Ben Harper Turns Guitar Troubles Into Triumph at All Points West

After spending the first 10 minutes of his set fixing puzzling over a malfunctioning guitar with a slew of equally perplexed roadies, Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals got themselves out of jail with an impeccably played and impressively varied set on All Points West's final day. Although the rock-tinged numbers allowed Harper to indulge the guitar-solo lover in him, it was the softer folk-reggae of "Excuse Me Mister" that got the early evening stoners swaying in a lightly bombed unison.

• 
  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
• 
  MOVIES 'Great Gatsby' Is a Crushing Disappointment
• 
  TV Why You Should Watch 'Happy Endings'
• 
  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“All Along the Watchtower”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 1968

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter