Its one of those myths that refuses to die. Did Jimi Hendrix really jam with the nascent ELP backstage at the Isle of Wight rock festival in 1970, and if so was it recorded? And does the tape still exist?
Notice, the question isn't, were they any good? What songs did they play? Or even were they all sober enough to pick up their instruments? Because the state of the music doesn't really matter to the true believer; just the possibility that this tape exists is a rock music Holy Grail.
About the only tape that is more legendary is the one which is still rumoured to exist of The Beatles playing I feel Fine in the pool room at Gracelands with Elvis on bass. It seems probable that it happened, but also almost certain that the event was never recorded.
I recently found an interview from February this year, where someone called M.J.Davis interviewed Greg Lake:
MD: Is it true that Mitch Mitchell from the Jimi Hendrix Experience tried out to be the drummer, but when he came to your jam session or your try out if you will, he had brought with him a full arsenal of guns and weapons?
GL: No it is terrible how these stories get twisted. I think when we got back from America to London, I met with Mitch Mitchell because the Experience was breaking up. It had broken up and Jimi Hendrix had gone off doing his band of gypsy thing. I realized that Mitch was a great drummer. I thought I would talk to him. I said why don’t you come out to my apartment in London and we will have a chat.
The knock came at the door and there was this guy I did not recognize. It was Mitch’s roadie or roadie/bodyguard. Anyway they both came in. I was talking to Mitch saying hello and nice to see you and how are you doing and all of a sudden the guy that was with him, the bodyguard put a gun on the table. I looked, it was almost like a message, I thought what is all this about. I looked at him and looked back at Mitch and he said, Oh don’t bother about that. He is just with me. I think what it was is that in those early days with Jimi, there might have been some of the bad guys around and maybe he thought he needed protecting. I really don’t know. I never asked him.
Mitch himself by the way, just so it is clear was a lovely, lovely man. He was very, very kind, gentle and a fabulous musician of course. I think it was really more a sort of bravado of part. So that was the beginning and end of that story. Mitch had suggested getting Jimi together and doing a jam together with Keith with a future maybe of a four piece band. We all thought that was a good idea. It must have been the next day or the day after that when I got a call from Robert Stickwood [sic] and he had suggested a drummer, Carl Palmer, who he knew. I think he represented his band at the time, Atomic Rooster I believe or the Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Anyway for some reason he thought that Carl would be suitable for us. So we said okay we will see him. We put a session together a couple of days later.
Carl came down and played and it was obvious from the moment he really started playing that the chemistry was right. It just felt right. No one really needed to say anything. It was obvious to all three of us that the music, the energy of the music, and the effort in it was the right chemistry. The decision was made almost on the spot that this was the band. Really we never got around to playing with Mitch and sadly not long after that Jimi died. So we really never followed that through. We found Carl and so that was the beginning and end of it really.
MD: Gotcha. Obviously, all the tumblers in the lock just clicked at that point in time. Since we are talking about the Jimi Hendrix Experience, is it also true that Jimi actually wanted to be in the band so that instead of being called ELP, it would be H.E.L.P., like help.
GL: No. People decided that, we had intended to get together for a jam. We instantly realized the significance of the letters and so of course that was how the rumor started. Someone in the press came up with the idea of H.E.L.P. That was it. There was never anything from us or as far as I know from Mitch. It was just something that the press picked up on and ran with.
MD: They spun a rumor.
GL: I think so.
You can read the rest of this fascinating interview at this link:
http://horizonpresscompany.com/news/?p=2530
Although I would love to believe that Greg Lake is lying, I cannot imagine any possible reason why he should do so. So I am afraid that the story, like the one of The Beatles reforming in the mid 1970s to make a psychedelicish record under the guise of Canadian band Klaatu is probably erroneous. But it is dreams like this that keep one going in this ever increasingly complicated world...
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