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Jimi Hendrix: "Hear My Train A Comin' " American Masters Special on PBS November 5th

Michael Fremer  |  Nov 4, 2013

Don't miss this two hour PBS special on the life of Jimi Hendrix November 5th on PBS. Previously unseen concert and backstage footage traces the life and death of the guitar great from his days as a US Army paratrooper to working the Chitlin' circuit to his UK break thanks to former Animals bass player Chas Chandler.

The film includes commentary from family, well-known friends and musicians including Paul McCartney, band members Noel Redding, Mitch Mitchell, Billy Cox, long-time sound engineer Eddie Kramer; Steve Winwood, Vernon Reid, Billy Gibbons, Dweezil Zappa and Dave Mason.

Two-time Grammy-winning director Bob Smeaton, whose credits include Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child, Hendrix: Band of Gypsys, Hendrix 70: Live at Woodstock, Festival Express and The Beatles Anthology, produced and directed.

I got to the film screened at Sony a few weeks ago and it's essential viewing and listening for Hendrix fans. An expanded home video edition with unreleased special performance features on DVD and Blu-ray will be released the same day the American Masters Series documentary airs on PBS.

Also just released: double 180g AAA vinyl of Jimi's Miami Pop Festival performance. Just got it!

COMMENTS
Cam08529's picture
Submitted by Cam08529 on Wed, 2013-11-06 10:29

I surely would have missed this without your posting. It was very interesting. I especially enjoyed the scenes with Eddie at the mixing board as he explained some of the techniques used to record Jimi's work. Dweezil had some interesting comments and obviously inherited his Dad's "well spoken"gene. He did however seem a bit out of place because Jimi had left the planet before Dweezil's arrival. The DVD and the lp from the Miami performance are on my buy list.

tlat.com's picture
Submitted by tlat.com on Wed, 2013-11-06 16:35

Yes, thanks for the post, I would have missed it too. As a fan of Jimi for years I've seen most of it before. I was hoping for more of the Miami show footage. Perhaps more of it is on the Blu Ray. Just picked up the LP last night so will listen later. Oh and spoiler alert- according to the special Jimi died after taking a sleeping pill and failed to wake up. History being rewritten again. What is certain is that the story of Jimi Hendrix ends on a sad note. RIP Jimi, we will not see the likes of your kind again.

firedog55's picture
Submitted by firedog55 on Thu, 2013-11-07 10:44

Loved it.  The various interviewees were articulate and made interesting comments.

The archive footage was tremendous, both the concert footage and the interviews with Jimi.

Really well done. Great. Really made me want to have the recordings of Monterrey Pop and Miami Pop.

storym's picture
Submitted by storym on Fri, 2013-11-08 19:52

Watched on my iPad w/PSB headphones. Excellent. Brought back memories of my Uncle playing me smash hits. Want all the LP's now!

jlstrat's picture
Submitted by jlstrat on Tue, 2013-11-12 18:17

It's always a pleasure to see Hendrix play, but so much was missed here. To begin with , why no interviews with other guitarists who were his peers? How could a documentary about Hendrix not include an interview with Clapton? I'd love to hear Jeff Beck, among the few guitarists with Hendrix's technical command of the instrument, talk about him. The only guitarist among his contemporaries they talked to was...Dave Mason? There's so much complexity about Hendrix and his times--the drug culture and how his music both reflected it and transcended it; the influence of radical politics, including African-American activism; Hendrix's own unique contributions to the technology of rock guitar playing--effects pedals, volume, feedback. Some of those things were hinted at, but not really explored. And, I like Paul McCartney as much as the next guy, but I've never thought of him as an important part of the Hendrix story. This wasn't a horrible doc, but nothing compared to, say, Scorsese's No Direction Home.

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