Rating: 
Summary: Sure it isnt the best, but it's HENDRIX
Review: I agree with others that this is not the best Hendrix you can find, but the world is short on Hendrix performances. I enjoy watching even BAD Jimi Hendrix... the guy always had the ability to amaze me, and he still does. I would be happy to sit through 2 hours (...) to see him hit a groove for 5 mins. If I had 20 different live shows to choose from, I would be a lot more picky.
Rating: 
Summary: One great show, one great man
Review: I found the DVD version of Jimi - Live At The Isle Of Wight to be great. The picture quality is fantastic, much better than the laserdisc version. I was a little disapointed to see some of the tracks on this video edited. For example. Pieces of Machine Gun were cut to make it shorter. Also with Voodoo Chile, Slight Return. I was glad to hear All Along The Watchtower amd Spanish Castle Magic. These two tracks did not appear on the audio CD of this show. Over all it is a great buy if you are a Hendrix fan.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Despite Shortcomings
Review: I have read all the reviews and I think a lot of people here are kidding themselves. This is Hendrix and no matter how sloppy he plays, compared to anyone else, ever, he blows them away. The band as a whole fail but the guitar work is still incredible. There are many excellent songs in this concert - not just Red House. Machine Gun is awesome despite somebody's review saying it was trying to listen to. If you listen to Machine Gun over and over you'll hear the most wicked riffs that you didn't appreciate at first and the general theme of this version and attack on the guitar is beyond anyone elses ability. And it's got a different feel sort of like a funeral procession instead of a battlefield because Mitch is on the drums instead of Buddy. Yes, compared to the Band of Gypsys version it falls short but it is still wicked. Raw and aggressive is what this version is and it's what you should appreciate as a Hendrix fan. It's excellent despite some minor timing errors. Dolly Dagger has some of the most precise guitar work I've ever heard. Watch for his guitar phrasing as he sings on this song - pretty tricky stuff. In From The Storm has an aggressive style and wicked riffs that any Hendrix fan should fully appreciate. Forget the band and gig as a whole because it doesn't work but if you love Hendrix then do yourself a favour and check out his guitar work. This could well be one of his worst performances but it still puts all other guitarists in their place. By the way, Hendrix wasn't dying at this stage in his life and the bloke who wrote a review saying he had liver problems and was on his way out anyway is wrong and I don't know what autopsy report he was looking at. Anyone who knows liver disease would know the symptoms are highly visible and Hendrix showed none. Get the facts right. The real reasons for his less than stellar performance are the long and late travelling time to get to the Isle of Wight and the freezing temperatures and the equipment troubles. You try and play your best when it's nearly zero degrees and you're tired as a dog. Also, the security guards walkie talkies are coming through Hendrix's amps all throughout the gig and this serves to tick him off more than anything. There's also a complete lack of sustain due to the poor sound setup by the organisers. This probably accounts for a lot of the bad reviews that people have given on this gig as without sustain Hendrix doesn't quite sound as fluent but he's trying to compensate for the lack of sustain with his fingerwork which is quite remarkable. You'll see him have a couple of words to his roadie during a solo regarding the lack of sustain. You will also notice his guitar work improve as his hands warm up but those stupid security guards just keep talking. It's a real shame they didn't include New Rising Sun / Hey Baby in the film footage because along with the Band Of Gypsys version of Machine Gun it goes a long way to show why Hendrix was so far above any other guitarist and most musicians in terms of techincal ability, imagination, and composition.
Rating:
Summary: Over edited, but still indispensible (DVD)
Review: I join Michael C. Young's complaints concerning the editing of this footage (see his customer review of May 7, 2000). I can't, however, join his final judgment. Young's review may be a little misleading. First, although hefty solos were indeed cut, the cuts are pretty clean and the editors left in lots and lots of extended solos in between nearly every verse of the best songs. Second, Young's review may give some the impression that this film is like so many other unfortunate visual records of Hendrix performances, bits and pieces of music woven into the fabric of whatever narrative/interview neccessity the project advanced. (Think just about any Hendrix "film" you've seen). Not so. The songs all have beginnings, middles, and ends, and where solos are cut, the songs aren't interrupted with inane, self-serving interviews with folks whose fifteen were up long, long ago. Third, and probably much more controversially, I would argue that, because we know for a FACT that Hendrix himself was highly self-critical, that he used concerts as much as the studio to work out his improvisational vocabulary for a given song, and that he had no idea that this was going to be more or less his last documented guitar playing, maybe the cuts were made in the interests of creating a cleaner account of the songs. I can't say that I would agree with the choices made. Young's point on "Machine Gun" is absolutely right. But I don't agree that the neccessity of editting itself was either shameful or somehow heretical, as Young seems to suggest. This is not a biographical document. It is the document of a concert. That's why I think that, while Young makes good points, the film is not nearly as bad as he says it is. Plus, if you've got the DVD version, you've got access to a marriage of sound a visuals that just haven't been available before. I give it four stars because, for the "serious" fan or curious fan (there can be no "casual" Hendrix fan), the DVD version of this release has over an hour of visionary guitar playing. Since I wouldn't hold my breath for any less edited release (especially now that it's committed to DVD), I think this will more than "have to do." The improvisations preserved on this recording are as intense and masterful as anything currently available. Add to that the simple fact that this is a visual document of Jimi playing less than 3 weeks before his death, and a wonder it was, thank God, and I just say you've got to have it. That all being said, it is a shame that so much was left behind. Alas.
Rating:
Summary: Any Hendrix is better than no Hendrix
Review: I read the reviews of those who complain about video and audio quality, or of Jimi's poor performance. To these people, please consider this. As for video and audio, this was done over 30 years ago, and for Jimi's performance? The man was dying. One report said if he didn't die accidently only 18 days after this concert, he would have soon because an autopsy report said his liver was gone. So, give this video a break and don't view it as entertainment but as historical. My only complaint is to those who have had the opportunity to film and record Jimi and are sitting on their historical footage for unknown reasons. Please release your treasure to the rest of us. Maybe this will help you to understand how the true Hendrix fan thinks, "When we get money, we buy everything Hendrix, if there's any left we buy food." Play on.
Rating:
Summary: Sizzling, searing hot sound-action; didn't it flip me!
Review: If you've never seen this tape, please stop wasting time right now and go hot for it! Maybe Hendrix at this late stage in his career is not the "wild man of pop" he was two/three years before, smashing guitars, amps, going wild all over stage. But this is where there is the sound attack! From the time he climbs on stage sound-pictures start flowing off your small screen in a pretty mean manner! First you see Jimi talking to his axe, then the axe starts talking to you - it's absolutely impossible not to be blown into space! Hey, I been away from that video too long, writing this... let me dash back to go watch it again....
Rating:
Summary: One of his last performances
Review: In rock music, the difference between a great performance and a bust can be razor thin. Which was this? You can see Jimi talking, while playing, clearly concerned about something. In All Along the Watchtower, the dreamy tones of the studio version is replaced by a powerful, high distortion version. On top of everything else, he briefly forgets the words. Was this a great performance relete with spontanaity or was Hendrix, a little more than two weeks before his death due to a drug overdose, starting to lose it? I don't know but one thing I do know, I am captivated by the performance. I liked observing the small things such as his switching from his signature stratocaster to a flying V. Quite frankly, I hadn't been aware that he p[erformed with a V so this was a revelation. If you are a Hendrix fan, this DVD will fascinate you. If not, I doubt that it will make you into a fan.
Rating:
Summary: HENDRIX - ALWAYS AMAZING
Review: Mind-blowing video, Hendrix shreds continuously throughout, nice version of God Save the Queen to open up. Cool look into the making of the Isle of Wight Concert as well... Jimi plays a nice selection from Red House to Dolly Dagger, and does a great version of Freedom. All along the Watchtower is very moving and insightful into Jimi's interpretation of Dylan. Machine Gun is outlandishly powerful. Jimi looks cool...in his Red kimono with bells. He electrified the crowd like the who did the night before. The only drawback of this video is that they edited... out... this performance which would anger any true fan wanting to see the whole show...
Rating: 
Summary: excellent concert -- pitiful editing
Review: My favorite Hendrix concert, bar none -- but what a terrible job Alan Douglas did when editing this concert. Half the songs aren't there, and the ones that are, are all chopped down by the edge of Alan's hand. Wait till "Blue Wild Angel" is released (November 12th, 2002). It contains most of the songs in their original order (the ones not included were not filmed). Also, a double disc set featuring EVERY song from the concert makes its North American debut November 12th, as well. Check the "Experience Hendrix" website for more info.
Rating:
Summary: James Marshall Hendrix, Unparalleled Rock Guitar Genius
Review: The concensus among fans seems to be that this is far from Jimi Hendrix's best filmed performance, and I would concur with that assessment. If you are only going to buy one Hendrix concert on DVD, you will be much happier with "Jimi Hendrix Live at Woodstock." On the other hand, if you are a true Hendrix fan, or a collector, "Live at the Isle of Wight" will be a valued addition to your collection because you know that any opportunity to see the most talented rock guitarist ever to sling an axe across his shoulder on film is a delight, if only for the part it plays in the documentation of rock history. Keep in mind that this is the guitarist who probably inspired more than one of a circle of British artists then widely considered guitar gods to contemplate giving up playing guitar as they sat in the audience, slack-jawed and wondering how this genius got those sounds to come out of his guitar, when they saw Hendrix perform in the UK. They knew they would never be as good as Hendrix.
Though they have their moments of brilliance, the performances on this DVD are routine at best, lazy and lackluster at worst and, as has been stated so many times before, the concert was plagued with equipment problems. But a routine performance by Jimi Hendrix would be rated phenomenal if turned in by any other artist. You can see Jimi, several times, trying to tell someone that he can't hear his vocals adequately over the stage monitor, which causes some of the singing to be off-key. Though he does a decent job on it, he forgets the words to "Spanish Castle Magic," one of his masterpieces, and does some on-the-spot improvising. But Hendrix still shines in numerous places on this disc, and it is those places that redeem the concert. Jimi flat-out rips it up, playing his guts out on the solos and bridges of both "Voodoo Chile" and "Red House." My opinion is that "Machine Gun," as it appears on the album 'Band of Gypsies,' is the best live rock recording in the history of music. Another unparalleled musical genius, Miles Davis, expressing his sorrow and regret over Hendrix's death, said he was deeply disappointed at never having had the opportunity to jam with Jimi during his brief but meteoric career. When asked what song he would have liked to collaborate with Hendrix on, Davis replied, in his gravelly voice, "that #%%(*& Machine Gun." But Jimi's performance of that song here suffers because it is abbreviated, lackadaisical, and misses the contribution made by Buddy Miles on the album. Even so, "Machine Gun" features some decent solo work. Other highlights of the show are "Freedom" and "In From the Storm," two very good songs that found their way onto the posthumous release "First Rays of the New Rising Sun."
A rock genius of this magnitude only comes around roughly once every 25 years. After Jimi left the planet, we had to wait until Kurt Cobain came charging onto the scene with Nirvana before such an ingenious knack for rock was displayed by a similarly gifted, and similarly tortured, genius. Both men became possessed the moment they strapped their guitars on. Wanna see Jimi Hendrix possessed? Buy this DVD. Play it. Love it. Set the volume knob on 'tympanic hemorrhage!'
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