Jimi Hendrix Experience at The Lulu Show

This one is really priceless. Lulu was a star in her own right, a very talented entertainer and a very pretty woman. I have a hunch that she was a very sociable woman as well, a good time to be around. Jimi and the band bring their A-game here throughout.

They start out with a very nice version of Voodoo Child, live on the air. That's always nice.

At 4:40 Lulu introduces Hey Joe, "the song that made them famous." Nice job here, too.

Somehow, and probably unscripted, at 7:10 Jimi starts praising Cream and calls for Sunshine of Your Love! The suits probably went nuts because that almost certainly meant that additional royalties would have to be paid. Did Jimi care? Why, no, obviously Jimi did not care about such things. Did Lulu care? Probably not. I'm pretty sure that Lulu had the FLEX gene.

And can we bring up the often disputed point about the role of Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding in this band? Can we agree that yes, they did belong in this band, that they were real participants in this music? There's a black/white thing that circulates around Jimi's music, and it's just not fair to the musicians involved. Noel was fine, he held it down, that's what a bass player does. Mitch was great, and for my money his slightly frenetic style was the perfect foil for Jimi's playing. This was a great Salt-and-Pepper band, in an age when such things could bring lessons that people needed to learn. Good for them!