Jimi Hendrix’ last regular album came about because of contract performance demands that are hard to imagine today from a previous engagement as a guitarist with Curtis Knight.
By the time Hendrix was forced to pay off his debt with a live record, his legendary experience had already crumbled. Bassist Billy Cox replaced Noel Redding, Buddy Miles replaced drummer Mitch Mitchell.
Funky grooves and an album with power
“Band Of Gypsys” remained a rather unloved Hendrix album, the reviews were polite. In fact, you can hear it as the big bang of funk rock: A mighty bass groove opens the album, Hendrix picks it up, strolling left and right, but “Who Knows” never loses its funky flow, including the monolithic blues scheme.
Machine Gun then continues what began at Woodstock with The Star-Spangled Banner: an incantation, a riot, a declaration of war. The second side falls off but doesn’t lessen the impact of the embarrassment album that became the ending point for Hendrix and the starting point for Funkadelic.