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General		Extras
Category	Documentary	Menu Animation Booklet CD-Music + Interview
Rating
Year Of Production	?
Running Time	52:57 (Case: 62)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Rajon Vision	Starring	Jimi Hendrix
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Dual
RPI	$29.95	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes, incl Drugs
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Jimi Hendrix is one of the best known names in popular music and certainly one of the best electric guitarists in history (many would say the best). During his short life and career he only released four albums (and one of those was live) and ever since new products have popped up with remarkable regularity, either in the form of officially family endorsed product or other DVDs and CDs of material. This set contains one DVD and one CD but is not part of the family endorsed range of products available. This doesn't mean it's bad or a bootleg, just not 'core' Hendrix material. This release would be of more interest to Hendrix completists rather than people making their first foray into his music. I will discuss the DVD here and the CD in the extras.

    The DVD contains a 52 minute recently produced documentary which includes interviews with a number of people who knew Hendrix personally plus a variety of concert footage, much of it from Rainbow Bridge. The concert footage does NOT include any full songs, just bits and pieces which although interesting is not as desirable as full songs. The interviews have been recorded recently and include some interesting anecdotes, little known facts and other topics of a worthwhile nature such as his move to England, legal issues, money problems, his sound and style, drugs, racism, arrests, his albums and more. Some of the interview candidates seem to have taken a few too many drugs in their time and lapse into gibberish. The interview subjects include Ed Chalpin, a producer who was the first person to sign Hendrix to a contract and produced some of his early recordings mostly with Curtis Knight; Steve Roby, an author and Hendrix archivist; Tony Calder, former co-manager of the Rolling Stones; Gerry Stickles, one of Jimi's tour managers; Keith Altham, a former PR agent; Geno Washington, a UK based soul singer; Chuck Wein, the director of Rainbow Bridge and Melinda Meriweather, one of Jimi's many lovers.

    This show includes some interesting things for Hendrix fans but could not really be described as a comprehensive documentary about the man, his life, music and career. It is a bit too short and all over the place to really be a top class documentary, however, it was still interesting to watch.

Video

    The video quality is very good but as it consists of a mixture of modern and archival footage the quality is obviously a bit variable.

    The feature is mostly presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is probably the original aspect ratio. Some parts are 1.66:1 but still 16x9 enhanced.

    The picture was very clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise. There is no grain in the modern interview footage. The bitrate is generally quite high. The archival footage can be quite grainy and soft although no worse than you would expect.

    The colour was very good during the interview segments and decent during colour archival segments.

    I noticed some microphony and tape tracking issues during the archival footage.

    There are no subtitles.
    

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is decent.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 224 Kb/s.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync.

    The music on the live footage is generally a bit muddy and mono. It is no worse than you would expect but has certainly not been remastered or cleaned up.

    The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    This DVD comes in a well put together package including a large booklet and a bonus CD.

Menu

    The menu was very simple having only one option...'Play'.

Booklet

    A full colour 32 page booklet is included which has many interesting photos of Hendrix plus a well written essay about his life and career. It is a better round-up of Hendrix than the documentary itself is.

Bonus CD

    Also included in the package is a CD featuring 10 songs recorded in 1965 and July 1967 (plus an interview from 1970). They are all tracks from the Curtis Knight sessions produced by Ed Chalpin. Curtis Knight sings but you can certainly hear Hendrix on most tracks. Some are instrumentals. None of this material is essential and is certainly not for the novice to Jimi Hendrix's music, as you would probably be left wondering what the fuss is all about. Included are:

• Happy Birthday (2:20) - 1967.
• You Don't Want Me (3:04) - 1965.
• Hush Now (3:54) - 1967
• Future Trip (2:33) - 1967
• How Would You Feel? (3:14) - 1965
• UFO (2:23) - 1965
• Oddball (3:04) - 1967
• Wah Wah (1:21) - 1967 - Unfinished take of Hush Now
• Flashing (3:46) - 1967
• The Ballad of Jimi (2:27) - 1967
• Interview (29:37) - Recorded in 1970 by John Burks. Other band members are also present.

    This set is coded for all regions and is also available in the UK.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is decent.

    A CD and booklet are also included.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall