Search - Jimi Hendrix - Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 on DVD

For hard core Jimi fans only

DC from TX | Round Rock, Texas USA | 03/19/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a must have for all hardcore Jimi fans like myself. However, this is not really one of his best performances. He went on stage at 2AM in the morning, and looks very tired by the middle of the set. He was plagued with equipment problems, and clearly not happy with his playing on many tunes. Many of these were new songs,not fully worked out, and it shows. That said, however, when it clicks, it's Jimi The Master shining through. Red House is the stand out track,proof that Jimi was a master blues player.Machine Gun and Voodoo Chile have some stunning soloing as well. If you are a novice Hendrix fan, I would recommend you get Jimi at Monterey instead, which is easily his best filmed performance."

It's OK...but Blue Wild Angel is better...

Walter Five | 13th Floor Elevator, Enron Hubbard Bldg. Houston T | 06/10/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"for YEARS this was all we had of Jimi's appearance at the Isle of Wight. It's a shorter, lo-fi version of Wild Blue Angel.Unless you lived with this version, and don't care otherwise, buy the newly released Blue Wild Angel DVD instead, it has MUCH better sound, and the complete performance. Well, almost complete. The CD has two or three tracks, like "Hey Baby/New Rising Sun" that you won't find here."

Over edited, but still indispensible (DVD)

Stephen McLeod | New York, NY USA | 10/02/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I join Michael C. Young's complaints concerning the editing of this footage (see his customer review of May 7, 2000). I can't, however, join his final judgment. Young's review may be a little misleading. First, although hefty solos were indeed cut, the cuts are pretty clean and the editors left in lots and lots of extended solos in between nearly every verse of the best songs. Second, Young's review may give some the impression that this film is like so many other unfortunate visual records of Hendrix performances, bits and pieces of music woven into the fabric of whatever narrative/interview neccessity the project advanced. (Think just about any Hendrix "film" you've seen). Not so. The songs all have beginnings, middles, and ends, and where solos are cut, the songs aren't interrupted with inane, self-serving interviews with folks whose fifteen were up long, long ago.Third, and probably much more controversially, I would argue that, because we know for a FACT that Hendrix himself was highly self-critical, that he used concerts as much as the studio to work out his improvisational vocabulary for a given song, and that he had no idea that this was going to be more or less his last documented guitar playing, maybe the cuts were made in the interests of creating a cleaner account of the songs. I can't say that I would agree with the choices made. Young's point on "Machine Gun" is absolutely right. But I don't agree that the neccessity of editting itself was either shameful or somehow heretical, as Young seems to suggest.This is not a biographical document. It is the document of a concert. That's why I think that, while Young makes good points, the film is not nearly as bad as he says it is. Plus, if you've got the DVD version, you've got access to a marriage of sound a visuals that just haven't been available before.I give it four stars because, for the "serious" fan or curious fan (there can be no "casual" Hendrix fan), the DVD version of this release has over an hour of visionary guitar playing. Since I wouldn't hold my breath for any less edited release (especially now that it's committed to DVD), I think this will more than "have to do." The improvisations preserved on this recording are as intense and masterful as anything currently available. Add to that the simple fact that this is a visual document of Jimi playing less than 3 weeks before his death, and a wonder it was, thank God, and I just say you've got to have it.That all being said, it is a shame that so much was left behind. Alas."

One great show, one great man

Stephen McLeod | 05/09/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I found the DVD version of Jimi - Live At The Isle Of Wight to be great. The picture quality is fantastic, much better than the laserdisc version. I was a little disapointed to see some of the tracks on this video edited. For example. Pieces of Machine Gun were cut to make it shorter. Also with Voodoo Chile, Slight Return. I was glad to hear All Along The Watchtower amd Spanish Castle Magic. These two tracks did not appear on the audio CD of this show. Over all it is a great buy if you are a Hendrix fan."