This is how a bio should be done! It's a nice treat to have a lineup including Little Richard, Eric Clapton, Pete Townsend, Mitch Mitchell, Billy Cox, and Mick Jagger provide first-hand recollections of times spent with Jimi. It's supplemented with generous screen time for his dad and 3 or 4 former girlfriends, which is entertaining. To top it off, there is incredible, well-produced footage of Jimi in concert and in the studio, and the live appearances span his career. You can actually see him morph from a wide-eyed young prodigy into an exhausted curiosity. You can even hear it in the short interview segments that feature Jimi himself.

This ran as a Friday night midnight movie for about 50 weeks in a popular New Orleans theatre in the early 1970's and became one of the hottest tickets in New Orleans (where brilliant musicians are truly appreciated) during its run. I saw it at least a half dozen times then, and it is still as riveting today. If you get it, you won't be disappointed, and it is the perfect introduction to anyone who is not familiar with the story of Jimi Hendrix.

If you have any love for the guitar and Jimi Hendrix this is a must buy. Has awesome live shots of Jimi whaling, and very interesting interviews from some great musicians, along with some of his friends and his father (the Clapton and Townsend interviews were my personal favorates). It is the type of movie that you will watch many times over, so personally there is no way not to recommend this. The only thing that I could tell you is that if you are looking for just Jimi performances (although this one has a great many) without any interviews (because after a few time interviews do get annoying), then look at some of the recommendations on this page for other DVDs. But if your looking for a DVD with a pretty in dept view of Jimi, check this out.

"Jimi Hendrix" alternates between mostly uncut live performances of some of Jimi's best material and various interviews with Jimi's friends, family, and colleagues. When originally released in 1973, "Jimi Hendrix" was obviously a quickie exploitation film designed to cash in on Jimi's death; the grainy film stock of the interviews even suggests that it was filmed in 16mm rather than 35mm. Thankfully, the Hendrix estate has finally seized control of all Jimi's recordings and film appearances, so this DVD version is far superior to the old documentary many of us Hendrix fans grew up with.

For a start, over an hour's worth of interviews outtakes from the original film make an appearance as a bonus feature. The interviews are placed in rough chronological order, unlike the haphazard editing of the "Jimi Hendrix" feature. Thus, the viewer gets a better idea of Jimi's evolution from an eager sideman to one of rock music's truly magnetic virtuosos and brilliant composers. There's also an exceptional feature (again, cut from the "Hendrix film) with Jimi's engineer Eddie Kramer. Kramer plays with the faders at a mixing desk, explaining to us exactly how Jimi recorded "Dolly Dagger." Kramer isolates certain tracks, emphasizes how Jimi based arrangements around his own guitar playing, and discusses Jimi's overdubbing and mixing policies. It's very informative and useful, because Jimi's records were easily as revolutionary as his live performances.

All the concert scenes have been remastered by Kramer. We get to see Jimi at Monterey Pop, Woodstock, Berkeley, and the Isle of Wight. All of these are great shows that are worth seeking out in their entirety elsewhere, but it's a pleasure to have so many of Jimi's concert highlights in one place.

Again, while the "Hendrix" film itself is a disorganized mess, the excellent concert footage and the priceless bonuses make this a worthwhile DVD for any serious rock collector.

Originally released just two years after Jimi's death you get passionate interviews from the people who knew him. Featuring a young Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton and Mick Jagger, and also people who knew him well, we learn a lot about Jimi. Also the concert footage is spectacular. I hope Experience Hendrix releases a DVD of the Monterey Festival (part of which is included on this DVD). What a great concert. This is a must.

In all fairness, this is a documentary of the musician's career, not a purely musical cd, therefore its producers are entitled to a presentation they deem relevant. However, what is a documentary about Jimi Hendrix if not his music? Some judicious cuts are made in the sometimes rambling monologues of the interviewees, notably Hendrix's father, and that's fine. Furthermore, the interviewees are smart and interesting, and between them manage to give us a straighforward, not fawning, portrait of a shy, complex genius. But several cuts have been made to music as well, and that's not fine at all. In fact, few tracks are complete (for instance, Johnny B. Goode lacks its terrific intro, and both Machine Gun versions are substantially chopped down) and a lot of Jimi's banter is gone as well; it may not have been crucial, but I, for one, enjoyed it. So, I'd say, for the visual effect, this dvd is priceless - and, inevitably, much sharper than the vhs version - but if you also want the complete music, every note of it, and if you're lucky enough to have the original double-lp, keep it! The album was never issued as a cd, although parts of it are doubtless strewn across the various sludge Jimi's estate keeps dredging out of somewhere to make a buck.