LIVE IN OTTAWA

This live set appear on the ''official bootlegs'' catalogue from Dagger Records. It was recorded during an extensive tour in the US but also Canada. It was launched at the Fillmore and later at Winterland (which delivered a very good live album).

For those familiar with the Dagger Records philosophy, this can't be compared to a crafted and well produced live album. This is raw music as it was played. Therefore, the sound is at times a bit indigestible.

On the official Hendrix web-site, the following can be read about this recording:

''All of Jimi's performance is presented in its original running order. "Wild Thing", the final song of the evening, cuts out just as Jimi tore through the song's unforgettable opening chord sequence. Apparently, the tape operator loaded his reel to reel tape machine with a 2400 hundred foot spool of blank tape.

Such a spool would provide slightly more than sixty minutes of recording. The recording begins with the introduction of the group and continues until the spool runs out. Lost is the balance of "Wild Thing", but most of us know what happens at the end there?''.

This tour was supposedly meant to support ''Bold: Axis Of Love''. I guess that even Jimi had little affection for this work since there is only one track available from it (''Spanish Castle Magic'' which length here is almost halved by Jimi's words). The same applies to ''Purple Haze''.

As usual, ''The Experience'' played two shows that night (offering different set lists). This performance took a while to really kick off. The earliest live version available of ''Tax Free'' is pure improvisation and can't compete with later ones. One of the best rendition from this set is the one for ''Foxy Lady'' and ''Hey Joe''.

Even the huge ''Red House'' is not at all memorable here.

This is not a great recording, I'm afraid. For die-hard fans only. Two stars.