Jimi Hendrix was just six months out of his term with the Jimi Hendrix Experience and nine months away from his death at age 27 when he recorded a live album as Band of Gypsys with old army buddy Billy Cox (bass) and his friend Buddy Miles (drums).
For many fans, the release stands as the most exceptional example of blues-influenced electric guitar vamping ever captured.
A commitment to Capitol Records, outstanding since the pre-Experience days, meant Hendrix was required to deliver an album of original material to the company.
The eponymous release documents highlights from two of four shows performed by the short-lived band at the Fillmore East in New York on New Year's Eve, 1969 and January 1, 1970.
The feel is relaxed, the Fillmore audiences almost overly polite in their eagerness to give the band the space it demands. But the moments of hushed attention allow Hendrix, Cox and Miles to explore unexpected tangents as the jam-band they truly are, the trio having had little time together to establish patterns and protocols.
Vocal duties are shared between Hendrix and Miles, the latter drawing on his strong R 'n' B roots to lend the tunes a soulful, funky edge. Two tracks, Changes and the Sly Stone-styled We Gotta Live Together, are Miles compositions.
Hendrix's prodigious talent shines brightest on the 12-minute Machine Gun, dedicated to all the soldiers fighting in Chicago, Milwaukee, New York ... and oh, yes, in Vietnam.
Warped and distorted by the Fuzz Face, wah-wah, Univibe and Octavia pedals being used in unison for the first time, his guitar paints sonic pictures of guns, helicopters, bombs and the cries of the despairing.
