Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train A Comin' Blu-ray Movie Review

Cutting through the purple haze.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 18, 2013

Jimi Hendrix is one of a select echelon of Rock Gods whose monolithic legacy is so great that he does indeed seem to be an unreachable, untouchable icon. Scenes of his legendary performances at Woodstock are permanently engraved on the minds of Baby Boomers (and those who came later) everywhere, as are images of Hendrix “eating” his guitar or displaying other similarly flashy stage behavior. And so it comes as something of a shock when one views Hendrix off the stage, in any number of interviews or off the cuff video which are included on the excellent documentary Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train A Comin’, which aired as part of PBS’ typically well done American Masters series. The documentary is relatively exhaustive, tracing Hendrix’s by now already well known history, and it admittedly includes material that most Hendrix fans have probably already seen—repeatedly—but Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train A Comin’ is still a compelling look inside one of the protean talents of that era of rock and, many would argue, of all time. The seeming schism between Hendrix’s stage persona and his private behavior is one of the more fascinating things this documentary sheds at least a little light on. While the stage bound Hendrix was a force of nature, the private Jimi seemed almost agoraphobic, shying away from any contact with the outside world. His interviews reveal a seemingly painfully shy man who was completely ill at ease talking about himself. For Hendrix, any communication was evidently channeled almost solely through his guitar, and of course his mastery of that instrument was able to coax an almost impossibly large “vocabulary” of sounds, indeed almost a complete language. While that kind of genius can probably never be fully revealed, only experienced, Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train A Comin’ attempts to give at least a semblance of the influences which helped to shape Hendrix’s approach to his instrument, and to music in general, while also highlighting the often withdrawn, even fumbling, personality behind the music.

Experience Hendrix has been a kind of interesting study in curating aspects of Jimi’s legacy. Part of this is no doubt due to the protracted battle Hendrix’s family (chiefly his father Al) had to go through to maintain control of Jimi’s catalogue, but the estate has been kind of curiously hit and miss in terms of what it has chosen to release and when, at least on Blu-ray. The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Live at Monterey was released in 2008 with pretty questionable video quality, and Jimi Hendrix: Live at Woodstock (actually distributed by Universal) with marginally better video also debuted that year. But it was a long four years before Jimi Hendrix: Jimi Plays Berkeley, once again sourced from problematic video elements, and Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child, probably the one piece closest in content, tone and spirit to Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train A Comin’, were released. Fans of Voodoo Child may wonder if there’s enough new content in Hear My Train A Comin’ to make it a “must see” and the answer is—yes and no.

There’s simply no getting around the fact that there is some repetitiveness to this entry, as it is after all dealing with a life which has already been amply documented. In this instance, that includes a lot of performance and interview clips that have shown up in previous pieces, notably Voodoo Child. And Hear My Train A Comin’ also uses a similar gambit of quoting liberally from Jimi’s own letters to his father, replete with his handwriting scrawled over whatever archival images are being shown at the same time. Hear My Train A Comin’ does spend perhaps a bit more time clarifying the somewhat dysfunctional aspects of Jimi’s childhood, especially with regard to his partying mother, who tended to disappear for long periods of time, leaving Jimi and his father Al (who is represented here in several archival interview segments) to fend for themselves.

The new footage is, however, quite winning, including several new interviews with a pantheon of other Rock Gods like Paul McCartney. Perhaps lesser lights like Michele Phillips also offer their reminiscences of those heady times, but some of the best material comes from those who actually knew and worked with Jimi, including his longtime manager Chas Chandler, and one of Jimi’s so-called “Auntie Faye”, who has some great memories to impart. Other interview subjects, notably ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, seem—well, outclassed by the subject matter, able to do little other than say, “Yeah, that guy’s a lot better than I’ll ever be”.

One does get a good feel for what Jimi was like in Hear My Train A Comin’, but there are curious deficiencies here nonetheless. The documentary seems to intentionally shy away from any discussion of demons haunting Jimi, and the coverage of his still somewhat mysterious death is almost not covered at all. But Hear My Train A Comin’ is still an extremely worthwhile, watchable enterprise that proves just how influential Hendrix continues to be to this day.

Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train A Comin' Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train A Comin' is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Legacy Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. This documentary was obviously sourced from elements that have varying quality issues, much like previous Hendrix performance and documentary features. The older performance footage, some of it sourced from 16mm, is often pretty soft and grainy looking. As should be expected, still photos and contemporary interview segments pop quite a bit better, though perhaps unexpectedly, even some of the contemporary interview footage varies at least slightly in quality (some of the Chas Chandler sequences don't have the clarity of some of the other newer sequences). Overall, though, this is a good looking documentary that remains true to its varying source elements.

Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train A Comin' Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

While things are definitely opened up more significantly in this Blu-ray DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, there frankly isn't that much difference from the also included LPCM 2.0 mix (at least on the documentary) since the musical elements are typically snippets and even those often have voiceover burying the actual music. Most of this documentary consists of talking heads sequences or other voice work, and there simply isn't that much opportunity to exploit the surround channels as a result. Fidelity is excellent, though, in both of these tracks, and the music elements (including the fantastic supplementary material) sounds absolutely first rate, at least if one takes the recording techniques into account.

Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train A Comin' Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Miami Pop Festival May 18, 1968 (1080i; 23:37) includes interviews along with performances of Fire, Foxy Lady, Tax Free and Rainy Day, Dream Away.


• New York Pop July 17, 1970 (1080i; 22:06) is pure concert footage, though it comes with a disclaimer that the source elements are not in very good shape. This includes Message to Love, Lover Man, All Along the Watchtower, Purple Haze, and Voodoo Child.


• Love and Peace Festival September 6, 1970 (1080i; 16:26) includes Killing Floor, Spanish Castle Magic, All Along the Watchtower and Fox(e)y Lady.


• Top of the Pops March 30, 1967 (1080i; 2:55) features Purple Haze.

Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train A Comin' Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Most Hendrix fans won't find anything too earth shattering in the actual documentary here, as well done as it undeniably is. The big draw here for true Hendrix aficionados is in the supplementary material, which shows Hendrix in full flower in front of a variety of live audiences. But for those new to the Hendrix camp, Hear My Train A Comin' presents a good overview of its subject's life, even if it is curiously silent about some of the star's peccadilloes. Highly recommended.