Monday, July 08, 2024

The Jimi Hendrix Experience: 1968 Elactric Ladyland 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition 2018

 

James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942 – September


18, 1970) was an American guitarist, songwriter and singer.
Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as the greatest and one of the most influential electric guitarists in the history of popular music, and one of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th century. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes him as "arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music."
              

In his brief four-year reign as a superstar, Jimi Hendrix expanded the vocabulary of the electric rock guitar more than anyone before or since. Hendrix was a master at coaxing all manner of unforeseen sonics from his instrument, often with innovative amplification experiments that produced astral-

quality feedback, and roaring distortion.
His frequent hurricane blasts of noise and dazzling showmanship -- he could and would play behind his back and with his teeth, and set his guitar on fire -- have sometimes obscured his considerable gifts as a songwriter, singer, and master of a gamut of blues, R&B, and rock styles.
            

When Hendrix became an international superstar in 1967, it seemed as if he'd dropped out of a

Martian spaceship,
but in fact he'd served his apprenticeship in numerous R&B acts on the chitlin circuit. During the early and mid-'60s, he worked with such R&B/soul greats as Little Richard, the Isley Brothers, and King Curtis as a backup guitarist. Occasionally, he recorded as a sessionman (the Isley Brothers' 1964 single "Testify" is the only one of these early tracks that offers even a glimpse of his future genius).
          

For the most part, his bosses didn't appreciate his show-stealing showmanship, and Hendrix was

straitjacketed by sideman roles that didn't allow him to develop as a soloist. The logical step was for him to go out on his own, which he did in New York in the mid-'60s, playing with various musicians in local clubs, and joining white blues-rock singer John Hammond, Jr.'s band for a while.
              

Hendrix was inspired by American rock and roll and electric blues. He favored overdriven amplifiers

with high volume and gain, and was instrumental in popularizing the previously undesirable sounds caused by guitar amplifier feedback. He was also one of the first guitarists to make extensive use of tone-altering effects units in mainstream rock, such as fuzz distortion, Octavia, wah-wah, and Uni-Vibe.
            

He was the first musician to use stereophonic phasing effects in recordings. Holly George-Warren of

Rolling Stone commented: "Hendrix pioneered the use of the instrument as an electronic sound source. Players before him had experimented with feedback and distortion, but Hendrix turned those effects and others into a controlled, fluid vocabulary every bit as personal as the blues with which he began."
       

Are You Experienced? was an astonishing debut, particularly from a young R&B veteran who had rarely sung, and apparently never written his own material before the Experience formed. What caught

most people's attention at first was his virtuosic guitar playing, which employed an arsenal of devices, including wah-wah pedals, buzzing feedback solos, crunching, distorted riffs, and lightning-quick liquid runs up and down the scales. Hendrix was also a first-rate songwriter, melding cosmic imagery with some surprisingly pop-savvy hooks and tender sentiments. Are You Experienced? was psychedelia at its most eclectic, synthesizing mod pop, soul, R&B, Dylan, and the electric guitar innovations of British pioneers like Jeff Beck, Pete Townshend, and Eric Clapton.
                

Amazingly, Hendrix would only record three fully conceived studio albums in his lifetime. Axis: Bold

as Love and the double-LP Electric Ladyland were more diffuse and experimental than Are You Experienced? On Electric Ladyland in particular, Hendrix pioneered the use of the studio itself as a recording instrument, manipulating electronics and devising overdub techniques (with the help of engineer Eddie Kramer in particular) to plot uncharted sonic territory.
             

Details concerning Hendrix's last day and death are disputed. He spent much of September 17, 1970, in London with Monika Dannemann, the only witness to his final hours. Dannemann said that she prepared a meal for them at her apartment in the Samarkand Hotel around 11 p.m., when they shared a

bottle of wine. She drove him to the residence of an acquaintance at approximately 1:45 a.m., where he remained for about an hour before she picked him up and drove them back to her flat at 3 a.m.[308] She said that they talked until around 7 a.m., when they went to sleep. Dannemann awoke around 11 a.m. and found Hendrix breathing but unconscious and unresponsive. She called for an ambulance at 11:18 a.m., and it arrived nine minutes later.Paramedics transported Hendrix to St Mary Abbots Hospital where doctor John Bannister pronounced him dead at 12:45 p.m. on September 18.
           

Coroner Gavin Thurston ordered a post-mortem examination which was performed on September 21 by Robert Donald Teare, a forensic pathologist.[313] Thurston completed the inquest on September 28 and

concluded that Hendrix aspirated his own vomit and died of asphyxia while intoxicated with barbiturates. Citing "insufficient evidence of the circumstances", he declared an open verdict. Dannemann later revealed that Hendrix had taken nine of her prescribed Vesparax sleeping tablets, 18 times the recommended dosage. Hendrix is often cited as one example of an allegedly disproportionate number of musicians dying at age 27, including Brian Jones, Alan Wilson, Jim Morrison, and Janis Joplin in the same era, a phenomenon referred to as the 27 Club.
              

THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE

                   


The Jimi Hendrix Experience (often shortened to The Experience) was a band comprising guitarist/

singer/songwriter Jimi Hendrix, bassist/backing vocalist/songwriter Noel Redding, and drummer/backing vocalist Mitch Mitchell. Formed in London, England in October 1966 by ex-Animals bassist Chas Chandler, The Experience were active for just under three years, a run which resulted in three successful studio albums and four top 10 singles.
            

ELECTRIC LADYLAND 1986 (DELUXE EDITION 2018)

             

             
Jimi Hendrix's third and final album with the original Experience found him taking his funk and

psychedelic sounds to the absolute limit. The result was not only one of the best rock albums of the era, but also Hendrix's original musical vision at its absolute apex. When revisionist rock critics refer to him as the maker of a generation's mightiest dope music, this is the album they're referring to.
           

But Electric Ladyland is so much more than just background music for chemical intake. Kudos to

engineer Eddie Kramer (who supervised the remastering of the original two-track stereo masters for this 1997 reissue on MCA) for taking Hendrix's visions of a soundscape behind his music and giving it all context, experimenting with odd mic techniques, echo, backward tape, flanging, and chorusing, all new techniques at the time, at least the way they're used here.
           

What Hendrix sonically achieved on this record expanded the concept of what could be gotten out of a modern recording studio in much the same manner as Phil Spector had done a decade before with his Wall of Sound. As an album this influential (and as far as influencing a generation of

players and beyond, this was his ultimate statement for many), the highlights speak for themselves: "Crosstown Traffic," his reinterpretation of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," "Burning of the Midnight Lamp," the spacy "1983...(A Merman I Should Turn to Be)," and "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)," a landmark in Hendrix's playing. With this double set (now on one compact disc), Hendrix once again pushed the concept album to new horizons.
(Cub Koda)

            

The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Electric Ladyland 50th Anniversary
Label: Experience Hendrix – 19075859022, Legacy – 19075859022
Format: CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo, Box Set, Deluxe Edition
Country: US
Released: Nov 9, 2018
Genre: Rock
Style: Blues Rock, Psychedelic Rock
      


            
CD 1.  ELECTRIC LADYLAND

            

      
01 ....And The Gods Made Love
02. Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)
03. Crosstown Traffic
04. Voodoo Chile
05. Little Miss Strange - Written-By – Noel Redding
06. Long Hot Summer Night
07. Come On (Let The Good Times Roll) - Written-By – Earl King
08. Gypsy Eyes
09. Burning Of The Midnight Lamp
10. Rainy Day, Dream Away
11. 1983... (A Merman I Should Turn To Be)
12. Moon, Turn The Tides... Gently Gently Away
13. Still Raining, Still Dreaming
14. House Burning Down
15. All Along The Watchtower - Written-By – Bob Dylan
16. Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

Flac Size: 531 MB

CD 2.  AT LAST... THE BEGINNING: THE MAKING OF ELECTRIC LADYLAND: THE EARLY YEARS    
    

           


01. 1983... (A Merman I Should Turn To Be)    7:49
02. Angel    3:22
03. Cherokee Mist    3:15
04. Hear My Train A Comin'    1:21
05. Voodoo Chile    10:06        
06. Gypsy Eyes    2:59
07. Somewhere    1:52
08. Long Hot Summer Night [Demo 1]    2:09
09. Long Hot Summer Night [Demo 3]    2:06
10. Long Hot Summer Night [Demo 4]    1:53
11. Snowballs At My Window    0:49
12. My Friend    4:12
13. And The Gods Made Love (At Last... The Beginning)    1:37
14. Angel Caterina    4:59
15. Little Miss Strange - Written-By – Noel Redding   3:31
16. Long Hot Summer Night [Take 1]    3:58
17. Long Hot Summer Night [Take 14]    4:14
18. Rainy Day, Dream Away    4:35
19. Rainy Day Shuffle    3:11
20. 1983... (A Merman I Should Turn To Be)    10:22

Flac Size: 370 MB

CD 3.  LIVE AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL - SEPTEMBER 14, 1968  
     

               


01. Introduction    4:01
02. Are You Experienced?    8:25
03. Voodoo Child (Slight Return)    9:17
04. Red House    12:03
05. Foxey Lady    2:37
06. Fire    1:45
07. Hey Joe - Written-By – Billy Roberts   4:04
08. Sunshine Of Your Love - Written-By – Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Peter Brown   7:00
09. I Don't Live Today    6:27
10. Little Wing    4:34
11. Star Spangled Banner - Written-By – Francis Scott Key   3:21
12. Purple Haze    4:33

LINE - UP

        


Vocals, Guitar – Jimi Hendrix
Bass – Jack Casady (tracks: 3-1 to 3-12), Jimi Hendrix (tracks: 2-20), Noel Redding (tracks: 2-14), Stephen Stills (tracks: 2-15)
Bass, Vocals [Backing Vocals] – Noel Redding (tracks: 3-1 to 3-12)
Congas, Percussion – Larry Faucette (tracks: 1-10, 1-13, 2-18, 2-19)
Drums – Buddy Miles (tracks: 1-10, 1-13), Buddy Miles (tracks: 2-14, 2-15, 2-18, 2-19), Mitch Mitchell (tracks: 2-1, 2-13, 2-17)
Guitar – Noel Redding (tracks: 2-15)
Harmonica – Paul Caruso (tracks: 2-7)
Horn – Freddie Smith (tracks: 1-10, 1-13)
Organ – Mike Finnigan (tracks: 1-10, 1-13, 2-18, 2-19), Steve Winwood (tracks: 1-4)
Piano – Al Kooper (tracks: 2-16, 2-17)
Saxophone – Freddie Smith (tracks: 2-18, 2-19)

Flac Size: 381

Jimi Hendrix on Urban Aspirines HERE

10 comments:

  1. No active link button for CD 3, but thanks a lot!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks a lot, got it!

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  3. WOW. I can't wait to listen to these. Thank you.

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  4. Thanks for sharing - I recall buying the American import before it was released in the UK from a shop called Cloud Nine!

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  5. Thanks very much for this. Much obliged to you.

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  6. And absolute stone classic! Always in my top 10 and frequently in my top 3 the Hollywood Bowl intrigues as I have pretty much everything else. Jimi is on the cusp of when Boots were REALLY bad! Sorely missed, imagine if you can what he would/could have achieved by now!?

    ReplyDelete