i was around 12 or 13 when i heard MACHINE GUN for the first time. i remember staring at the stereo for all ten minutes of it, mesmerized by the screaming and wailing that was coming out of the speakers. i never heard anything like that before. THIS is THE version of machine gun that was recorded on new year's eve 69/70 at the filmore east. this is the one that is on the band of gypsies record. the one i heard when i was 12. it is the ultimate protest song. i can't think of one more beautiful. jimi hits one single note at about 4;30 that seems to descend out of a hole in the universe and comes crashing down from some unfathomable height like a bomb that will end all of time. having heard this i couldn't believe my eyes when i saw jimi playing it with all the calm and serenity of an indian chief before a fire, a medicine man, a mystic...a messenger, a greater force. jimi hendrix was 25 or 26 years old when this was recorded. in a documentary about the concert, two friends of jimi's and fellow black musicians were talking about jimi's music, and they related a story about miles davis, they asked him "MILES, what was it about jimi hendrix's music?" thinking, if someone could shed light on it's genius, Miles Davis could do it. Miles responded, with his dark smokey voice, real low, cool..."machine guns. machine guns" i'm 32 years old now. as i get older JIMI'S music becomes deeper and deeper, more vivid, more inspiring, more shocking, more heartbreaking, sexier, wilder, more profound. there is life in those recordings that transcend any type of ordinary rock n roll. jimi tapped into the forces of nature. in doing so he left an energy in our dimension that still expands and glows. meanwhile, 'dem bullets still fly.