Velvert Turner Group
Velvert Turner was apparently a friend of Jimi Hendrix's, and the Hendrix vibe on the album Velvert Turner Group is almost overpowering, right down to the fisheye photo on the back cover. Turner's got great guitar tone and a playing style quite similar to Jimi. The songs are also similar to laterperiod Hendrix, circa First Rays of the New Rising Sun, but with some keyboards added. In fact, "Three O'Clock Train" starts out with a riff very close to "Izabella," then sounds more like "51st Anniversary" in the body of the tune. The really shocking thing, though, is how much Turner's voice sounds like Jimi. It's jarring, right down to the same vocal inflections. But it doesn't sound like imitation, it just sounds like they came from the same places. The songs are good, although not the equal of Hendrix's, but some of the guitar playing is great, with some good feedback and panning effects to boot. It's certainly derivative, but Jimi left so few official albums that this will be a welcome sound to Hendrix fans.
Of the various myths and legends that have sprung up since Jimi Hendrix's death in 1970, one of the most enigmatic and enduring concerns his relationship with Velvert Turner, the New York born axeman who claimed both to be friend and protege of the late guitarist. More evidence comes courtesy of ex-Television guitarist Richard Lloyd, who not only listened to a lengthy telephone conversation between the pair when the Hendrix was playing in New York, but generally hung out with Turner at the time he was receiving lessons from Hendrix. Commenting on this, Lloyd says "They used to use a large mirror for the lessons because Jimi was left handed and Velvert was not. Velvert used to come to my house after the lessons and show me what Jimi had taught him" Supported by Prescott Niles (later to form The Knack) and Tim McGovern, both of whom cropped up on Randy California's Kapt Kopter album, Turner produced two different musical versions of his album with the same sleeve and catalogue number, distinguishing them only by their matrix numbers. This, then, is the "heavier" version (matrix no. 16741) with crazed, heavy solo guitar overdubs rather than the "soul" version (matrix no. 16951) with the second lead guitar overdubs removed. The Velert Turner album may be just another small piece in the Hendrix jigsaw, but it also happens to be a pretty good guitar album too. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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