LIVE EXPERIENCE BAND Jimi Hendrix 1971 RARE PSYCH HEAR

$

40

WHAT WE HAVE HERE IS…

THE LIVE EXPERIENCE BAND "Jimi Hendrix Portrait"

Original 1971 DOUBLE LP on the German KEN label, STEREO 712-13

Cover:  VG+, some ringwear and light staining on corner, all seams intact

Vinyl:  Light handling scuffs, plays VG+ 

The Chico Magnetic Band?  Frauds!  The Fremont’s Group?  Imposters!  The Purple Friggin’ Fox?  Are you kidding me???  When it comes to heavy Hendrix fuzz-fests, none of ‘em is even fit to hold the guitar strap of the punishing German/Swiss conglomerate known as the Live Experience Band.  I mean, those other puny pipsqueaks made the mistake of covering Jimi’s songs – and that wasn’t the man’s strongpoint.  These Teutonic longhaired freaks use Jimi’s jams as their springboard – and then go out and play ‘em louder, looser and fuzzier than even the man himself!  After all, the Jimi Hendrix Experience were only three men – this fire-breathing, foundation-shaking outfit sounds like the work of about sixty-five.

This RARE 1971 double album seems to be everything the band recorded – their other albums include the 6-track Voodoo Chile and a self-titled album appended with “70” signifying when it was released.  Put ‘em both together and you’ve got THIS monstrosity – four whole album sides of blistering guitar workouts.  And lemme tell you, these cats love to jam.  Take the title track, for example.  Not happy with simply one screaming fuzzed-up Hendrix acid guitar, these guys slap a second wailing axe on the right channel, slightly delayed so it sounds like there’s two guitarists going at it.  Plus there’s a ton of classic Electric Ladyland liquidy wah wah guitar all over this thing, flooding the grooves with a tidal wave of psychedelic excess.  Wah wah and fuzz, running down the sides of your stereo cabinet.  The first album I’ve heard this year that requires a post-listening clean-up.

But that’s not even half as dangerous as the synapse-shredding mammoth fuzz-saturated beast that calls itself “First Trial of Star Spangled Banner,” cleverly too, since this doesn’t even begin to tackle the national anthem until it’s nearly over.  It begins with an absolute raunchy echoed-out blues jam, with overdriven, amped-up fuzz licks diving, whooping and swirling all over the place, scraping across the grooves like an X-Acto knife on a barbed wire fence.  Someone behind the controls is also a big Pink Floyd fan, bathing the entire song in more speaker-to-speaker panning tricks than a hundred outtake versions of “Interstellar Overdrive.”  Only after this veritable Oktoberfest of fuzz and wah wah blitzkriegs has finally settled down do they even begin tackling the Star Spangled Banner.  But even then, it’s immediately smothered with these mammoth buzzsaw fuzz licks that strip whatever’s left of your needle and reduce it to a pile of shivering, frightened diamond dust.  And all the while, the drummer’s doing his best Mitch Mitchell with some of the most frenetic, flying jazzed-out drum work you’ve heard this side of Hal Blaine’s Wrecking Crew, which makes sense because it’s about the only way he can even be heard over the triple-fuzz shrieking Berlin Wall of  electric sound.  I won’t say this is better than any Jimi Hendrix jam, but it’s certainly louder, and wilder, and about ten times more powerful.  And much better in a barfight.

But just before you call the Live Experience Band the Spinal Tap of Hendrix tributes – always one louder – they go and drop a little bit of subtlety on your a** - like the mellow, jazzy “Before Dead,” obviously inspired by songs like “Little Wing” and “Angel.”  So is it possible these longhair German groove saturators have a modicum of subtlety in their veins?  Could they appreciate the beauty of a ballad in the midst of a vast sea of electric distortion?  Sure can, and if you don’t believe it, they’ll be the first to take a fuzz pedal upside your skull.

Okay, so they still seem happiest when they’re laying down the monster jams.  And as the cleverly-titled “Cross Electric Town” should tell you, they’re only using Jimi’s songs as a starting point, if anything.  Their over-the-top, blown-out, eardrum-shredding interpretations sound more like hearing three Jimi Hendrix concerts at one time.  This particular blistering funk psych beast only slightly resembles “Crosstown Traffic,” or at least how the 1970 Parliament-Funkadelic might’ve played it right after dropping some potent European acid.  Like every track on the album, this is raw and loose, funked-up and fuzzed-out, every one of Jimi’s excesses rolled into one singular monster jam.  And not a single concession to the pop charts.  At least these guys never sold out to the Man.

So go ahead and buy your Purple Foxes, and pay ridiculous sums of money on that original pressing of the Chico Magnetic Band.  And while you’re at it, look into John Tesh’s last few CDs, because that’s what those other bands sound like when you compare ‘em to the blistering heavyweight guitar onslaught known as the Live Experience Band.  Not everyone can handle this.  And not everyone deserves to.

 HEAR IT!

The less exciting stuff

Media mail shipping with delivery confirmation starts at $4.00 in the US, with each additional record only $1 additional shipping.  ALL DOMESTIC ORDERS REQUIRE DELIVERY CONFIRMATION, WHICH IS AN EXTRA 75 CENTS.  Air mail shipping to Canada starts at $10 US, each additional record $2 shipping.  Air mail shipping everywhere else in the world starts at $16 US, with each additional record only $3 shipping.  ALL FOREIGN ORDERS REQUIRE CERTIFICATE OF SHIPMENT, WHICH IS AN EXTRA $1.10.  I accept payments through Paypal. 

I try to grade as best as I can, and I list as many blemishes/imperfections I can find (writing, ringwear, scuff marks, etc.) – Also, please note that I DO listen to these albums – I may not listen to every track, but my grades are based on LISTENING, not just looking at it, since chances are you’ll be listening to the record you buy, not just looking at it.  Most of the albums I sell are the ones I’ve enjoyed for years – and I treat my records with kid gloves.  But sounds speak louder than words, so check out the sound clips below – they’re from the actual record you’re bidding on. 

SHIPPING AND PACKAGING

Listen, I buy a bunch of records too (when I’m not getting outbid at the last second, which is more often than not) – and I know what it’s like to get a rare, one-of-a-kind album packaged dangerously in a flimsy bubblewrap package.  I hate that too.  So rest assured, I ALWAYS package albums with stiff cardboard reinforcements, same for 45s.  And yes, the records are removed from the sleeves (for albums).  I ship out once a week, every Friday, because I have a regular day job.  But I’d be willing to give that up if you’d all be so kind as to bid my items up to stupidly high amounts. 

And finally, I include delivery confirmation on all shipments inside the US.  This is my proof of shipment, and also helps us to track your package if it doesn’t arrive when it should.  I will email you within 2 days of shipment and give you the confirmation number at that time.  Insurance is always optional, but for larger orders, it’s highly recommended.   I DO NOW REQUIRE THAT ALL FOREIGN BUYERS PAY AN ADDITIONAL $1.10 FOR PROOF OF SHIPMENT.  IT'S A NOMINAL FEE AND THE CHEAPEST WAY FOR ME TO PROVE THAT I ACTUALLY SHIPPED YOUR PACKAGE AND DIDN'T JUST POCKET YOUR MONEY AND SKIP TOWN.  For more security and international tracking, you may request GLOBAL PRIORITY MAIL - but bear in mind the cost of this service is upwards of $30.  For expensive items, however, it may be well worth it.  Unfortunately, there isn’t a cost-effective way of tracking parcels to foreign countries yet, and shipping times vary depending on your country’s postal system.   Italy in particular seems to be really bad at delivering packages quickly, or delivering packages at all, now that you mention it.  I will always email you when your package ships, but once it’s on its way, please don’t ask me when it will arrive because I don’t know.  If the world’s postal systems can ever agree on a universal tracking system that’s affordable, I’ll be the first to use it.

NOW IT’S YOUR TURN…

I will always leave positive feedback for successful transactions, and would appreciate the same in return.  All I ask of you is the following – please pay for your items within 14 days of the close of auction.  Compared to other sellers, that’s a generous amount of time, so if you don’t pay within 2 weeks, then I have to assume something’s wrong.  You’ll get an Ebay payment reminder at that point, and possibly a decapitated horse head in your bed.  If, after 30 days, you still haven’t forked up the cash, I’ll relist the item and yell at you if I ever see you in town.