Where as Seven Woods is more an acoustic freak-folk affair that often has eastern styled leanings, Seven Woods is a much more a band record that rocks a whole lot more. There’s still acoustic guitar in there but it’s hammering out a rhythm underneath the electric guitar as it weaves out twisted psychedelic solos that reminds me of the Jimi Hendrix song Free Spirit.
For years I wasn’t sure if Free Spirit even was a Jimi Hendrix song. I got it on a bootleg called Fire that had some Live recordings of classic songs like Voodoo Child (Slight Return) and Purple Haze along with a couple of instrumental songs.
The reason why I’ve never been sure if the instrumental songs were played by the Jimi Hendrix Experience is that I’d bought another Hendrix bootleg from the same shop in Stratford that had a few songs that certainly weren’t Hendrix. Maybe Hendrix played in the backing band of the version of Bessie Mae but it certainly isn’t him singing. That CD also had some live recordings including a storming eight minute version of Red House and a song called Morrison’s Lament which features Jim Morrison drunkenly shouting rubbish over a laboured jam. Free Spirit was given an official release in 1998 on a compilation of Jimi Hendrix rarities.
Back to Voice Of Seven Thunders, it's an album well worth checking out and I look forward to whatever voices of seven Rick Tomlinson does next.
Voice Of Seven Thunders: The Burning Mountain mp3 here
