Photo: Michael Ochs Archive/Getty

This week brought a ton of Jimi Hendrix excitement: news arrived that the Greatest Guitarist of All Time — who just so happens to be on the cover of Rolling Stone — will be coming soon to Rock Band, and Motörhead’s Lemmy Kilmister sat down to recall his days working as Jimi’s roadie. So let’s break out the Hendrix canon this weekend: name your favorite Jimi tracks and we’ll tally up the votes Monday. The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Band of Gypsys and all those posthumous releases — including the new Valleys of Neptune comp — are all fair game. Here’s five of our favorites as inspiration:

• “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)”
• “Little Wing”
• “1983… (A Merman I Should Turn To Be)”
• “Machine Gun”
• “Manic Depression”

View full post on Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily

Before he became the legendary singer/bassist of Motörhead, Lemmy Kilmister logged time as a roadie for Jimi Hendrix in the late Sixties, prepping his guitars for his explosive performances — and picking up the bits of his destroyed stomp-boxes post-show. In honor of our latest issue chronicling Hendrix’s last days and lost recordings, we caught up with Kilmister at SXSW, where he was promoting the documentary Lemmy, for a look back at his time with the guitar legend. Plus, watch his interview — smokes and drinks included — above.

“I was sleeping on [Jimi Hendrix’s roadie] Neville Chester’s floor — he was sharing a flat with Noel Redding, so whenever they needed an extra pair of hands I was right there. I didn’t get the job for any talent or anything. But I did see Jimi play a lot. Twice a night for about three months. I’d seen him play backstage too. He had this old Epiphone guitar — it was a 12-string, strung as a six string — and he used to stand up on a chair backstage and play it. Why he stood up on the chair, I don’t know.

Experience Jimi Hendrix’ life in photos.
Photo: West/WireImage

“When he performed, he was magic. You would watch him and space and time would stop. After he played, we would have to repair his fuzzboxes because he’d just stomp all over them. And they’d go into bits all over the stage, and you’d have to go fine the bits and put them back together. Fucking murder. He was supposed to be a showman but I think he eventually got sick of it, and when people moaned at him, he’d go into this kind of imitation Jimi Hendrix routing, you know? It wasn’t convincing. That was a shame.

“But Jimi was a really nice guy. And very courteous. If a woman came into the room, he’d shoot to his feet and get a chair out for her. He was old fashioned like that. Good manners don’t cost nothing.”

Go backstage with Motörhead on the band’s 2008 European tour.

Reporting by Steve Appleford.

Related Stories:

• Q&A: Lemmy Kilmister
• Inside Hendrix’s Last Days and Lost Music

View full post on Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily

Last week RS talked up Gorillaz’s Plastic Beach in New Reviews, so today we’re spotlighting Breaking band Broken Bells, a collaboration between the Shins’ James Mercer and Demon Days producer Danger Mouse. The pairing might seem like a strange match, but as Will Hermes writes in his four-star review of Broken Bells, “It turns out the two pop-science geeks are a perfect match. Danger Mouse pushes Mercer’s gorgeous, existential tunecraft outward with Day-Glo dynamics.” Mercer’s lyrics are at their loneliest while Danger Mouse brings beats that sound like “hip-hop for turned-on shut-ins.” The best tracks here at first single “The High Road” and the bouncy “Vaporize.”

Also out this week: a collection of some of the final recordings Jimi Hendrix ever made, presented here as Valleys of Neptune. Of all the unearthed songs on Neptune, the title track is a major highlight, along with the bluesy, horns-soaked “Ships Passing Through the Night” and rerecorded versions Jimi classics “Stone Free” and “Fire.” “Are these tracks ‘finished’ as Hendrix would’ve intended?” Hermes asks in his three-and-a-half star review of Neptune. “Probably not. But as a glimpse of the guitarist extending his reach beyond the Experience trio, it’s thrilling.”

With a new drummer kicking out Zeppelin stomps, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club also return this week with their fifth album Beat the Devil’s Tattoo. BMRC continue their musical odyssey from rock roots to garage goth on their latest disc, which earned a three-star rating from RS. “Devil’s Tattoo is unremittingly grim, and undeniably fun. Few bands wear their frowns so well,” Jody Rosen writes.

For more on all the albums out now, check out Rolling Stone’s Reviews section.

View full post on Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily