Electric Ladyland was the final of Jimi Hendrix’s
official album releases while he was alive. It is hard to believe that a
man with such a reputation and legend only released 3 albums in his
lifetime. All 3 albums, Are You Experienced?, Axis: Bold As Love, and
Electric Ladyland easily could be considered 3 of the top rock albums
ever recorded. Electric Ladyland is a vastly different from Are You
Experienced? And Axis: Bold As Love mainly because Jimi produced this
album himself. Chas Chandler who produced the first two albums was a
veteran of the music industry being a member of the rock group The
Animals. Chandler knew what was hot at the time and what would sell. Are
You Experienced? and Axis: Bold As Love are two extremely polished
albums with a distinct sound. Electric Ladyland is a mix of many
different genres, rock, blues, jazz, & psych, which in the final
product of a double album flows nicely. Double albums can be tricky to
digest, many of them contain a lot of shit that should never have been
included for the sake of being a double album. Electric Ladyland is
strong from front to back.
Side 1 kicks off similarly as Axis: Bold As Love
did with the trippy track …And The Gods Made Love segueing cleanly into
Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland). Crosstown Traffic is the
rocker of side and probably the most single worthy track on the album.
Voodoo Chile closes Side 1, this is where things get interesting. Voodoo
Chile is a straight blues track that clocks in at 15:00. When I was
first exposed to this album as a teenager I could not stomach this track
as I did not have the attention span to digest it, now I view this as
an indispensible part of Electric Ladyland and when listening to the
album on vinyl, it’s time to take a deep breath and take it all in
because there is a long way to go.
If a weak side to Electric Ladyland has to be
chosen, it would have to be Side 2, for no other reason but one has to
be chosen. Little Miss Strange is the weak link of the album written and
sung by bassist Noel Redding. I guess Noel had to have a
track on each album and I will leave it at that. Long Hot Summer Night
is a fun, upbeat tune, it’s good but doesn’t do much for me as does Come
On (Let The Good Times Roll). Gypsy Eyes has always been a favorite of
mine, real rocker with killer kick drum and wild guitar riffs
intertwined with a great rhythm. Gypsy Eyes is a real roller coaster
ride. Burning Of The Midnight Lamp concludes Side 2. Just like Voodoo
Chile a great ending to an album side. The wah-wah outro of Burning Of
The Midnight Lamp is phenomenal and the lyrics are very poetic.
Side 3 starts with the jazzy Rainy Day, Dream Away.
This track is not a favorite of mine but represents what I feel is the
direction that Jimi’s music was heading as his music started maturing.
1983…(A Merman I Should Turn To Be), is trippy and creepy as hell. 1983
tells as futuristic story of man living underwater in the future and war
consuming the earth. Moon Turn the Tides….Gently Away concludes side 3.
1983….falls into Moon which provides a peaceful calm from the chaos
that 1983 presents. Kind of like what it may sound like if the world
would come to an end.
Side 4 could be one of the greatest album sides
ever. Still Raining, Still Dreaming is a reprise to Rainy Day, Dream
Away. The two tracks are a bit disjointed being on two separate sides,
but the advent of the cd and later the digital download eliminates this
issue. House Burning Down is just what the title states, its explosive.
Jimi sings the lyrics “Look at the sky turn hell fire red, somebody’s
house is burning down, down, down” with such ease and matter of fact
kind of like how firefighters teach us as kids to be cool, if you are
burning simply stop, drop and roll. Jimi’s songwriting on Electric
Ladyland is phenomenal and diverse, but THE top track on this album is a
cover of Bob Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower”. Dylan’s version on his
album John Wesley Harding is very good, but Jimi takes Watchtower to
another level. Dylan’s version is very folky and poetic, Jimi’s version
fucking rocks. Jimi does sing Watchtower in a similar tone as Dylan but
the guitar work by Jimi is insane. Only Jimi Hendrix could take
essentially a calm folk-ballad and turn it into a firestorm. With
absolutely insane but melodic guitar work. The album concludes with
Voodoo Chile (Slight Return), which could have the one of the greatest
guitar intros ever. The opening lyrics, holy shit!!! “I’m standing next
to a mountain, and I chop it with the edge of my hand.” I still get
chills hearing that just like I did the first time. You feel you can
conquer anything! The guitar playing by Jimi on Voodoo Chile is so
crazy, violent, wild but so damn beautiful it could either fire you up
or lullaby you to sleep, it’s that powerful. Listening to Voodoo Chile
on headphones is a hell of an experience!
Now, the copies I have. I have what I believe is a
1970’s reissue on Reprise Records. Aside from a few skips here and there
this is the best I have heard the album. I also own the original
Reprise Records CD, non-futzed, flat transfer. The vinyl does have a bit
more punch in the gut feel.
As you can tell, this album and Jimi Hendrix have had a profound effect on me and always will.
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