Live at Berkeley

Background

After the Band of Gypsys split up, Jimi's manager, Michael Jeffery, wanted to reunite the original Experience. He announced the re-formation of the Experience, and set up an interview with Rolling Stone magazine (with interviewer John Burks) on March 19, 1970. Two weeks later Jimi declined, stating that he did not want to work with bassist Noel Redding anymore. So with drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Billy Cox, he formed the new Jimi Hendrix Experience, also known as The Cry of Love, and at this particular concert pushed the boundaries with works-in-progress including embryonic versions of what would become "Straight Ahead" and "Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)". Hendrix didn't tune his guitar down a half step as he usually did at all other shows and on most of his albums. Instead, he stayed in standard tuning.

Critical reception

Rob Fawcett of BBC Music called Live at Berkeley "the strongest newly-released Hendrix material in a long time". Robert Christgau cited "Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)" and "I Don't Live Today" as highlights and deemed it "the Cox-Mitchell band at its most documentable" in his consumer guide for The Village Voice. In his review for Blender, he said Cox was a significant improvement over Noel Redding in a group that was Hendrix's best. Uncut magazine was less enthusiastic and felt "there are still better versions of these tracks elsewhere."

Track listing

All songs were written by Jimi Hendrix, except where noted.

1. "Introduction" - 1:47
2. "Pass It On (Straight Ahead)" - 6:58
3. "Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)" - 6:07
4. "Lover Man" - 2:59
5. "Stone Free" – 4:08
6. "Hey Joe" - 4:49 (Billy Roberts)
7. "I Don't Live Today" - 5:26
8. "Machine Gun" - 11:22
9. "Foxey Lady" - 6:30
10. "The Star Spangled Banner" - 2:45 (Francis Scott Key, John Stafford Smith)
11. "Purple Haze" - 3:48
12. "Voodoo Child (slight return)" - 10:49

Personnel