Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child Blu-ray Movie Review

Jimi, in his own words.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 10, 2012

Two native Seattlites died within just a few weeks of each other in 1970, but while Frances Farmer’s August death received only passing notice and it was another decade or more before she became a post-mortem legend, Jimi Hendrix’s death in September was front page news and seemed only to immediately magnify the already iconic status of the rock star. In a way, Hendrix’s death also seemed to be an epitaph of sorts for an era of free love and free flowing drugs. While there would continue to be some high profile drug related deaths (Janis Joplin would be found dead a mere month after Hendrix died), somehow Jimi’s demise seemed more indicative of the final throes of a lifestyle, one born out of the turmoil of the sixties and lit with the mind altering fuse of such substances as LSD. No one had ever heard an electric guitar played quite the way Hendrix did (not to mention seen an electric guitar played the way Hendrix did—sometimes with his teeth), and his almost vocal technique was somehow perfectly synaesthetically attuned to a chemically or herbally enhanced listener’s state of mind. What may surprise a lot of people only familiar with Jimi Hendrix through his ferocious guitar playing is how incredibly thoughtful he was. Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child is a remarkable retrospective documentary, made with the assistance and participation of the Hendrix family, that very capably communicates how articulate, intelligent and brilliantly innovative Jimi was. Filled with a lot of incredibly rare archival information, both “found” footage and tons of first person reminiscences and comments by Jimi (voiced by Bootsy Collins) that reveals someone who recognized how groundbreaking he was but who wasn’t into any form of self-aggrandizement. The opening clip, culled from the great old Dick Cavett Show, shows just how self- effacing and downright sweet Hendrix could be. Cavett keeps insisting Hendrix is one of the greatest guitarists in the world, which Jimi responds to with a lowered head and kind of an “aw, shucks” demeanor. Obviously aware of his guest’s discomfort, Cavett revises that to say “greatest guitarist in the studio,” to which Jimi further refines that to say “greatest guitarist sitting in this chair”. (There’s some added unintentional hilarity in this clip—watch additional guest Robert Marcus Welby Young for signs of obvious discomfort that he’s sitting next to such a "creature”.)

Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child takes a fairly chronological look at its subject, though it tends to gloss over some items, perhaps due to the very familial participation mentioned above. There seems to be more than a hint of family dysfunction trundling along throughout Hendrix’s formative years, but it’s given short shrift here, with a few passing comments about how his parents didn’t get along due to his father’s buttoned down, strictly religious persona and his mother’s more freewheeling, partying approach. It’s also kind of odd that his mother’s death when Jimi was only “about 10” (his own words, as if he didn’t exactly know when it happened) seems not to have been that traumatic. It’s interesting, though, to hear Jimi’s own words about his part-Cherokee ancestry and staying on a reservation in British Columbia when he was a child.

Cavett, in another clip from his interview, tells his audience to remember that Jimi was a member of the 101st Airborne before they start writing “hate mail” about Jimi’s iconic rendition of our national anthem. Jimi’s military service is no great secret, but it’s amazing how many younger people have no clue about it. Jimi himself decided it was better to volunteer rather than have the military “reach out and touch” him later, when he felt his music career might be taking off. And so as he puts it, he simply walked into the first recruiting office he saw and volunteered. He ended up in the paratroopers’ brigade, one of the most demanding branches of the military imaginable. He managed to break his ankle in a jump, and he makes no bones about also “exaggerating” a back injury at the same time, something which led to his eventual early discharge. And so finally he was able to pursue music as a full time career. (There’s a very touching letter to his father read here during his boot camp days where he begs his father to send him his guitar as soon as possible because he “needs it bad”.)

Casual fans of Hendrix may also be surprised to find out just how many acts Hendrix played with and for during his journeyman days. But there’s some incredibly visceral verbiage from Hendrix himself about how dissatisfied he was during this time in his life, forced to wear “mohair suits” (and sport “mohair hair”) and play the same thing over and over. But this experience no doubt prepared Hendrix both for his recording career as well as for his volcanic live performances once The Jimi Hendrix Experience took off. It’s perhaps surprising to realize that it was in England that Jimi first managed to attract significant attention. His American superstardom came somewhat later.

Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child breezes through the superstar era with some great clips from Newport and Woodstock, but it perhaps comes up short in the tragic final act of Hendrix’s life. While there’s some nice footage of his “new” group, Band of Gypsys, and some really interesting voiceover about all of his plans for the future, there really isn’t much if any time given to the impact Hendrix had after his death, an impact which has only grown exponentially in the days and years since September 1970. Perhaps that was intentional, though, for Hendrix’s music probably speaks louder than any words ever could.

Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Sony Music and Legacy with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. The video presentation here is dependent on the various source elements, and while the archival footage here varies rather dramatically in quality, overall this Blu-ray looks rather surprisingly good, with decent sharpness and at the very least acceptable contrast and color saturation. Some of the footage is obviously sourced from 8mm and 16mm and suffers somewhat in terms of graininess and general bleed in the color sequences which adds a bit of fuzziness, but the historical importance of this footage so far outweighs any quality issues that it almost seems curmudgeonly to even mention it. Several bridging segments look fantastically sharp, and the stills that are used in abundance also pop with appealing clarity.

Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child features an uncompressed LPCM 2.0 stereo mix that sounds fantastic when we get to hear Jimi and the boys play. The problem here is that virtually every performance here is in an edited form, and some of it features ubiquitous voiceover. That said, the stereo separation here is uncharacteristically wide and really helps to let the listener into the music. The lossless audio also offers Jimi's explosive guitar in all its fury, feedback and all. Fidelity is very strong and dynamic range is quite wide. The voicing of Hendrix's own comments is very clear, and the archival footage featuring Hendrix himself talking also sounds quite spry, especially considering its age.

Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Unfortunately, no supplements of any kind are included on this release (not even an insert booklet is included). Some interviews with Hendrix relatives or curators of the Hendrix Experience would have been appreciated, or even some audio only tracks might have been a great bonus here.

Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child is a fascinating and compelling documentary, even if it doesn't quite delve beneath the surface as far as some might want. The best part of this piece is the first person approach it takes, and the personal commentary from Hendrix, either voiced by him via archival footage or done by Bootsy Collins reading from letters and postcards home to his family, are nothing less than amazing. Hendrix was obviously an uncommonly intelligent man, and his growing spiritual awareness was sadly cut short by his untimely death in 1970. This Blu-ray really could have used some supplemental features to flesh out the main feature, but the fact is the documentary itself is riveting. With expectations set appropriately vis a vis video quality, given the smaller millimeter formats of much of archival footage, this Blu-ray should please fans and perhaps introduce a whole new audience to the remarkable contributions of one of the most legendary figures of 20th century rock. Highly recommended.