BLUE WILD ANGEL (LIVE AT THE ISLE OF WIGHT)

Short and not so sweet, I consider this the least of the Hendrix film experiences. Filmed a mere three weeks before his tragic death at the Isle of Wight Festival, the man was just not in very good form. The fire and energy from Woodstock and Berkley is just not there. Wan and gaunt almost to the point of anorexia, it obviously shows that the Rock 'n Roll fast lane was catching up on him.

Not that there aren't any good Jimi moments. Dolly Dagger and EZY Rider being the standouts, but his performances of Machine Gun and Red House just simply don't have that Jimi kick in them. Switching to the newly developed Gibson Flying V certainly didn't help either. A useless axe according to my fellow bandmates in the guitar vein (I'd rather him with a Les Paul if it's going to be a Gibson!) And it also didn't help that his equipment broke down during one of my favorite cuts Voodoo Child (Slight Return)!

Productionwise, the restoration of the footage is the best this film has ever seen. The colors are well balanced and much of the grain has been toned down. The 5.1 mix is well laid out and thank God, not too gimmicky in terms of seperation.

In closing, we all know the old proverb of a candle that burns faster, burns shorter (or something like that!) This shows Jimi hitting his slow down, at least in terms of live performances. As for his later studio work, well, that may be a different story................

2 stars for the performance 3 stars for the picture quality 4 stars for the sound mix

3 stars overall - 'nuff said!