Sunday, September 16, 2018

Today in Music (1968): Jimi Hendrix released Electric Ladyland

Electric Ladyland

The Jimi Hendrix Experience


Released: September 16, 1968


Peak: 12 US, 6 UK, 13 CN, -- AU


Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, 0.1 UK


Genre: classic rock


Tracks:

Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts.

  1. …And the Gods Made Love [1:19]
  2. Have You Ever Been to Electric Ladyland [2:08]
  3. Crosstown Traffic [2:25] (7/68, 52 US, 3 CL, 37 UK)
  4. Voodoo Chile [14:50]
  5. Little Miss Strange (Noel Redding) [2:47]
  6. Long Hot Summer Night [3:21]
  7. Come On, Pt. 1 (Earl King) [4:04]
  8. Gypsy Eyes [3:38] (10/30/68, 35 UK)
  9. Burning of the Midnight Lamp [3:33] (8/30/67, 16 CL, 18 UK)
  10. Rainy Day, Dream Away [3:39]
  11. 1983… (A Merman I Should Turn to Be) [13:25]
  12. Moon, Turn the Tides…Gently, Gently Away [0:58]
  13. Still Raining, Still Dreaming [4:19]
  14. House Burning Down [4:26]
  15. All Along the Watchtower (Bob Dylan) [3:54] (7/68, 20 US, 1 CL, 5 UK)
  16. Voodoo Child (Slight Return) [5:06] (11/7/70, 1 CL, 1 UK)

Songs written by Jimi Hendrix unless noted otherwise.


Total Running Time: 73:56


The Players:

  • Jimi Hendrix (vocals, guitar)
  • Noel Redding (bass, backing vocals)
  • Mitch Mitchell (drums, percussion)

Rating:

4.467 out of 5.00 (average of 19 ratings)


Awards:

(Click on award to learn more).

About the Album:

This is “Hendrix’s original musical vision at its absolute apex,” AMG “his ultimate statement for many.” AMG It has been called his “best work” NO and “the best double album ever released.” NO His “third and final album with the original Experience found him taking his funk and psychedelic sounds to the absolute limit.” AMG It features “inspired jamming throughout, and aural landscapes that seemingly come from another world” NO – “a magical place where guitars cry and mysticism reigns supreme.” RV

“To create this psychedelic landmark…Hendrix camped out at New York’s Record Plant for months, filtering the blues through effects-drenched arrangements and turning studio science into science fiction.” BL “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.” AMG “Kudos to engineer Eddie Kramer…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.” AMG It is “

“His most recognizable work is his cover of Bob Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower, a song so indicative of the Hendrix sound, most people don’t realize it’s a cover.” RV Other highlights include “Crosstown Traffic, Burning of the Midnight Lamp, [and] the spacy 1983...(A Merman I Should Turn to Be).” AMG

The songs making up the third side of the album are musically and sonically outstanding. Still Raining, Still Dreaming picks up where Rainy Day, Dream Away left off. ‘Rainy Day’ gets things warmed up, and then ‘Still Raining’ comes along and just blows you away.” NO

“Yet nothing compares to” RV Voodoo Child (Slight Return), “a landmark in Hendrix’s playing.” AMG It is “an eight-minute jam that pays tribute to jazz legends Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker. Steve Winwood’s manic keyboard playing and Mitch Mitchell’s whirlwind drumming help push Hendrix’s scalding guitar work. It’s nothing short of an awe-inspiring performance from rock’s greatest guitarist.” RV

Resources and Related Links:

  • DMDB encyclopedia entry for Jimi Hendrix
  • AMG All Music Guide review by Cub Koda
  • BL Blender Magazine’s 100 Greatest American Albums (10/08)
  • NO TheNightOwl.com
  • RV The Review “100 Greatest Albums of All Time” by Clarke Speicher (October – November 2001; Vol. 128: numbers 12-23).


Other Related DMDB Pages:


First posted 9/16/2012; last updated 11/15/2023.

Friday, September 14, 2018

On This Day (1968): Jimi Hendrix charted with Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower”

All Along the Watchtower

Bob Dylan

Writer(s): Bob Dylan (see lyrics here)


Released: December 6, 1967 (album cut)


Peak: 5 CL, 4 DF (Click for codes to charts.)


Sales (in millions): --


Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 5.6 video, -- streaming

All Along the Watchtower

The Jimi Hendrix Experience


Released: September 2, 1968


First Charted: September 14, 1968


Peak: 20 US, 18 CB, 8 GR, 18 HR, 1 CL, 5 UK, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.)


Sales (in millions): --


Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 229.53 video, 637.05 streaming

Awards (Dylan):

Click on award for more details.


Awards (Hendrix):

About the Song:

Jimi Hendrix is largely credited with reinventing the electric guitar and his prowess is never more apparent than on his take on Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower.” “Raging and climactic where Dylan’s had been soft-paced and relaxed,” AMG Hendrix’s version pulls off the rare feat of giving the world a cover that outdoes its original source. After hearing Hendrix tackle it, “you can’t imagine it...any other way.” BBC Dylan himself has admitted that in his subsequent performances of the song, he strove to emulate Hendrix’s version. RS500 “When I sing it,” Dylan said, “ I… feel like it’s a tribute to him.” LW

Dylan first recorded the song for 1968’s John Wesley Harding. Musically, the song is a perfect example of why Dylan songs lend themselves so easily to re-interpretation. “Aside from a few harmonica flourishes, it is a fairly basic affair,” BBC both “direct and unadorned.” LW

Lyrically, the song took the form of a conversation between a joker and a thief in “an allegorical tale about the sweeping away of society’s old guard.” BBC Peppered with “Biblical imagery and apocalyptic words,” AMG the original has “such an odd, abstract lyric that hardly anyone…could have held on long enough to spot the song hidden within,” DM but Hendrix’s interpretation does so, “obliterating the lyric’s pretensions” DM and giving the song an “urgency and edginess…far more in keeping with its apocalyptic message.” BBC

While at a party, Hendrix proclaimed to Traffic’s Dave Mason his interest in recording the song just a few weeks after its release. Just days later, the pair assembled with drummer Mitch Mitchell at London’s Olympic Studios to nail down their rendition AMG that has now become a rock standard.


Resources:


Related Links:


Last updated 9/5/2023.