Jimi Hendrix – Songs For Groovy Children

The latest Record Store Day, the Black Friday 2024 event, was really the first time I had a long list of wants, and this was on it. For a bunch of reasons, live recordings from The Fillmore, east or west, keep emerging not only as important documents of the era but as some of the best recorded live music from the time as well. And as I said before, live is how I like my Hendrix.

These tracks were recorded New Year’s Eve 1969 and New Year’s Day 1970, just months after his incendiary Woodstock performance. He’s playing with Buddy Miles and Billy Cox, and legendary sound engineer Wally Heider was in charge of the recording. I was so happy to see this was going to be available as an RSD release, because previously, you had to buy an 8-album box set to get any of this, and that was not only expensive but also probably a lot more Hendrix than I would play. But once I got this – I kinda wanted the full set. Maybe that will fade. But the five tracks on here are absolutely smoking.