JIMI HENDRIX: ELECTRIC CHURCH, a new documentary film about the music legend’s Atlanta Pop set and the circumstances surrounding it, will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 30th through Sony Music Entertainment Australia, Experience Hendrix L.L.C. and Legacy Recordings.
The film documents the massive festival hailed then as the ‘Southern
Woodstock’ and recognized now as the last great US Rock Festival. The
film presents the story of how rock music’s burgeoning festival culture
descended en masse to the tiny rural village of Byron, Georgia and
witnessed Hendrix’s unforgettable performance.
The film details the efforts by Atlanta promoter Alex Cooley to
create the definitive music festival. Cooley secured such talent as Bob
Seger, BB King and the Allman Brothers, but Hendrix was the critical
component he needed to elevate the three day festival to a major
cultural event. ELECTRIC CHURCH features interviews with Hendrix’s
Experience band mates Billy Cox and the late Mitch Mitchell as well as
Paul McCartney, Steve Winwood, Rich Robinson, Kirk Hammett, Derek
Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, festival organizer Alex Cooley and many others.
The film contains breathtaking, color 16mm footage of Jimi Hendrix’s
Independence Day appearance, a mere ten weeks before his untimely
passing. Standout performances include such Hendrix classics as “Hey
Joe,” “Voodoo Child (Slight Return),” “Purple Haze,” as well as
confident, compelling versions of songs such as “Room Full Of Mirrors,”
“Freedom,” and “Straight Ahead” that had not yet been issued by Jimi on
an Experience album, but were intended to be part of the album he was
working on that summer. “The Star Spangled Banner,” played against a
backdrop of exploding fireworks, is another highlight, which Cooley
recalls as having “knocked peoples’ socks off.
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