Morning Symphony Ideas

Reviews

dagger records
Morning Symphony Ideas is an extraordinary collection of previously unreleased studio and home demo recordings.
Dagger's two previous releases, Live At The Oakland Coliseum and Live At Clark University presented the original Jimi Hendrix Experience on tour at the peak of their powers. Morning Symphony Ideas places its focus on Jimi's songwriting and his unique approach toward developing new material at home and in the recording studio.

Where officially authorized albums such as First Rays Of The New Rising Sun and South Saturn Delta gave light to such promising, yet unfinished studio fare as "Message To The Universe" and "Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)", Morning Symphony Ideas probes even further, providing an invaluable insight into Jimi's creative process.

These six 1969 and 1970 studio and home demo recordings reveal the earliest stages of Jimi's songwriting technique.

"Jungle", "Room Full Of Mirrors", and the extended workout "Keep On Groovin'" showcase Hendrix in full flight with Band Of Gypsys drummer Buddy Miles and on "Strato Strut", with Miles and bassist Billy Cox. These vibrant studio recordings freely intertwine elements from many of the promising songs the guitarist had been rounding into form throughout 1969.

Jimi's home demo of "Scorpio Woman" is equally revealing. Recorded in Maui, Hawaii during his extended July/August 1970 retreat on the island, Jimi wove a host of fertile melodies throughout the song's embryonic structure. Throughout this fascinating twenty-one minute workout, Jimi intently established the foundation for a host of exciting new ideas he had in development. Singing live over his own electric guitar accompaniment, Jimi expanded upon the "Scorpio Woman" theme by incorporating tantalizing snatches of other familiar phrases and rhythm patterns advanced by the guitarist in 1969 and 1970.
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JIMI HENDRIX - Morning Symphony Ideas (Dagger)
Don't worry - this isn't some lost orchestral project. Morning Symphony Ideas, released by Dagger Records, the authorized bootleg offshoot of the Experience Hendrix company, is made up of four studio jams and a pair of solo demos from the king of electric guitar legends. Jimi Hendrix didn't read music and he wrote songs by working out riffs and taking them in different directions to find the perfect guitar parts. His personal creative process is compellingly documented throughout Morning Symphony Ideas.

Hendrix leads drummer Buddy Miles through sections of many of the songs he was working on in 1969 on the outstanding 28-minute jam "Keep On Groovin'". Between Miles' agile bass drum rhythms and Hendrix's capacity to play two or more guitar lines at once, a bass player is not missed. "Jungle", shorter but still fairly long at 9 minutes, runs through more of the songs that were first compiled on The Cry Of Love, Rainbow Bridge and various posthumous collections (repackaged a few years ago with other tracks as First Rays Of The New Rising Sun and South Saturn Delta). Many recordings of "Room Full Of Mirrors" have been released in addition to the definitive Rainbow Bridge take. Still another version on Morning Symphony Ideas illustrates how Hendrix could drastically alter the character of a song by reworking the riffs and rhythm. From the same December 19, 1969 session that yielded "Earth Blues" and "Message To Love" comes the funky "Strato Strut", long a mainstay of Hendrix bootlegs. The 21-minute practice recording of "Scorpio Woman" sounds so private that listening to it has an almost voyeuristic quality. Hendrix taped himself in a Maui hotel room in August 1970 crafting the finer points of a song that he never lived to record in the studio. As an added bonus, "Scorpio Woman" features a verse from "Midnight Lightning" and Hendrix's only known recording of "Heaven Has No Sorrow". The resonant open-tuning rock progression "Acoustic Demo" serves as short coda to the rest of the CD.

Morning Symphony Ideas may be a bit too focused on revealing the artistic process to hold the interest of a casual rock fan. However, it is entirely listenable and does not have any glaring mistakes, technical problems, bad cuts or excessive studio banter to hinder the powerful flow of the jams. As a young guitarist, my favorite Jimi Hendrix release was the obscure album of mainly instrumental tracks he recorded with jazz organist Larry Young (among others) called Nine To The Universe. Until that lost gem is reissued, Morning Symphony Ideas provides the deepest look into the non-commercial side of Hendrix's genius. The music on this disc contains invaluable lessons for guitarists, drummers and songwriters. For information on this and other collector grade Jimi Hendrix CDs go to www.daggerrecords.com or call 1-888-EXP-JIMI to order.

Review © 2000 by Nick Bensen.