Jimi Hendrix:Jimi Plays Berkeley

Hodge-podge editing and no new surprises here
Clocking in at a woeful 56 minutes, this DVD represents only a fraction of the two concerts JImi performed on May 30, 1970. The packaging itself comes with a nice booklet that explains the background on how the concert was filmed, and the events that unfolded with it after JImi's unfortunate demise. The only 'real' bonus footage is a complete 5.1 surround sound audio for Jimi's second concert (which is essentially a different mix to the newly released Jimi Plays Berkeley CD, also available.)

In all fairness, the sound for the video has been substantially overhauled. But, the haphazard edits and shaky camera movements that plagued the original documentary (rockumentary?) still exist. One would have figured that today's technology could have at least fixed the 'shaky camera' problems, but I digress.
Pciture quality is clean - though one can clearly see the limitations of the original equipment used to record the show. Given that it's one of only a handful of live Hendrix videos...

THEY DID THE BEST WITH WHAT THEY FOUND
The 2012 extended version is similar to the 2003 release but there actually is new footage of Hendrix in the 2012 extended version. I can pick out some differences.

1) The 2003 intro with credits has "Pass It On" being dubbed over it as the camera pans across the stage passing Mitch playing on his drum set and pass the amplifiers before stopping at an illustration of Jimi. In the 2012 release it shows this same panning but the audio is the actual audio of the footage. It turns out the actual song that they were playing in that clip was "Machine Gun" and not "Pass It On" because the panning then continues after the Jimi illustration to show the real Jimi rehearsing on "Machine Gun".

2)In the 2012 release the footage of Jimi inside the limo is dubbed over with commentary from someone talking about Jimi as a performer which is ok because you hear the people in the limo say little to nothing anyway.

3) In the 2012 release there is 1970 film footage of...

FINALLY JIMI PLAYS BERKLEY ON DVD
This DVD is a favorite not just to me but alot of people out there Hendrix fans mostly. I ordered this DVD from amazon and recieved it a few days latter. I loved the DVD I mean of course it was just like the orginal JIMI PLAYS BERKLEY but the sound quality was unbelieveable. JIMI PLAYS BERKLEY was never released on DVD until now the music is so vibrant this is a must have for you Hendrix fans (including me). The bonus features are all audio but the thing that brings this DVD to 5 stars is not just the music but The booklet which gives you an inside on the filmmakers and the story behind JIMI PLAYS BERKLEY +plus very rare photos in the booklet hope you enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!

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