Stages

What more could a Hendrix fanatic searching for the ultimate live Jimi experience ask for? The 1991 box set Stages contains a total of 4 CDs, each containing one full concert from the years 1967 (in Stockholm), '68 (Paris), '69 (San Diego), and '70 (recorded in Atlanta just two months before his death). Many Hendrix fans already owned bootlegged copies of these concerts, but this was the first time that they were released officially, in crystal clear sound and with informative liner notes. The four discs are an obviously interesting musical journey, showing the rapid musical transformation of Hendrix from showman to serious virtuoso. And although there is a bit of overlap on the discs ("Purple Haze" rears its head on all four), the versions of the repeated songs are strikingly different.