Misc

Jimi Hendrix passed away 37 years ago today. I personally believe he was the single greatest loss to contemporary music. Not only was he arguably the finest and most inventive electric guitarist to ever play, but he was also a brilliant songwriter and visionary in the studio. Hendrix only released 4 original albums during his short mainstream career (something that is easily forgotten with massive amounts of posthumous releases that have been thrown into the marketplace for over 3 decades). Nearly all 4 are revolutionary in one way or another. His influence continues to grow and will never die. Jimi Hendrix, R.I.P.

Jimi Hendrix’s original 4 albums that should be in most Rock fans’ collections:
Are You Experienced
Axis: Bold As Love
Electric Ladyland
Band Of Gypsys
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Tonight on ABC there was an Elvis Presley special called Elvis: Viva Las Vegas. Being an Elvis fan, I was interested in seeing how badly the network would botch the opportunity to showcase Elvis’ work in Vegas.

First of all, we all know Priscilla Presley was instrumental in creating the highly profitable Elvis Presley Enterprises. In the name of money, she helped create a company that would maximize positive exposure for Elvis’ reputation. Of course, there are the typical pathetic Elvis coffee mugs, Teddy Bears, etc. in the gift shops that aren’t particularly significant, but overall, EPE has tried to protect Elvis’ physical image over the years. But one thing to remember is that she divorced Elvis in 1973. She is his ex-wife! Yet, she is constantly paraded around the networks and cable news channels as someone more significant. It gets highly annoying hearing her constant spin and self-proclaimed importance year after year.

Secondly, Elvis’ work should definitely be honored, but hearing Faith Hill gush over him followed by her flat cover of “That’s All Right” or listening to a Pop Country hack like Miranda Lambert butcher “Jailhouse Rock” doesn’t help anyone. If anything, give a talent like Chris Isaak a full hour to croon some Elvis covers instead of the garbage ABC unleashed.

I couldn’t bear to sit through the 2 hour debacle. The most important thing, however, is that a major network attempted to produce a show celebrating Elvis’ contributions to music and to the development of Las Vegas becoming a major entertainment attraction for Rock and Pop music versus having a special on Elvis’ demise.

Speaking of “That’s All Right,” has anyone out there listened to this track lately? It really is one of the pioneering tracks in Rock N’ Roll history. It is such a powerful piece. In general, Elvis’ SUN recordings are absolutely incredible. There is such a haunting beauty and soulful ambience to the recordings. Any Rock fan should not be without the 2005 compilation, “Elvis At Sun.”
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The battle between Kanye West and 50 Cent. Are we supposed to really care about this? Their little publicity machine battle is pretty much uninteresting. The only item of interest is the fact that West has sold nearly 1 million copies and 50 Cent is near 700,000. Wow, that is a lot of albums in the span of a week. I didn’t know Rap was still such a mainstream commodity. By the way, 50 Cent isn’t retiring….

Of course the sales will dip because albums don't have legs anymore. After one or two good weeks, albums in the current landscape seem to run out of gas. Basically this is because the casual consumer no longer believes in albums. Albums don’t deliver anymore. The consumers have been failed and cheated by the labels one too many times and no longer have the faith. And for $18?