BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE
If 60’s Were 90’s RILLY GROOVY MUSIC
Jimi Hendrix gets the acid house treatment.
Although it undoubtedly horrified the purists at the time I recall this album surfacing in the early 90s, and with everyone’s heads full of trance rhythms If 60’s Were 90’s [sic] served as an ideal introduction for young people buoyed by the so-called “second summer of love” to discover the mastery of Jimi Hendrix just as the Love album brought The Beatles to a whole new generation in 2006. However, back in 1992 singer and guitarist Duncan Kane was better known as acid house promoter Du Kane and, together with keyboard player Luke Baldry, had somehow managed to persuade the Hendrix estate to give them leave to remix any of the guitarist’s tracks they wished, and thus, under the banner of Beautiful People, they released their debut album. The LA Times called it “an inspired bit of gravedigging” and listening to it all these years later, its naïve charm remains undiminished as chilled-out beats intertwine with wellknown Hendrix guitar motifs and vocal phrases. Rilly Groovy, which mashes up guitar from Wild Thing, Up The Road and Bleeding Heart along with the bass from Jimi Plays Monterey, was something of a hit for the band in the States. In the UK they were signed to Castle Communications, a fine reissues label but with little idea how to promote new music and thus the band fared less well (indeed, this was Beautiful People’s only album release), although the single, If 60’s Were 90’s (Voodoo Chile + If 6 Was 9) did chart at No.74 in the UK. Now presented as a remastered set that also includes a raft of remixes, TV appearances and an interview with one-time Hendrix producer Alan Douglas, who owned the rights to the guitarist’s music at the time (although, perhaps notably, not for very long afterwards!). The overall effect is to drag Hendrix’s wonderfully evocative music into a much proggier realm, albeit one that is more populated by the likes of The Orb, The Future Sound Of London and their ilk. If you dig that kind of vibe, then dive in headfirst. If not, we await your letters of outrage by the sackful.