The place : Berkeley.
The date : May 30th, 1970.
The concerts : Perhaps two of Jimi's best performances ever.
Berkeley was one of those concerts that, as soon as I heard music from it, I knew I had to have it. And finally, I do :) Well, most of it anyway; there
are 3 tracks missing to complete the entire 2 concerts. The missing tracks are as follows...Purple Haze, from the first set, can be found on the `A Film About Jimi Hendrix'
soundtrack. Star Spangled Banner, from the first set, is available on the Good Karma 2 LP. And Hey Joe, from the second set, can be found on the officially
released Concerts CD. But what is here is, in my humble opinion, two of Jimi's best performances of all time. Perhaps it had to do with the overall mood of the
country at the time, maybe the war in Vietnam, or the riots going on at Berkeley at the time, but Jimi, Billy, and Mitch just play their collective butts off. Apparently
outside the hall, there were protesters and people trying to crash the gate. The guy in the recording truck, parked outside the center, opened up the doors for the
crowd to hear what was going on inside, and they calmed down. Ahhhh, the magic of music :)
Every track here is amazing, two Machine Guns, two Voodoo Child's, Red House, Johnny B. Goode, Star Spangled Banner, Purple Haze, it just goes on and on.
Not one bad track out of the whole bunch. For the Hendrix collector, there are must haves, and then there are MUST HAVES. This concert set belongs on every
Hendrix fan or fanatic's MUST HAVE list. Put it on yours!
Quality is very good, supposedly from the soundboard tapes. Whoopy Kat again brings a great package together, though I wish the missing tracks had been added
to the Berkeley Concerts II CD rather than Isle Of Wight tracks.
Disc 1
Fire 3:38
Johnny B. Goode 3:52
Hear My Train A Comin' 11:24
Foxy Lady 3:29
Machine Gun 10:05
Freedom 4:20
Red House 7:13
Message To Love 4:51
Ezy Ryder 7:52
Disc 2
Voodoo Child (Slight Return) 11:27
Pass It On (Straight Ahead) 7:05
Hey Baby 5:55
Lover Man 2:52
Stone Free 4:04
I Don't Live Today 4:57
Machine Gun 10:20
Foxy Lady 5:33
Star Spangled Banner 2:12
Purple Haze 3:05
Voodoo Child (Slight Return) 9:56
Catalog #: Whoopy Kat WKP-0004/0005