Jimmy Hendrix and Buddy Miles

Let's hear the exact opposite of last night's album. Two friends who lived separate lives and careers, but met as young side men for different projects, and came together for brief moments of awesome. The last of these  moments is Jimmy Hendrix and Buddy Miles as 2/3 of Band of Gypsies. It's a double feature, and the encore is Buddy Miles' Them Changes, his first solo album right after.

Band of Gypsies wasn't actually planned. The Experience had broken up, and 3 failed bands tried to record Hendrix's new material. All sorts of legal, contractual, and personal problems were affecting Jimi, and 2 nights at the Fillmore East with his actual friends Buddy Miles and Billy Cox being voluntary paid employees solved more than a couple of them. They rehearsed for a few months, but the concert itself was unplanned, improvised, and a little bit like 3 people winging it. In the end, 4 tracks credited to Hendrix and 2 credited to Miles became the live album Band of Gypsies.

As far as live albums go, it's pretty good. Hendrix gets pretty out there as far as noise making, and in my opinion Miles gets listed up near the top of the best singing drummers roster. A lot of critics really didn't like Miles' drumming, but that's because they were brain dead idiots. I don't like the mix of his kit and the off-center panning is a little annoying, but he's dead solid, chaotic when he should be, and it brings out the idiosyncrasies of Hendrix's playing in a new, exciting way.

Buddy Miles was an interesting dude in his own right. He was the lead singer of the California Raisins for crying out loud. "Them Changes" also ended up being re-recorded by every major band he played in, and he got to hear Clapton play it live via cell phone on his death bed (and it became a permanent part of Clapton's live performances).

In a weird way, i think Them Changes (the album) is Miles' vindication of Hendrix and the project that coincidentally brought them together. Where Jimmy couldn't quite make it happen with new bandmates, Buddy brought everyone he could find to just do their thing.

Again, critics either love him or say really shitty things about him, but the latter are complete idiots. Is he Marvin Gaye or Stevie Wonder? No, but he doesn't need to be. Is he John Bonham or Ginger Baker. Again no, but again that's not what he's trying to be. I've said it before, and i'm sure i'll say it again: when the people you think are amazing say "no man, this guy, right here," you should take a step back and consider what it is you don't, or can't, understand.

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