Smash Hits



     Preceding the release of Electric Ladyland, demand for new product prompted Jimi's UK management to release Smash Hits on April 19th of 1968. This compilation album collected four UK singles with highlights from AYE. An alternate version of this album with different tracks (some only previously available in the UK, and one previously unreleased) would be presented to US audiences a year later on April 16, 1969.

UK Release:
  1. Purple Haze (single A side)
  2. Fire (from Are You Experienced)
  3. The Wind Cries Mary (single A side)
  4. Can You See Me (from Are You Experienced)
  5. 51st Anniversary (single B side)
  6. Hey Joe (single A side)
  7. Stone Free (single B side)
  8. The Stars That Play with Laughing Sam's Dice (single B side)
  9. Manic Depression (from Are You Experienced)
  10. Highway Chile (single B side)
  11. Burning of the Midnight Lamp (single A side)
  12. Foxy Lady (from Are You Experienced)
US Release:
  1. Purple Haze (from Are You Experienced)
  2. Fire (from Are You Experienced)
  3. The Wind Cries Mary (from Are You Experienced)
  4. Can You See Me (from Are You Experienced UK release only)
  5. Hey Joe (from Are You Experienced)
  6. All Along the Watchtower (from Electric Ladyland)
  7. Stone Free (B side of UK single of "Hey Joe")
  8. Crosstown Traffic (from Electric Ladyland)
  9. Manic Depression (from Are You Experienced)
  10. Remember (from Are You Experienced UK release only)
  11. Red House (alt. version) (1st appearance)
  12. Foxey Lady (from Are You Experienced)
     The version of "Red House" on the US Smash Hits is notable for being a different take from the "Red House" on the UK version of Are You Experienced.


Red House
     "...Everybody was scared to release it in America, they said, 'Man, America don't like blues, man!' Blues is a part of America, it means Elmore James and Howlin' Wolf and Robert Johnson, it means Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley...you can have your own blues."

     Stereo version, probably from a De Lane Lea session. There are a couple versions of "Red House", but three different books will present three different background histories, so who knows which was recorded where? On one version, Noel Redding played the bass line on a second guitar. An alternate mono take (probably CBS) was originally issued on the UK version of Are You Experienced. The latest Experience Hendrix 1997 release of AYE uses this stereo version, but the original Track LP used the mono version.

0:00: Blues chord arpeggios with wide vibrato, eventually leading into a lead over the back end of a 12-bar blues progression (slightly more elaborate than the mono take).
0:44: 1st verse (blues progression) with a generous helping guitar fills.
1:29: 2nd verse.
2:13: Guitar solo.
2:57: 3rd verse (includes some panned guitar bits and a vocal break at the end).

 
Next: Electric Ladyland