit to be desired. It's distorted (tho we've heard
a *lot* worse) and the vocals are very low in places (no doubt the PA system was laughable even
by the standards of the day!). Noel's bass is almost non existent but in all it's a good listen
IMO. As always, the sonic limitations pale next to the historical importance (especially so in
this unique case).

(Setlist): Killing Floor; Have Mercy On Me; Can You See Me; Like A Rolling Stone; Rock Me Baby;
Experiencing the (aka Catfish) Blues; Stone Free; Hey Joe; Wild Thing.

The tape cuts in just before the last vocal verse of Killing Floor, catching only a quick snatch
of soloing before and after same, lasting just over a minute in total.

This is our only known recording of the Experience playing the old American R&B standard 'Have
Mercy'. Previously, there is a recording of Jimi playing it with Curtis Knight ca 65 and he is
said by some to have played on a studio version with Don Covay, though that record does not offer
absolute audio proof one way or the other. His Curtis Mayfield inspired rhythm work is in fine
form here and though it lasts over 4 minutes, there is no solo proper. At the end we hear what
sounds like Jimi off-mic telling someone "..get off the stage, man..." as Noel tests his mic.

Jimi introduces 'Can You See Me' as "..an original, very simple to understand". This is the first
of three documented live performances, the others being Stockholm 5/67 and Monterey in June and,
like he would at all three, Jimi feels the need to point out that it's "...in the key of F sharp..
.". He doesn't sing at the first stop, and stretches the solo out a bit more than the studio
version.

'Like A Rolling Stone' is our first recorded example of same. A studio version was apparently
recorded the following month, but it has never circulated. He would play it sporadically through
late 68. After a bit of tuning (the low E often needs to be tuned a hair flat when using the
thumb over the neck for bass notes, since the thumb will try to pull it sharp!) he starts it very
quietly and cleanly, with a nice fat tone from the Strat neck pickup and rolled-back volume
control into the Marshall (almost surely a single stack, but still practically brand new!). He
establishes the chords then introduces the song over the guitar, the band joining at around 1:00.
Typically brilliant fills throughout but another with no actual solo. A particularly nice modal-
sounding line before the "Going to the finest school..." lyric. In and around the "...got it made
..." and "...pawn it, babe..." lines it sounds like he flirts with the 'I Feel Fine' riff...but
he doesn't quite play it!

He introduces "..our own arrangement of 'Rock Me Baby' ", the first recorded example of eight
before the BB King song became 'Lover Man' with Jimi's own lyrics. An early instrumental studio
version of RMB, retitled as LM (sorry, BB!), was released on the recent box set. Jimi plays the
second (of 2) 12 bars of the solo with his teeth.

With the comment of "Muddy Waters, slightly..." Jimi starts 'Experiencing the Blues/Catfish Blues'
by himself and solos for a minute or so with the band coming in very lightly behind. One really
gets a sense of how Jimi's sound filled a small room here, and the punch of the Marshall may have
been on Jimi's mind when he once told an interviewer that they didn't go for volume so much as
impact. That small room feel (literally!) may have been something Jimi missed as the halls got
bigger. He does the "I wish I was a Catfish..." lyric then solos at 2:45 with the band going to a
double time feel. At 4:10 he does what I call the 'Gloria' chords that would often be heard
coming out of the last verse of 'Hear My Train' live versions. We get some playing with teeth
around 5:45 and he pulls back again at 6:10 for the "...two trains running..." lyric variation.
At 7:00 he builds it back up to a Hooker-style boogie feel and slips in the melody line from
'Wang Dang Doodle' (his later quotes of same during jams would be variously ID'ed as 'Willie the
Pimp' and 'Power of Soul' as the lines are similar!). He then quotes the riff from Cream's 'Cat's
Squirrel' and they go into a little free-time jam to end at about 9:00 with a final quote from
Cream's 'Spoonful' (their first album had just been released).

Jimi intro's 'Stone Free' as "..the B side of our record". It's also our first known live version,
with the BBC performance coming just over a week later. Keeps it short, and we hear Noel singing
on the title refrain.

He then plays the 'A' side of the single, Hey Joe. Does the first solo with teeth. One sliding-
interval fill, in the middle of the "..where you gonna run to now.." verse, is identical to one
he would pull out during the Monterey 'Like A Rolling Stone'. A squeal at the end prompts Jimi
to say "This guitar is falling to pieces..."!

Jimi winds it up by introducing 'Wild Thing' as the "British national anthem". Does a free form
feedback intro of around :20. Noel sings on the "..but I wanna know for sure" lines. Jimi has not
started to do the 'Strangers In the Night' quote during the solo but plays a line reminiscent of
one of Claptons in 'I Feel Free' (also a little like Beck in 'Shapes of Things'!). He goes on to
quote the then relatively current Beatles 'Day Tripper' at 3:45. Jimi was such a 'toast of the
town' at that point that for all we know there were members of all the above in the audience this
night! He returns to the words at 4:10 and does a 'raveup' ending starting at around 5:00. The
guitars smooth whammy'd feedback almost sounds like a theremin at one point! If he didn't
actually destroy a guitar here, it sounds like one at least got a firm spanking. The tape ends
with a hapless (hipless?) emcee calling for a round of applause as the smoke clears...

Chris

Trades Allowed Yes
Lists Jimi
Owned by Corey · Last Updated May 23, 2023