#10 Jimi Hendrix (+ Stevie Ray Vaughan bonus)

1991 MusiCards SuperStars #10 brings us to the legendary Jimi Hendrix. Great "in action" shot of Jimi doing his thing. I bet there are some superfans out there who could identify which specific show this was simply by the outfit.

Jimi got 5 different MusiCards in total, with 2 Legends cards, 2 Historic Concerts cards, and 1 promo card.

There you go. I don't really know what else I can say. I've been procrastinating writing up this post for a week now, I suppose because I'm a bit overwhelmed. What can I say? Jimi Hendrix was an amazing guitarist. It's hard to imagine rock music without what he brought to the table.

As for the knocks against his legacy? Well, he unfortunately died young. Would have loved to see what he came up with as he entered his 30s and beyond, but we'll never know. And many folks (including him) thought his singing left something to be desired, but by and large I'm a big fan of his work, including his musicianship and his lyrics/vocals.

Jimi Hendrix - "Like a Rolling Stone" (Monterey)

As a teen in the early 90s, I owned the Ultimate Experience greatest hits collection, as well as his debut, Are You Experienced, on CD. I eventually picked up more of his albums and even a few live bootlegs. That really was some magical shit. While my favorites can mostly be found on his best-of compilations, I also love some of his more obscure stuff, such as his live covers of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "Like a Rolling Stone", and lesser known cuts like "Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)".

Jimi Hendrix - Desert Island Disc

1. May This Be Love
2. Third Stone From The Sun
3. Freedom
4. Izabella
5. Angel
6. All Along The Watchtower
7. Purple Haze
8. Hey Joe
9. The Wind Cries Mary
10. Burning of The Midnight Lamp
11. Crosstown Traffic
12. Castles Made of Sand
13. Manic Depression
14. Little Wing
15. Fire
16. Wait Until Tomorrow
17. Spanish Castle Magic
18. One Rainy Wish
19. Bold As Love
20. Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)
21. 1983 ... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)
22. Like a Rolling Stone (live at the Monterey Pop Festival)
23. Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)
24. Voodoo Chile (Silent Return)

Ok, I had to make some tough calls, but I'm ultimately happy with this 24-track playlist to take with me to the ol' desert island.

As always, I'd be interested in hearing what your favorites are in the comments below, whether I picked them or not.


CUSTOM CORNER

Stevie Ray Vaughan - 1991 MusiCards-That-Never-Were custom (Note that I had a little fun with the photo popping out of the design; Hopefully this doesn't offend any MusiCards purists out there. LOL)

Stevie Ray Vaughan is another big name left out of the 1991 MusiCards set. He had just recently died that previous August in a helicopter crash, so that might've played a part in his exclusion, though it wouldn't have been strange at all to see him in the Legends subset among the likes of his peers Clapton and Hendrix.

One of my favorite SRV tracks is the instrumental cover of Jimi's "Little Wing", so he felt like a good choice to be the custom pairing for this post.

Stevie Ray Vaughan - "Little Wing"

Honestly I didn't really get unto SRV until later in life. I remember kinda liking his hit "Crossfire" in my younger days, but I didn't really check out his stuff until getting ahold of The Essential Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble in my 30s. Like Jimi, he was an incredible guitarist who sadly left us too soon.

All right, keeping this post tight rather than rambling on too much this time. Next up is the other Hendrix card in the Legends subset.

#9 The Doors (+ Creedence bonus)

1991 Pro Set SuperStars MusiCards #9 The Doors

We've made it to the last of the four cards The Doors got in the Legends subset. It features a photo of the band members looking somewhat disinterested whilst standing in front of a brick wall.

I found another photo from the shoot; Must have been snapped just a moment before or after.

The picture used on the back seems to be from the same day as the front photo (same outfits), though in a different setting.

The write-up focuses on Robby Krieger, which is a refreshing change of pace from Jim Morrison getting all the attention, and I suppose sort of makes up for Pro Set mistakenly calling him "Bobby" on the back of one of the previous cards. Krieger is still rocking at 73, recording and performing from time to time. He tossed out the first pitch at a Dodgers game in 2017.

Robby Krieger 2018 Topps First Pitch custom

The Doors - "The End"

"The End" is one of my favorite Doors songs. It kinda blew my mind when I first heard it as a teenager in the mid 90s. Not your typical rock n roll song, clocking in at nearly 12 minutes.

Listening to the song again today while working on this post, it's especially poignant to me having just had to put down our beloved dog Annie earlier this week. Not to harp on it too much, as I've already mentioned it at Baseball Card Breakdown and other social media I'm on, but it's been a tough few days for me and my wife. Annie was such a good girl and such a key part of our lives. Now lines like "I'll never look into your eyes again" can make me tear up a little, but I suppose that's how it goes when you go through a major life event like a big breakup or the loss of a loved one.. songs really seem to speak to you in a personal, intimate way.

Regarding the line "My only friend, the end", Jim Morrison once told an interviewer:

Sometimes the pain is too much to examine, or even tolerate... That doesn't make it evil, though – or necessarily dangerous. But people fear death even more than pain. It's strange that they fear death. Life hurts a lot more than death. At the point of death, the pain is over. Yeah – I guess it is a friend...

Though the pairing didn't come to be until several years after Morrison's death, the song is forever linked with the 1979 film Apocalypse Now, where it features prominently in the score. I generally prefer sticking with comedies or fun adventure flicks, but Apocalypse Now is one of the few "heavy" movies I consider an all-time favorite. I remember back in the late 90s I got ahold of a bootleg 5-hour cut of it on VHS. The quality was terrible, and much of the extra footage was just helicopters flying around for several minutes at a time, but I still thought it was awesome. Then in 2001, Apocalypse Now Redux was released-- an incredible extended re-edit that included the best of what had been cut out of the original version. I own Redux on DVD and pop it in once every few years, revering it as "special occasion" viewing.

CUSTOM CORNER

Believe it or not, there were no MusiCards made for Creedence Clearwater Revival or their frontman John Fogerty. As contemporaries of the Doors, and a band whose music is no stranger to Vietnam War flicks, CCR was the natural choice for the Custom Corner bonus band for today's post.

1991 MusiCards-That-Never-Were Creedence Clearwater Revival custom

Creedence Clearwater Revival -"Wrote A Song For Everyone"

I feel like Creedence is a band that everyone can agree on.. one of those special few bands that have something for everyone. Anyone who flat-out doesn't like CCR needs to take a good hard look in the mirror and ask themselves what the hell's wrong with them. LOL

1. I Put A Spell On You
2. Susie Q
3. Born On The Bayou
4. Proud Mary
5. Green River
6. Commotion
7. Wrote A Song For Everyone
8. Bad Moon Rising
9. Lodi
10. Down On The Corner
11. Cotton Fields
12. Fortunate Son
13. The Midnight Special
14. Effigy
15. Ramble Tamble
16. Lookin' Out My Back Door
17. Run Through The Jungle
18. Up Around The Bend
19. Who'll Stop The Rain
20. I Heard It Through The Grapevine
21. Long As I Can See The Light
22. Have You Ever Seen The Rain
23. Hey Tonight
24. Someday Never Comes

I try to keep these "best of" playlists of mine limited to 20 songs, but had to go a little over here. They cranked out so many great tunes! The band infamously dealt with much internal drama and split ways back in 1972, only reuniting for one-offs for Tom Fogerty's wedding in 1980 and a partial reunion at El Cerrito High School's 20th reunion in 1983 (When I read that, I thought it sounded familiar, and turns out it's the same high school that Pumpsie Green attended, and I've coincidentally been reading through his SABR bio lately). John Fogerty went on to a successful solo career, with hits like the baseball-themed "Centerfield", though didn't reach nearly the same levels of hit production as his CCR heyday.

That just about wraps up this post. We haven't quite seen the end of the Doors on the blog, as they'll pop up again down the line with a concert poster card (#255) plus a card in the UK edition of the set, but in the nearer future, up next is the greatest guitarist of all time.

Any thoughts on Creedence or Apocalypse Now? Please sound off in the comments below.

Creedence Clearwater Revival -"Someday Never Comes"