Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 26, 1993 TAG: 9311290171
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By JIM FARBER NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
``All the current guitar heroes talk about Hendrix and so the younger fans check him out,'' explains one of the key promoters of the Hendrix myth - his former manager, Alan Douglas.
Small wonder one of the industry's most prominent boosters of new music, the CMJ convention, features an exhibit at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel saluting Hendrix' old music, ``Jimi Hendrix: On the Road Again.''
The youthful Hendrix surge also explains an all-star tribute album to the legend, which arrived this month - ``Stone Free'' - featuring covers by fresh acts like Belly and P.M. Dawn, as well as old brand names Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. Another tribute album has just come out, with all vocal parts sung by ex-Bad Company shouter Paul Rodgers. In addition, MCA recently snapped up the rights to Hendrix' music from Warner Bros. and just reissued his first three albums with all new art work.
If that's not enough, there's also a brand-new, all-flute version of Hendrix' music (called ``Third Stone From the Sun,'' by Robert Dick).
According to Douglas, the results of the PolyGram survey prompted the company to put together an ``Ultimate Experience'' best-of record (released here by MCA), which nine months after its release remains on Billboard's Top 200 and now approaches gold. To promote the album, Douglas cooked up the ``Hendrix'' exhibit, which features not just videos of Hendrix' performances but an interactive contraption (which lets you refigure the guitarist's work). Of course, since Hendrix is an industry, you can also find lots of T-shirts and tchotchkes to buy in the exhibit.
Not all Hendrix aficionados think such merchandising-rich efforts serve the guitarist well. ``Why not just buy his records and enjoy them?'' asks Eddie Kramer, who engineered Hendrix' classic albums.
Still, it was Kramer who instigated the tribute record. According to the engineer, the main point of his album is to show that ``Hendrix was not only the greatest guitar player of all time but a marvelous composer. You can give his songs to half a dozen musicians and they'll come up with as many different performances.''
It's more than songwriting, however, that accounts for Hendrix' endurance. ``The younger generation are attracted to Jimi because of his purity. He was such a maverick,'' says Kramer.
Over the years, such purity has been sullied by an endless stream of exploitive live releases. ``Let's face it,'' says the engineer. ``There's an audience out there that if Hendrix farted, they'd buy it.''
Douglas agrees, confirming that neither the rehash nor the worship is likely to die soon. ``Maybe some day some young guy will come along and capture our imagination the same way,'' he explains. ``Then Jimi can rest in peace.''
by CNB