Kosmik Radiation Radio - February 23, 2016 Playlist

CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Jimi Hendrix "Band of Gypsys" 1970 (USA)

For this winter's WORT-FM pledge drive our CAOTW is the fourth and final album released by the great Jimi Hendrix during his lifetime. His first three albums featured his backup band The Experience: jazzy drum wunderkind Mitch Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding who was really a frustrated singer/songwriter/guitar player (he never played bass before joining The Experience). The genius of the first group was that the bass kept grinding out heavy riffs that Jimi taught Noel by rote, allowing Jimi and Mitch to fly free and improvise like muthas. The weak point is that Noel got frustrated with his limited role, and he wasn't a very funky bass player anyway -- after Electric Ladyland, Jimi wasn't interested in working with Noel anymore. The BOG band began as jam sessions between Jimi and Buddy Miles, the superstar singing drummer from The Electric Flag. To complete the trio, Jimi brought in the formerly unknown Billy Cox on bass; the two had played together when they were paratroopers in the army. Unfortunately, BOG only lasted a few months: supposedly Jimi's manager fired Miles after a blown gig, though apparently Jimi wasn't loving the situation with Buddy anyway (Miles acted he was the frontman and co-leader, or something). Only one record was released, a live album recorded specifically to complete a contractual obligation to Capitol records. Although the group did not go forward, it's tempting to see this album as a blueprint for the direction Hendrix might have taken had he survived the year: a more groove-oriented, funky, improvisational approach that allowed him to go on guitar excursions like never before. The album's highlight is undoubtedly "Machine Gun", a 12-minute opus of technicolor stratocaster bombs bursting in air that undoubtedly influenced the soundtrack to Apocalypse Now (basically, this song IS Apocalypse Now in the form of a guitar solo). In fact, this record is arguably the most influential of all Jimi's recordings: the influence on Funkadelic and Miles Davis' heavy seventies bands is obvious.

(N) = New Release

Artist	Song	Album	Year	Country
Diana Ross & The Supremes and The Temptations	Sing A Simple Song (Sly & The Family Stone)	Together	1969	USA
Eric Burdon & War	Love Is All Around	Love Is All Around	rec. 1970, rel. 1976	USA/UK /Netherlands
DJ Shadow	Organ Donor	Endtroducing...	1996	USA
Deep Purple	Demon's Eye	Fireball	1970	UK

Dungen	Bortglömd	Ta Det Lugnt	2004	Sweden
Black Mountain	Evil Ways	In The Future	2008	Canada
Yuck	Operation	Yuck	2010	UK
Woods	Cali In A Cup	Bend Beyond	2012	USA

JJ Cale	Call Me The Breeze	Naturally	1971	USA
Jimmy Cliff	Sitting In Limbo	The Harder They Come (original soundtrack)	1972	Jamaica
Marvin Gaye	You Can Leave, But It's Going To Cost You	Here, My Dear	1978	USA

Jimi Hendrix	Who Knows (live)	Band Of Gypsys CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK	1970	USA
Jimi Hendrix	Machine Gun (live)	Band Of Gypsys CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK	1970	USA

Buddy Miles	Them Changes	Them Changes	1970	USA
The Chambers Brothers	You Got The Power (To Turn Me On)	A New Time - A New Day	1968	USA
The Isley Brothers	It's Your Thang / Pop That Thang (live)	The Isleys Live	1973	USA
The Ohio Players	Who'd She Coo?	Contradiction	1976	USA
Prince	I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man	Sign 'O' The Times	1987	USA

Sun City Girls	Journey To The Center Of The Mind (Amboy Dukes)	Libyan Dream	2001	USA
Zoogz Rift	With The Necessary Changes Having Been Made / Look At The Fool (Tim Buckley)	Murdering Hell's Happy Cretins	1988	USA
Bobby Conn	Crimson & Clover (Tommy James & The Shondells)	Bobby Conn (limited edition vinyl version)	1997	USA

Quiet Sun (with Eno & Manzanera)	Sol Caliente / Trumpets With Motherhood	Mainstream	1975	UK
The Soft Machine	Why Are We Sleeping?	The Soft Machine	1968	UK
Phil Manzanera 801 Live (with Eno)	Third Uncle (Eno - live)	801 Live	1976	UK

David Bowie	I Can't Give Everything Away	blackstar (N)	2016 (ISO/Columbia)	UK