JIMI HENDRIX
Live at the Isle Of Wight
Castle Music Pictures
www.image-entertainment.com 

Filmed only eighteen days before Hendrix's death, this set from The Isle of Wight Festival ranks as one of the best ever caught on film. This DVD version offers no extra footage beyond the original release, but the performance alone is fantastic. Hendrix hits the stage obviously blasted on hallucinogenics and immediately launches into "God Save The Queen" for the mostly British crowd. Clad in brightly colored bellbottoms, Jimi plays the anthem at full blast and then gracefully falls into a rendition of The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper."  The movie contains many of Hendrix's own songs as well, including "Voodoo Chile," "Machine Gun," and "Freedom."  The DVD format, as usual, does justice to the original quality of the film, and while the original camera work was neither the steadiest nor the most well thought out, the multiple angles capture all the members of the band well, and often the actions on the side of the stage are just as interesting as the group.

The Isle of Wight festival was a political entity in itself, and the Hendrix performance proved to be equally symbolic of the times. Despite being quite high, Hendrix had cleaned up his act relative to years earlier. Many consider this period of his career as his best, having given up on some of the wild stage antics to concentrate on his playing. That he would be dead less than three weeks later is clearly presented in this document to be a total shame. And yet, the Hendrix myth wouldn't be complete without his drug related death, the final ascension to rock deity.
                                                 Jeff Muendel