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Alan Douglas. Wow! Am I conflicted about this guy. His jazz career as a producer is almost as controversial as his production credits after Hendrix's death. So faced with the fact that I originally thought this guy was a ghoul feeding on the last vestiges of Jimi's genius, I shunned most of his output related to Hendrix's unfinished recordings.
So decades have passed and the Earth has cooled considerably. Just like Mother Earth, I also have cooled considerably. So after more than a quarter century, I chose to obtain a copy of "Voodoo Soup". I found a like-new used cd and pulled the trigger. Thank you Alan Douglas. This offering is a true pleasure.
In my early adult years, I did more than just sniff disdainfully at the dish water that I thought was Voodoo Soup. As a firmly ensconced senior citizen, I find nearly limitless joy at the incredibly rich gumbo that is Voodoo Soup.
So if the scales have fallen from my eyes, then why the waffling on a Five Star review? In my opinion, Douglas applied a bit too much "craft" to the "artistic" diamonds in the rough that Jimi left unpolished. Alan was a bit too sure that his vision for producing gems from rough-cut stones was The Way. It seems at times to make the music too much of an Alan Douglas production, rather than fashioning them in the form that the composer intended.
What an ass I am! I expect A.D. to be not only Sisyphus, but he also has to be a psychic Sysyphus. He must read the mind of a dead man and follow his instructions from beyond the grave. No posthumously produced work of art is going to be exactly as the creator intended. Douglas did not always hit his targets with such near-perfection as exhibited herein. Even so, with Voodoo Soup he scores above 4.5, but less than 4.8.
That is one old man's take on this item. Please, get a copy for yourself and crank it through some great period loudspeakers. Next, ride around in your Aeromobile with the Coupe de Ville engine and the super-class auto sound system with the butt-massaging bass shakers set at 9.0 on the Richter Scale. Then, slip into your at-home recliner and put this cd through some decent noise-cancelling headphones (not wimpy ear buds). While at home in your easy chair, add to the sensory experience with any legal intoxicant (your local laws may vary) and you too can turn back the hands of time. As a tee-totaller myself, I still find this recording to be hippie-esque in a very good way.
Final note: I am still not a major fan of the cover art. It could be so much worse than it is. Yet, it does absolutely nothing negatively to the music contained within. Let each listener be his own critic. Enjoy!
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