What’s up Sorry State readers? I hope everyone is having a nice week. A few months ago, I subscribed to the Third Man Records Vault program because they were releasing a live Billy Strings album I wanted. I’m not really one to do these vinyl subscription things, so it was gonna be a kind of one and done deal cause you can just sign up for one and then cancel your subscription. Of course, though, I forgot to actually cancel my subscription. Luckily for me, though, they announced the next release, and it was a live Jimi Hendrix record, Valley of Jams 1969 - 1970, so it ended up working out. I had kinda forgotten about it, but it arrived this past Monday and I got to blast it and I’m happy to report that it’s awesome. I didn’t realize the entire thing is all just instrumental jams (I guess the name should’ve given it away) but if you know me, I have no issue with that at all, especially if it’s Jimi doing the jamming. It’s a triple LP set, so it’s roughly two hours of Jim just absolutely shredding. It also sounds amazing too, every instrument really just jumps out and sounds so crisp. All the songs are taken from a bunch of different live shows from ‘69-‘70, which I always think is cool cause when you’re playing 15+ minute versions of songs, they’re bound to sound different from night to night and have their own personal feel to them. It’s hard to pick highlights or favorite tracks on here because there’s not a bad one on here, but I really love Jam 292 and any version of Izabella. This release also includes a 7” which has Midnight Lightning (the only track with lyrics) on the A-side, and Beginnings - Take 5 on the B-side, another banger instrumental. Overall, a great release and I’m happy to add it to my collection. I’ll always gladly take more live Jimi.
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