Electric Ladyland was the final "official" release from the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and saw Jimi taking a much firmer hold on how he wanted his recorded music to proceed. The first sessions were still produced by Chas Chandler (although uncredited on the album), but Jimi's insistence on multiple takes for each rhythm track clashed with Chas' inclination for more spontaneous takes, and Chandler ultimately left the team by May. Noel Redding also became frustrated at these sessions and, continuing a trend begun in Axis: Bold As Love, began spending less and less time laying down bass tracks in the studio. Besides the reduction of Noel's "work hours", Jimi had also developed a habit of rerecording Noel's bass parts to fit his own vision of how he wanted the songs to be stylized (essentially more Motown, and less psychedelic Brit pop). Between these factors and the entrance of more and more guest musicians (friends of Jimi's), Noel's influence on the group's album sound was clearly at an all-time low.
Another important event affecting the overall direction of the new album was the relocation of Jimi and his production team to New York City, shortly after some initial sessions at Olympic Studios in England. Most of Electric Ladyland was created at the Record Plant, a new studio opened by Gary Kellgren, who had engineered on a few tracks off of Axis. In April of 1968, Eddie Kramer left Olympic to join the Record Plant staff, also continuing his key contributions to Jimi's sound. Moving back to New York seemed to empower Jimi's voice in the group's direction, and this probably led to his taking over as producer after Chas left.
"We call our music Electric Church Music. It's like a religion to us. Some ladies are like church to us too. Some groupies know more about music than the guys, people call them groupies, but I prefer the term 'Electric Ladies.' My whole Electric Ladyland album is about them..."
"...The album is so personal because, apart from some help from people like Steve Winwood and Buddy Miles, it's all done by us. Noel kicked in one of the songs, but mostly they're mine, electric funk melodies, and it goes into blues and hard rock, it goes into complete opposite, complete fantasy. I don't say it's great, but it's The Experience. It has a rough, hard feel on some of the tracks, those funky tunes, some of the things on it are hungry."
Jimi's above descriptions of the album are spot on, as this final JHE opus veers into some very different styles and approaches such as loose jam sessions, sonic landscapes, R&B vocal-driven soul, hard rock burners, political "criticism" and "guitar army" anthems (this last tendency of course would become a signature element of Jimmy Page's Led Zeppelin sound). Each of the four original LP sides seems to be designed as a kind of "mini-suite", although this aspect is lost on CD unfortunately. As described above, this album was truly a "Jimi Hendrix" album more than a "Jimi Hendrix Experience" album, and although several albums' worth of material would be released posthumously after this record, Electric Ladyland stands as Jimi's final completed statement.
| The Jimi Hendrix Experience Electric Ladyland Produced by Jimi Hendrix Engineered by Eddie Kramer and Gary Kellgren at Olympic Studios, the Record Plant and Sound Center Studios Released in the US Oct 16 (Oct 25 UK), 1968 |
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| Trk | Title | Time | |
| 1 | ...And The Gods Made Love | 1:21 | "You're really going to be disappointed when you hear our first track on our new LP, because it starts with a 90-second sound painting of the heavens. I know it's the thing people will jump on to criticize, so we're putting it right at the beginning to get it over with." Originally titled "At Last... the Beginning", this piece was envisioned as a spaceship landing, probably as a continued theme from "EXP"'s saucer take-off from Axis: Bold As Love. Using tape delay, slowed down/reversed vocals and toms, and backwards guitars and cymbals, it transforms some pedestrian studio chatter into truly alien textures. 0:00: Flanged, slowed down drums. 0:14: Slowed, reversed vocals ("...let's hear that for a second, yeah something like that, OK, one more time..."), flanged, added reverse cymbal effects, etc. |
| 2 | Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland) |
2:12 | Sketched out during the Axis sessions at Olympia, basic tracks for this were completed in June of '68. At later sessions at the Record Plant (with Kramer and Gary Kellgren), the drum track was slowed down, after which Jimi added a wah guitar solo and a bass track. Jimi was especially proud of his vocal take on this R&B-style "slow jam". Despite its Motown roots, the "liquid" production and effects make this an entirely different trip. In some ways this is a spaced-out follow-up to Axis' "Little Wing"... 0:00: Reverse effects cut directly into vocal chorus. backed by R&B rhythm and lead guitars (2 tracks), modulating. 0:30: Vamp on unresolved cadence. 0:43: Vocal break/bridge. 1:08: Guitar solo (based on chorus harmony) with vocal breaks. 1:34: Ending vamp on unresolved cadence. |
| 3 | Crosstown Traffic |
2:25 | Begun back on December 20th, 1967 at Olympic Studios, this was the first Electric Ladyland track to be worked on. Eddie Kramer reports that the piano was compressed and filtered "like a mini wah wah." The guitar doubles the vocal line (processed through a Pultec filter). Jimi also added kazoo and piano, while Dave Mason and Noel provide background vocals (which pan around, reflecting the "crosstown traffic"). The accented "fanfare" motif features blues bends beneath the stuttering snare hits. This track was essentially produced by both Chas and Jimi, and released as a single b/w "Gypsy Eyes". Style-wise a bit closer to the British pop era numbers of Are You Experienced/Axis:Bold As Love (stop-time grooves were an important part of songs like "Fire" and "Spanish Castle Magic"), the kazoo and piano lines add a new spin. 0:00: Accented fanfare motif with stuttered snare hits. 0:04: Accented chorus groove with kazoo/guitar lead line and piano groove, fanfare motif. 0:21: 1st verse: based on stop time groove, piano part opens up. 0:36: Fanfare, chorus groove, fanfare. 0:57: 2nd verse. 1:12: Fanfare, chorus. 1:29: Fanfare accents into bridge. 1:42: Chorus alternates with fanfare. |
| 4 | Voodoo Chile | 5:05 | Derived from the modal blues of "Catfish Blues", this was recorded in 3 takes with guests Steve Winwood (organ) and Jack Casady (bass). Mitch plays drums, but Noel lays out on this tune. The crowd applause was overdubbed in a separate session. Out of all the tracks on Electric Ladyland, this one features the best example of the telepathic connection that Jimi and Mitch had forged by this time. Their interaction is stunning here. Winwood does a proper organ solo, but it's really Jimi and Mitch's show. 0:00: Intro guitar embellishments supported only by organ, vocal with unison guitar line. 0:25: Blues vamp groove begins over organ drone 0:43: Bass and drums enter as Jimi begins developing lead guitar figures. 1:00: 1st verse with restrained guitar and organ commentary. 1:53: Verse continues with added bite in guitar tone. 2:52: Cadence/turnaround, guitar lead. 3:28: 2nd verse. 4:28: Cadence. 4:45: Guitar solo over modal verse groove. Tape delay is added intermittently. 5:37: Organ solo (with guitar commentary). 6:56: 3rd verse (some delay stabs). 8:06: 2nd guitar solo (highlighted by a trill with whammy bend, etc). 9:00: Drums ramp up into a solo. Guitar and organ return to add a majestic rising fanfare harmony, ending in feedback. 10:52: 4th verse groove with descending bass motif variation. 12:11: Cadence. 12:29: 3rd guitar solo (fiery and interactive with Mitch's drums), leading to a rave up and final cadence. Studio talk overdubs added at the end. |
| 5 | Little Miss Strange |
2:50 | A Noel Redding song (his only offering on this album), this was first recorded at Sound Center Studios in New York. The basic tracks were later re-recorded at the Record Plant (labelled as "Lilacs for Captain Curry's Coffin/Little Miss Strange Test Session"). Jimi didn't hold back on this Redding cut, and added generous amounts of lead guitar over Noel's acoustic-electric Gibson guitar rhythm track. 0:00: Noel's rhythm guitar opens the track over a pedal vamp. 0:06: Jimi's double-tracked lead guitars (usually in close harmony) come in with a melody figure. 0:20: 1st verse with walking, chromatic bass line. 0:31: Chorus. 0:39: 2nd verse and chorus with added guitar commentary. 0:57: Bridge with lead guitar figures. 1:10: Clean guitar solo. 1:25: Accented cadence with fuzz guitar lead, ending with return to a clean, muffled picking guitar sequence. 1:45: 3rd verse, chorus. 2:04: Wah guitar solo (DI-recorded - direct input to the board), heavy "pedal rocking", 1st half based on modulated patterns. 2:31: Accented power chords with wah guitar embellishments. |
| 6 | Long Hot Summer Night |
3:30 | This simmering funk stew was the first tune to be recorded (with Gary Kellgren) at the Record Plant, although sketches were presented as far back as during the Axis sessions in Oct '67. Bob Dylan's keyboardist Al Kooper plays piano on this track. Noel suspects Jimi plays bass on this number as well. This song and the following two cuts on Side B of the LP deliver a kind of "electric-soul" trilogy. 0:00: Intro R&B guitar figure (with a beefy tone), underscored by crooning. 0:09: 1st verse over slow funk groove. Stax-style lead guitar added over rhythm guitar groove and flanged background vocals. 0:28: Cadence. 0:42: 2nd verse, cadence. 1:17: Bridge. 1:42: Lead guitar solo (panning). 2:02: 3rd verse, cadence. 2:33: 4th verse, cadence. 2:50: Unresolved ending vamp with tremolo guitar figures. |
| 7 | Come On (Let The Good Times Roll) |
4:10 | This Earl King blues-rocker was recorded at the Record Plant. The last track to be recorded for Electric Ladyland (August 27, 1968), the JHE embarked on a 7-week US tour immediately after its completion. Jimi had "debuted" in the US at the Monterey Pop Festival with blues rockers such as "Killing Floor", but Electric Ladyland finally showcased his prowess at blow-torch boogie-rock on LP with this number. Jimi also goes beyond the usual blues bend-dominated solo here with long explorations of imaginative chordal comping. Noel recycles the chromatic bass groove from AYE's "Third Stone From the Sun" in this rocker. 0:00: Galloping intro leads to a 12-bar blues-rock groove. The 1st 4 bars are the 1st verse in a stop time (accented) groove, with the remaining 8 bars acting as a chorus. 0:38: 2nd verse/chorus ending in a modulating bridge. 1:14: Wah guitar solo (1st 2 choruses). 1:52: 3rd solo guitar chorus based on double-stop chordal figures. 2:11: Jimi plays "broken chords" for 2 final choruses. 2:49: 3rd verse/chorus. 3:21: Wah guitar solo resumes for 2 more choruses, fade out. |
| 8 | Gypsy Eyes | 3:46 | This tune was initially demoed in London, but Jimi ultimately ended up recording over 45 takes at the Record Plant. Flanging was added during the mix-down. Like "Little Miss Lover" from Axis: Bold As Love, this has a smoky, late night "street-funk" vibe. 0:00: A drum intro leads to a funk guitar vamp with overdubbed pick slides. 0:16: Opening vocal chant with lead guitar doubling vocal. 0:35: Accent leads to a chugging groove figure. 0:44: 1st verse over a walking funk bass, with lead guitar commentary, accented cadence, chugging/stuttering groove. 1:09: 2nd verse. 1:30: Bridge supported by accented pedal vamp. 1:55: Harmony guitar break, followed by variation of opening sequence (drum break, chant, funk guitar vamp, etc). 2:52: Bridge pedal vamp, guitar solo with delay/flange, fade out. |
| 9 | Burning Of The Midnight Lamp |
3:44 | This final Side B track (the same cut as the single release from 1967) wraps up this album side with another "pop" cut. 0:00: Theme on harpsichord and wah guitar, joined by bass accents and hi-hat. Final chord uses fast wah vibrato. 0:27: Verse harmony accented by organ stabs, joined by choir and swirling harpsichord figure. 1:04: Intro theme, 2nd verse. 1:53: Wah guitar solo with choir backing. 2:24: Intro theme, 3rd verse, additional vocal flanging for outro. |
| 10 | Rainy Day, Dream Away |
3:43 | "Sometimes I get to meet other musicians and we kind a exchange notes. It's going to get like the jazz scene where you see an album by Barney Kesel & his friends. These cats are trying to produce real music. They are jamming together and to hell with the imagery thing. It's like making love to one another musically, like painting a picture together. No hang-ups. This has been happening in the jazz scene for years now. A star, a soloist, gathers some guys around and they groove together. Maybe the group only exists for that one album, maybe they go on for a year or so together, but they don't stretch it out once it's started losing the sheer exuberance of jamming together. You change your style and it's only natural that you should get some new jamming guys round you. I wouldn't want to play with anyone too long." Fed up with Jimi's perfectionism and independence, Chas left the project around this time. Jimi then brought in friends Buddy Miles (drums, later Band of Gypsys), Mike Finnigan (organ), Larry Faucette (congas), and Freddy Smith (sax) - neither Noel nor Mitch appear here. In this number Jimi was inspired by the guitar/organ/drum trio styles of the Jimmy Smith/Kenny Burrell unit. A wah guitar track was later overdubbed in the ending section. Initially recorded as one long track, it was later split up into two for Side C of the LP album (track 10, 13). The bulk of the cuts on Side C make for another thematic suite, in this case an after-hours, psychedelic fantasia. 0:00: Organ intro (uptempo). 0:08: Sax lick leads to more laid back, modal organ/conga groove, joined by clean guitar. Sax and guitar dialogue over the modal vamp as Jimi "acts out" a little theater. 0:39: Sax drops out, as organ begins adding commentary. 1:20: Sax returns for a 3-way dialogue with guitar and organ. 2:09: Guitar break leads to a verse groove in a new harmony. 2:30: A syncopated groove ends in accented cadences, as a snarling wah guitar surfaces. 3:08: An accented fanfare leads to a reprise of the opening modal vamp, but this time with the wah guitar continuing. |
| 11 | 1983... (A Merman I Should Turn To Be) |
13:39 | "A lot of songs are fantasy type songs, so people think you don't know what you're talking about, but it all depends on what the track before and after might have been. You might tell them something kinda hard but you don't want to be a completely hard character in their minds 'cause there's other sides of you that sometimes leak on records too, that's when the fantasy songs come in. Like for instance "1983", that's not necessarily completely hiding away from it like some people might do, with certain drugs and so forth." Demoed at Sound Center Studios, basic tracks were recorded at the Record Plant with Eddie Kramer. Kramer relates that the "seagull sounds" are actually feedback sounds from a headphone draped around a microphone, filtered with delay. Chris Wood added flute, and Jimi plays bass and an African flexotone instrument. The main harmonic theme in the first part is built on a chromatic descending harmony, but the song transforms through several suite-like sections. Below, I divided the song into 4 main sections... Part 1 (Anthem/March) 0:00: Atmospheric sound effects/flexotone lead into a fateful melody over a march groove. 0:31: An accent chord signals the 1st verse over a chromatic descending harmony. 0:57: Fateful melody groove, 2nd verse (added background swooping atmospherics). 1:37: Fateful melody groove. 1:51: Majestic modulating bridge with processed guitar/vocal textures, turning into a march. 2:33: A falling triplet motif drives the march groove as more vocal panned/pitch-shifted vocals enter. Additional harmony layers are also added. 3:08: Cadence, leading to drum break. 3:25: 2nd verse over chromatic descending harmony (more restrained). 3:48: Fateful melody groove. Part 2 (Dream) 4:01: Fuzz guitar solo leads to a textural section dominated by jazzy, floating drums and tinkling sound effects/pick scrape/flexotone noises. 5:46: Jimi's clean guitar and bass figures resurface over a pedal harmony (some backwards guitar). Flute figures eventually begin to surface, followed by "seagull" sounds (headphone feedback). 8:04: Backwards fuzz guitar, then a drum solo with flute embellishments, chordal guitar figures. Part 3 (Blues) 9:18: Bluesy cadence groove, leading to guitar, flute, a bass solo (Jimi). 10:24: Insistent drums, flute, bluesy fuzz guitar solo, rave up. 11:12: Drum break 2. Part 4 (Anthem Reprise) 11:23: 3rd verse. 11:54: Dramatic melody groove with 2nd guitar harmony line, fuzz-wah guitar solo, march groove, rave up with wah accents, etc. |
| 12 | Moon, Turn The Tides... Gently Gently Away |
1:01 | As "1983" fades into this brief ending soundscape, the opening sci-fi textures of "And The Gods Made Love" are reprised. 0:00: Swirling, atmospheric textures, hints of rhythm guitar deeply buried. |
| 13 | Still Raining, Still Dreaming |
4:24 | This is a reprise of the framing groove from "Rainy Day Dream Away", but with much more "bite". Jimi cuts loose in an extended wah-wah guitar solo here, in order to signal that, on this final LP side, he's "getting down to business". 0:00: Accented chord leads to reprise of opening pedal vamp from "Rainy Day..." with wah guitar solo ("vocal" quality). 0:46: Organ accents enter with 2nd lead guitar (without wah). The groove is accented by the wah guitar melody. 2:09: Harmony briefly modulates upwards in a cadence, followed by a triplet rhythmic figure, etc. Wah guitar solo continues throughout. 3:04: Syncopated accents begin to appear, leading to ending cadence and rave up. |
| 14 | House Burning Down |
4:35 | "With 'House Burning Down' we made the guitar sound like it was on fire. It's constantly changing dimensions, and on top of that the lead guitar is cutting through everything". This tune was "intended for R&B stations", and was reportedly inspired by the LA riots. Jimi plays bass here as well, and some of the sections seem to be inspired by Spanish flamenco and tango rhythms. The "burning" solo guitar tones are compelling. Some sections feature out of phase frequencies, which "thin" the sound field in a way (personally, I don't really care for this effect, but it's interesting, I guess). 0:00: Power chord fanfare with flanged/panned lead guitar and tremolo-strummed ("flamenco") rhythm guitar. 0:28: Blues rock guitar lick and accent lead to propulsive rock groove chorus with lead guitar commentary. Ending cadence. 0:52: 1st verse over modulated Spanish march/tango groove. 1:33: Accented rock groove chorus. 1:57: Guitar solo begins and continues over cadence and Spanish tango march. Two guitar lead tracks dialogue, leading to a 2nd verse. 2:53: Accent and rock groove chorus (rhythmic out-of-phase processing). 3:20: Outro guitar solo with background vocal crooning over cadence. 4:04: Solo guitar break ("on fire"). |
| 15 | All Along The Watchtower |
4:01 | Originally written and recorded by Bob Dylan, Jimi pulls out all the
stops on this guitar tour-de-force and makes his the definitive version.
Another track from one of the earlier sessions at Olympic, Traffic's Dave Mason contributes 12-string acoustic guitar. Jimi lays down an acoustic 6-string part as well, and later overdubbed the rubbery bass part (again, Noel sits this one out, although the song is still produced under Chas' guidance). Because Mason's 12-string gently swells beneath the more accented strums of Jimi's acoustic 6-string guitar, the rhythm track has a somewhat "orchestral" feel. Added percussion elements (maracas and handclappers?) also add an exotic flavor, but the main highlight is Jimi's soulful vocal delivery and soaring guitar. Each of his solo guitar choruses end up telling a different kind of "watchtower story". A single for this track was released a month prior to the album release (b/w "Burning Of The Midnight Lamp"). 0:00: Intro rhythm guitar groove, joined by lead guitar break. 0:18: 1st verse over a 3-chord vamp. 0:52: Guitar solo over percolating bass, 2nd verse. 1:42: Guitar solo. 2:00: Slide solo (with a cigarette lighter) on electric 12-string guitar (processed). 2:16: Wah guitar solo. 2:32: Chordal double stops and blues unison bends. 2:49: 3rd verse. 3:23: Outro guitar solo. Some excellent info on "Watchtower" here. |
| 16 | Voodoo Child (Slight Return) | 5:14 | "'Voodoo Child' is the new American Anthem...the self-assurance song, not coming from us to you, but coming from the next world too. A song about a cat singin' he's gonna chop down a mountain with the sides of the hand, just building himself up, there's nothin' wrong with that at all. It's a very straight rock type thing, very simple, very funky, our own little funk theme, dedicated to all the people who can actually feel and think for themselves, and feel free for themselves, and dedicated to our friends from West Africa." This song is not very complex structurally (essentially a modal blues) but Jimi shapes each of his solo choruses into miniature compositions in their own right. This song also demonstrates Jimi's complete mastery of sonic shading in a "live" setting, using wah-wah, whammy bar and extreme bends. His rhythm guitar parts here also run the gamut of tasty guitar flavors, from a beefy clean tone to a blast furnace overdriven tone. The drums are complemented with African hand shakers (giving it a "voodoo" vibe, I guess). The recording session and mix session were filmed by ABC TV for a short feature (tapes lost), and the 8th take was the chosen master. This track may not be a "new American anthem", but it's not too far off to say it's a true Hendrix anthem. 0:00: Opening percussive wah guitar sequence, leading to wah melody, joined by kick drum and hi-hat. 0:32: Main groove begins with guitar pyrotechnics interspersed. 1:04: 1st verse over a modal blues vamp. 1:32: Cadence into chorus. 1:54: 1st guitar solo with subtle wah filtering. 2:28: Rhythm guitar explores groove under 2nd verse. 3:16: Cadence into chorus. 3:38: 2nd guitar solo. 4:44: Outro groove (fade out). |
Next: Band Of Gypsys
