Jimi Hendrix added to proto-prog

Why don`t we add Weny O Williams and the Plasmatics while wer`re at this. When will the madness end? 

short summary of influential songs from Jimi -
Purple Haze, Foxy Lady, Love or Confusion, May this be Love, Third Stone from the Sun, Are you Experienced;
EXP, Castles Made of Sand, She's So Fine, One Rainy Wish, Bold as Love (the last minute & a half) - you may also want to ask Ritchie Blackmore about Spanish Castle Magic & If 6 Was 9 ...;
And the Gods Made Love, Burning of the Midnight Lamp, 1983 ... ( A Merman I Should Turn To Be) , Moon Turn The Tides ... Gently Gently Away;
And of course - The Star Spangled Banner !

short summary of the myopic view of dissenters -
His failing in our detractors' eyes, in my opinion, is that much of his music was firmly rooted in the blues and R & B. Yet, his guitarr playing on songs like Purple Haze have been called "blues from Mars".

short summary of prototypical prog essentials lacking in Jimi's work -
He was never one to "steal" motifs from the classical canon - strike one.
He was never one to "B3 Hammond as orchestral stand-in" - strike two.
He was never one to assimilate Europeen stylings such as the "Art Song" - strike three.
And most of all, he never limited himself to any style that could be called Psychedelic, Symphonic, Jazz. So he never put out a full blown "prog" album, or even what we call Proto-Prog.

not so short summary of all that bugs me about the naysayers -
But I come back to my first posts on this - enough prog acts were influenced by him and took direction from many of his songs, that to say otherwise betrays the true progressiveness of much of  the man's oeuvre.
Robin Trower. Yes, Procol Harum's guitarist. Ritchie Blackmore, Uh-huh, Purple's main axe man. RPI guys, I'm sure you can find a good sprinkling of Hendrix influence on their six-stringers, especially in the scene's early days. Krautrock & Psychedelic & Heavy Prog ... well ... if Jimi's guitar playing & freakouts can't be heard in some of these acts ... well ... there's always a case to be made for selective hearing or memory.
Don't make me go through these genres and flood you with Hendrix references.
Admit it or not, this god played a role in the progressive scene. And when you consider that most of his music was composed & played in 1966, 1967 & 1968 (most of Electric Ladyland was already sketched out by then), and you compare it to other acts that we have accepted so easily ... well ... the mind boggles at the limited understanding that this music seems to encounter ...
Would a Mellotron on the proggy songs from Ladyland have been what was needed to prove it (whether it was in existence or not) ?
Would some B3 have showed more clearly the prog aspects on songs from Axis ?
Would more  psychedelic guitar effects on Experienced songs really have been necessary to show how mind blowing his playing was , especially in that time period ?
Or, is this just part of the guitar based act's contininuing challenge when being adjugded prog ?


Edited by debrewguy - April 14 2009 at 13:02

debrewguy wrote: short summary of the myopic view of dissenters - His failing in our detractors' eyes, in my opinion, is that much of his music was firmly rooted in the blues and R & B. Yet, his guitarr playing on songs like Purple Haze have been called "blues from Mars".

Third Stone From The Sun to my knowledge is the first recording of space rock, even the title is archtypical of space rock. It was recorded in October '66, before Pink Floyd made anything near that (correct if I'm wrong).

Easy Money wrote: earlyprog wrote: Third Stone From The Sun to my knowledge is the first recording of space rock, even the title is archtypical of space rock. It was recorded in October '66, before Pink Floyd made anything near that (correct if I'm wrong).   I guess Hendrix frequented the clubs where Pink Floyd, Soft Machine etc. were gigging and picked up a few things and he may even have contributed in this early period.   He may not have used the Mellotron, but the harpsichord can be heard on Burning Of The Midlight Lamb from July '67. I guess since he was often a bass player for the Soft Machine at gigs, it is possible they were in some clubs at the same time. Also during his many concerts and tours with Pink Floyd, it is possible they may have made eye contact at least once. If you want more details read the intro at the beginning of this thread. P.S. He did manage to 'pick up a few things' too, you know that thing where Jimi would stare vacantly at the crowd with the guitar hanging from his neck, Jimi got that from Syd.

^There's gotta be some early, unofficial recordings of Pink Floyd from '66 or other accounts of what they were playing before their first official recording in (was it) January '67 (Nick's Boogie). Just wondering if someone from the list knows of this subject.

Easy Money wrote: ^ Jimi, The Nice, The Soft Machine and Pink Floyd were regular gig mates and jammin mates, particularly Jimi and early Soft Machine, especially Robert Wyatt. It would be hard to seperate who influenced who, unfortunately other bands from that scene have faded into obscurity. There were also some British avant-garde guitarists who probably influenced all of them. P.S. To my ears, 3rd Stone is a good example of Jimi's cross-influence with the early Canterbury scene. There other songs of his that have a bit of that Canterbury sound too. Girl so Fine is a very early recording that exists on off-beat collections and bootlegs, there is another one on Voodoo Soup, but I forget the name.

space rock.. like many things probably had many chefs...  it is too simplistic and inaccurate to throw a tag of 'creator' around.  Look at those albums that one of our members ..(forgot his name ) the guy from Mississippi posts in the WAYLTN thread that were being put out in the early 60's

StyLaZyn wrote: Ivan_Melgar_M wrote: I absollutely disagree, his compositions are not Prog at all. But now he's added, nothing can be done so i will say nothing more about him as i always do. Iván   Please, don't even dream in Cream We should add Stevie Ray Vaughan next. He can be in the proto-prog related since his worshipped and tried to emulate Hendrix. Really...this site is getting too fat. And after the great plug in Classic Rock (from the other thread). This is becoming a music in general website. Soon we will have Michael Jackson in here because of Thriller.

This is offensive to all the people who work HARD and FOR FREE on behalf of this site. I am sick and tired of seeing such comments after every 'controversial' addition. You are free to express your opinion, but then so am I... Therefore, I will say that, if you don't like the direction the site is taking, you are free to stop visiting it - but not to imply we lack integrity.

StyLaZyn wrote: Ivan_Melgar_M wrote: I absollutely disagree, his compositions are not Prog at all. But now he's added, nothing can be done so i will say nothing more about him as i always do. Iván   Please, don't even dream in Cream We should add Stevie Ray Vaughan next. He can be in the proto-prog related since his worshipped and tried to emulate Hendrix. Really...this site is getting too fat. And after the great plug in Classic Rock (from the other thread). This is becoming a music in general website. Soon we will have Michael Jackson in here because of Thriller.

^ On the first 3 Experience albums there is one blues song 'Voodoo Child' played twice on Ladyland. Jimmy switched to playing the blues in 69 when he started Band of Gypsys.