Rating: 
Summary: A great introduction at length to the Hendrix phenomenon
Review: Although no biography of Jimi Hendrix can ever claim to be "Definitive", this book is extremely thorough, covers just about every angle you could want, and is chock full of pictures.
Rating:
Summary: Jimi Fans Rejoice!
Review: An exhaustive biography, lacking in lurrid details, but filled instead with the story of Jimi's life, and how his life affected his music. It seems to me that this author decided that, since most people are interested in Jimi Hendrix for his music, then took that to be the perspective from which this book is written. The narrative is good, and the pictures are very nice. However, the most amazing part of this book is the appendices, which take up a full third of the book. They cover all the equipment that Jimi used, and a tremendous list of releases both official and otherwise. The amount of information included in this book is amazing, although some of it is now a bit dated. Hightly recommended for Jimi fans and guitar equipment wonks of all kinds.
Rating:
Summary: A must have handbook for the Jim Hendrix fanatic. GET IT!
Review: Considering that this book was co-written by the man who runs the Hendrix Information Centre, Ceasar Glebbeek, it is a guarantee that this book will be as informative as possible. This bible of Jimi Hendrix has a complete discography which I and many fans alike refer to on a daily basis. Daily accounts of his life, gutar guide equipment guide, you name it this book has it. To put it bluntly this has everything you need from a wonderfully objective viewpoint that tells the story how it should be told.
Rating:
Summary: A must have handbook for the Jim Hendrix fanatic. GET IT!
Review: Considering that this book was co-written by the man who runs the Hendrix Information Centre, Ceasar Glebbeek, it is a guarantee that this book will be as informative as possible. This bible of Jimi Hendrix has a complete discography which I and many fans alike refer to on a daily basis. Daily accounts of his life, gutar guide equipment guide, you name it this book has it. To put it bluntly this has everything you need from a wonderfully objective viewpoint that tells the story how it should be told.
Rating:
Summary: have you ever been experienced?
Review: electric gypsy was incredible, though i do wish that it had spent a little more time on his influences & how he was so influencial. the author(s) were extremely unpretentious & did not write this book in a biased manner. i didn't realize at first how much of an influence his [deceased since he was fifteen] mother was on his writing & composing. i didn't just skim through this at all, & some of what i read kind of smacked me in the face. i mean, the sacrificing of the guitars was not the only thing that attracted me to this man. in fact, he didn't even do it that often, which made it that more sacred. sure it "turns me on", but i'd have preferred him doing these types of theatrics at his own will, & not by the pleads of the audience. the theatrics weren't the only things that shadowed over his true credibility & genius; the cliche lifestyle of the rock musician helped to "fool" those who didn't know him enough. i'm going to take a break now from researching about him, by the means of biographies & whatnot. i enjoyed this book so much because it was honest & showed that he was just as human as you & me. he was also more sensitive & self-concious than you might presume. if i was lucky enough to have been alive during that era, & had been able to attend an experience or gypsy show, i sure as hell wouldn't be hollering for him to play this-or-that song. i'd want him/them to play what they felt was right for that moment, for that atmosphere, for that audience. i'd especially want to close my eyes & devour all of those improvised notes & riffs that f-cking poured out of his heart. we've still got the music, of course, & we always will... but we'll also never stop wishing he would've stuck around a little longer. a lot of times the phrase "just think of what he/she could've done" is overused, but it's totally appropriate when applied to jimi. like said in the movie "the jerk", haha, i wouldn't care if he was the colour of a baboon's a$$ -- the colour of his music was merely undefinable. highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: have you ever been experienced?
Review: electric gypsy was incredible, though i do wish that it had spent a little more time on his influences & how he was so influencial. the author(s) were extremely unpretentious & did not write this book in a biased manner. i didn't realize at first how much of an influence his [deceased since he was fifteen] mother was on his writing & composing. i didn't just skim through this at all, & some of what i read kind of smacked me in the face. i mean, the sacrificing of the guitars was not the only thing that attracted me to this man. in fact, he didn't even do it that often, which made it that more sacred. sure it "turns me on", but i'd have preferred him doing these types of theatrics at his own will, & not by the pleads of the audience. the theatrics weren't the only things that shadowed over his true credibility & genius; the cliche lifestyle of the rock musician helped to "fool" those who didn't know him enough. i'm going to take a break now from researching about him, by the means of biographies & whatnot. i enjoyed this book so much because it was honest & showed that he was just as human as you & me. he was also more sensitive & self-concious than you might presume. if i was lucky enough to have been alive during that era, & had been able to attend an experience or gypsy show, i sure as hell wouldn't be hollering for him to play this-or-that song. i'd want him/them to play what they felt was right for that moment, for that atmosphere, for that audience. i'd especially want to close my eyes & devour all of those improvised notes & riffs that f-cking poured out of his heart. we've still got the music, of course, & we always will... but we'll also never stop wishing he would've stuck around a little longer. a lot of times the phrase "just think of what he/she could've done" is overused, but it's totally appropriate when applied to jimi. like said in the movie "the jerk", haha, i wouldn't care if he was the colour of a baboon's a$$ -- the colour of his music was merely undefinable. highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: The Only REAL Hendrix Biography...
Review: Forget about the photo-filled leaflets produced by McDermott/Kramer and Mitch Mitchell. "Electric Gypsy" is the only "real" Hendrix biography available. Shapiro avoids the usual trap of obsessing over his subject, and gets down to the business of telling the story of an amazing life. Even more incredibly, Shapiro writes in such matter-of-fact language that Jimi's life seems real. A far cry from the cosmic freakshow that is Michael Fairchild (see the liner notes to "Blues"). Yes, Jimi Hendrix was human. "Electric Gypsy" portrays him as a human, not a god. If you want to read about Jimi's life without the clutter of some massive cosmic conspiracy, start here.
Rating:
Summary: The Only REAL Hendrix Biography...
Review: Forget about the photo-filled leaflets produced by McDermott/Kramer and Mitch Mitchell. "Electric Gypsy" is the only "real" Hendrix biography available. Shapiro avoids the usual trap of obsessing over his subject, and gets down to the business of telling the story of an amazing life. Even more incredibly, Shapiro writes in such matter-of-fact language that Jimi's life seems real. A far cry from the cosmic freakshow that is Michael Fairchild (see the liner notes to "Blues"). Yes, Jimi Hendrix was human. "Electric Gypsy" portrays him as a human, not a god. If you want to read about Jimi's life without the clutter of some massive cosmic conspiracy, start here.
Rating:
Summary: A great introduction at length to the Hendrix phenomenon
Review: From a sheer factual standpoint, this is the best book on Hendrix to date. It covers the key events in an impressively unbiased manner. Where the book fails is in its lack of analysis. e.g. Why was Hendrix such an innovator? What accounts for his ongoing popularity and reverence by other musicians? There is also little mention of his skills as both a songwriter and rhythm guitarist, which, in my view are amoung his real strong points. I'd also like to see an updated version of the book covering events since his family won control of his estate and commentary on some of the recently released recordings. Despite my criticisms, this would make a good starting place for anyone interested in Hendrix.
Rating: 
Summary: Factually complete but lacks in-depth analysis.
Review: From a sheer factual standpoint, this is the best book on Hendrix to date. It covers the key events in an impressively unbiased manner. Where the book fails is in its lack of analysis. e.g. Why was Hendrix such an innovator? What accounts for his ongoing popularity and reverence by other musicians? There is also little mention of his skills as both a songwriter and rhythm guitarist, which, in my view are amoung his real strong points. I'd also like to see an updated version of the book covering events since his family won control of his estate and commentary on some of the recently released recordings. Despite my criticisms, this would make a good starting place for anyone interested in Hendrix.
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