THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE: ELECTRIC LADYLAND

Electric ladyland was quite a far reaching album for its time, and released as a double LP set, also fairly new in 1968. After two landmark albums of the psychodelic era, Hendrix reached even fresher heights of creativity, though those many touches are quite subtle. "And the Gods Made Love" again proved that Hendrix was a master studio technician as well, mixing odd sounds and backwards tapes as well as recording his own voice that was slowed down and played backwards (rumor has it that he is saying "Ok, one more time" or something to that effect). On the second intro track, "(Have You Ever Been) to Electric Ladyland", Jimi soothes us with his soulful voice before the blues-pop jam "Crosstown Traffic" kicks in. From then on, we are presented with the same musical twists and turns the first two Hendrix album's had in store. The long version of Voodoo Chile, which features Steve Winwood on organ and Jack Cassidy (bassist from Jefferson Airplane), must be one of the best hard blues jams of all time. I like the way it sits next to the Noel Redding piece of psychedelic pop "Little Miss Strange." Some tracks show a fiery side to Jimi, like the super "Gypsy Eyes but "1983.." soothes the listener back down to earth with a beautiful, ethereal quality. Jimi was great at that "spacey" sound too, unlike anything around back then, or today for that matter!. A main highlight would be the famous reading of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," which was the biggest hit from this album, and his playing was at its absolute peak. "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" is also just legendary. Love this album, what a fantastic musical vision this artist had. It's definitely an important album from classic rock and this site's proto-prog genre too, though I've always preferred "Are You Experiecnced" more.