May 10, 1968 It's Only A Paper Moon - Live at the Fillmore East
(Hendrix/Redding/Mitchell)
Luna LU 9420 69:20
1.Lover Man 4:08
2.Fire 3:19
3.Foxy Lady 5:06
4.Red House 15:12
5.Hey Joe 7:05
6.Sunshine of Your Love -> Hear My Train A' Comin' 9:19
7.Can You Please Crawl out Your Window 2:58
8.Purple Haze 6:10
9.*Are You Experienced 8:52
10.**I Don't Live Today 7:05
* from Davenport Iowa August 11, 1968
** May 25, 1969 from Santa Clara California
Sound quality-wise, this is a very good audience recording. Total running time is 69:20.
This concert features excellent performances by Jimi and the boys, including (AFAIK) the first live J.H.E. performance of Hear My Train A'Comin (a.k.a. Getting My Heart Back
Together). (It starts out with a Sunshine of Your Love teaser, less than 30 seconds long.)
This is a great concert. The playing rocks, and the band is in a great mood. They're joking and having a lot of fun. (After the Sunshine of Your Love teaser, Jimi jokes that he should do a
song by the Monkees to balance it out.) Fire ends with a brief Beach Boys Surfin' USA quote. The up-tempo version of Crawl Out Your Window has a funny ending that sounds so
intentional you'll swear it was rehearsed. And, of course, there are all the great solos (guitar and drum), jams, and freaky sounds that you'd expect from the period. This was the band's
first show back after more than a month of vacation from touring. During the hiatus Jimi jammed with friends and spent some time in the studio working on Electric Ladyland tracks like
Voodoo Child and 1983... (see Plug Your Ears). You can tell the rest did them some good. They've definitely come back energized here at the Fillmore.
The bonus tracks are fabulous. There may be better live versions of Are You Experience out there, but there aren't many! The sound quality on I Don't Live Today could be better, but
it's an amazing performance of an amazing song.