zBrown
Ice climber
|
|
|
Mar 25, 2017 - 08:04am PT
|
Less the photos.
The sonic depth of Electric Ladyland makes Are You Experienced? and Axis: Bold As Love sound like demo recordings.
However all 3 records have their place within the Hendrix lexicon.
To understand the significance of the releases, you have to know what was out there around this time period. The main forces in pop music were the continuing onlsaught of the British Invasion (led by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones), Motown (Supremes, Martha & The Vandellas,The Temptations, The Four Tops, Little Stevie Wonder, etc.), R&B in general (Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, etc.), Folk-Rock (probably led by Bob Dylan going electric in '65), a thing later called Funk initiated by the James Brown releases of that period and to a lesser degree the Surf sound (Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, Dick Dale).
And then you have this thing that came to be known as "Psychedelic" music. To some a "soundtrack for dopers" or a to use more philosphical terminology, music designed to raise conscienciousness. Some cite folk-rock pioneers like The Byrds tune "Eight Miles High" - '66 (original version '65) as a beginning point because of the trippy lyrics, use of the word "high" and raga-like guitar solo. The album that included this tune, Fifth Dimension also a included the up-tempo (kinda goofy sounding) arrangement of "Hey Joe" that every bar-band used (that's until Hendrix rewrote the book on the tune by using an arrangement more befitting the song's storyline).
Eight miles high and when you touch down
You'll find that it's stranger than known
(btw, if you're looking for the antecedent to the "jangly-rock" of groups like Tom Petty and R.E.M. check out The Byrds version of Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man, especially the intro.)
Others will point to The Shapes of Things by The Yardbirds ('66), Norwegian Wood - lyrics ('65) & Tomorrow Never Knows - sound ('66) or even Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys ('66).
Some will go even deeper by calling out more obscure bands like The Holy Modal Rounders, 13th Floor Elevators or The Charlatans.
The psychedelic genre then explodes into the public consciousness with the flower-power movement, Haight-Ashbury and San Francisco bands like The Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead and Moby Grape.
In terms of the Jazz mood of this period, you'd naturally have to check in on what Miles was doing. "Nefertiti" was his album of the day. A pre-cursor or one of the setup punches for the knockout In a Silent Way which was lurking around the corner. Modal and Free Jazz was also prevalent (Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, John Coltrane, Sun Ra, etc.)
This all leads to the multi-genred outdoor 3 day music festival that was Monterey Pop (June 16,17,18 1967).
Enter Jimi Hendrix.
Who is this black gypsy-garbed guitarist who's muscial range stretched from the controlled but powerful delivery of Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone (featuring stellar rhythm guitar work, an element frequently overlooked in the arsenal) to the show-stopping incendiary (literally) performance art treatment of The Troggs Wild Thing. And during his guitar solo, in true Jazz improv fashion, he incorporates the main musical theme from the Frank Sinatra hit Strangers In The Night. Was this a tip of the hat or firmly placed tongue-in-cheek aside? Who cares. To me it's an indication of unrestricted "big ears" on his part. Those that have seen the performance, must have noticed the reaction shot captured of the look on Mama Cass Elliot's face as an indication of the stunned shocking this performance put on the audience.
If folks were inclined to trip-out when Grace Slick urged them via White Rabbit to, "Feed your head" (2/67), when Jim Morrison told them to "Break on through to the other side" (1/67) or John Lennon's plea to, "Turn off your mind, relax and float down stream" (8/66) little did they know what Jimi Hendrix had in store for them.
That historic Monterey Pop performance had stated loud and clear to the Tune in, turn on, drop out crowd...
...Here I come baby. I'm comin' to gitcha!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Are You Experienced? (August 1967)
Recording starts on 10/66 and is completed on 4/67.
Who is this Jimi Hendrix?
The question generated by the buzz created by his Monterey Pop performance was answered (and a ton of others generated no doubt) with the release of this album.
From the now famous intro of Purple Haze to the closing verse of Are You Experienced?...
Trumpets and violins, I can ah, hear in the distance
I think they're callin' our name
Maybe now you can't hear them, but you will (hah, huh)
If you just, take hold of my hand
Ooooh, but Are You Experienced?
Have you ever been Experienced?
Not, necessarily stoned but...beautiful.
WTF just happened?
You were warned to Get Experienced, now you were.
They a few distinct musical playgrounds established with this record that will be revisited (in varying degrees) and fine tuned in the next 2. This is important as few of these fusions would become popular full blown genres (specifically Jazz-Rock and Funk-Rock ) in the future.
Rock - Purple Haze, Love or Confusion, I Don't Live Today, Foxey Lady
Jazz Rock - Manic Depression, Third Stone from the Sun
Funk Rock - Fire
Blues Rock - Hey Joe
Space Ballad - May This Be Love, The Wind Cries Mary
(not necessarily a ballad in the traditional sense but slow to mid-tempo imagery filled tunes)
And then there's something that I can only describe as the construction of the Hendrixian Universe. Soundscapes that are uniquely his.
The foundation being laid with tunes like Are You Experienced? & Third Stone from the Sun.
"First off I don't want people to get the idea it's a collection of freak-out material. I've written songs for teeny boppers like "Can You See Me" and blues things. "Manic Depression" is so ugly you can feel it and "May This Be Love" is a kind of "get your mind together" track. Imagination is very important, our music can not be categorised. Free form is the best way to explain our sound, unrestricted and uninhibited creative expression ..."
~Jimi Hendrix
Extra info on specific cuts:
Are You Experienced?
Jimi - piano
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Axis: Bold As Love (January 1968)
Sessions for this record commence one month (5/67) after the final tracks of Are You Experienced? are finished (4/67). The record is completed 10/67.
The themes established in Are You Experienced? are continued
Rock - Spanish Castle Magic, She's So Fine
Jazz Rock - Up from the Skies, If 6 Was 9
Funk Rock - Little Miss Lover, Wait Until Tomorrow, You Got Me Floatin'
Blues Rock - Ain't No Telling
Space Ballad - Little Wing, One Rainy Wish
Hendrixian Universe - The foundation being laid on AYE?, the walls go up with EXP and Bold As Love.
Kramer also recalled when he first figured out how to do stereo phasing - using a pair of 2-track machines - during the recording of Hendrix's Axis: Bold as Love. "We experimented for about two weeks with stereo phasing," he said. "I brought Jimi in the studio one day and said, `Jimi, check this out.' I'm phasing away, and the drums kick in, and Jimi says, `Oh my god, oh my god. That's in my dream!' He was sitting on the couch behind me, and he fell on the floor. He said, `Oh my god, play it again.' And we played it about ten times. He said, `Man, I gotta have that sound on everything.'"
Eddie Kramer from a 9/1/2000 "Mixing with a Master" interview
With the exception of She's So Fine (written by Noel), this set of tunes shows more sophisticated lyrics and of the 3 albums probably has Jimi's best vocal performances. There's also been a progression in the recording quality of this record overall. Keep in mind that both these records were done on 4-track machines. (Something for all budding musicans to keep in mind.)
Supposedly after tiring mixing sessions, Jimi took the 2 finished tapes with him to a party. On his way back to the studio, he left one of the tapes in the cab. Noel was drafted to scour every cab in town while Jimi, Chas Chandler and Eddie Kramer started mixing the lost cuts again. 11 hours later the remix session was completed.
". . . it was mixed beautifully, but we lost the original mix so we had to re-mix it. Chas and I and the engineer, Eddie Kramer, all of us had to re-mix it the next mormng within 11 hours and it's very hard to do that. We're going to take more time ..."
~Jimi Hendrix
Extra info on specific cuts:
Spanish Castle Magic
Jimi - piano
Noel - Hagstrom 8-string bass
Little Wing
Jimi - glockenspiel
If 6 Was 9
Jimi - wooden flute
Bold As Love
Jimi - harpsichord
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Electric Ladyland (October 1968)
Recording begins on 1/68 with All Along The Watchtower and the album is completed 8/68.
This is the record that Hendrix finally gets to take the reins as producer an attempt to create his 1st true concept record. His solo flight as pilot, with a few instances of turbulence, was a successful voyage suffering no crash landing.
It's amazing that even with the success of the first 2 albums, he still cannot get the full cooperation of the record company as evidenced by them thwarting his request for specific things regarding the record's artwork and layout.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Dear Sirs,
Here are the pictures we would like for you to use anywhere on the LP cover.
Preferably inside and back. Without the white frames around some of the B/W ones. And with most of them next (aside) to each other in different sizes and mixing the color prints at different points.
For instance:
Please use color picture with us and the kids on the statue for front or back cover - (outside cover) and the other back or front side, (outside cover) please use three good pictures of us. In B/W or color.
---
We would like to make an apologize for takeing so very long long to send this but we have been working very hard indeed doing shows and recording.
(...)
Please, if you can, find a nice place and lettering for the few words I wrote named "Letter to the room full of mirrors" on the L.P. cover.
The scetch on the other page is a rough idea of course ...
but please use the pictures and the words - any other drastic change from these directions would not be appropriate according to the music and our group's present stage - and the music is most important. And we have enough personal problems without haveing to worry about this simple yet effective layout. Thank you.
Jimi Hendrix
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The Record Plant's 12-track recorder allows The Masterpiece to be realized.
With the recording of the Electric Ladyland album, Hendrix turns the recording studio itself into an instrument. This is the biggest and broadest sounding record of the 3.
"Some of the mix came out kind of muddy, not exactly muddy, but kind of bassy, because we didn't get a chance to do it completely till the end. We mixed it all and produced it and all this mess. But then when it was time for them to press it quite naturally they screwed up, 'cause they didn't know what we wanted. There's 3-D sound on there that's been used that you can't appreciate because like they didn't know how to cut it properly. They thought it was out of phase!"
~Jimi Hendrix
The "Hendrixian Universe" lives. While listening to ...And The Gods Made Love, you are transported to its very center, Electric Ladyland itself...
Have you ever been (have you ever been) to Electric Ladyland?
The magic carpet waits, for you. So don't you be late
Once again the main themes are apparent though not so easily categorized because of the seamless synthesis of styles within a single song.
Rock - Voodoo Child (Slight Return), All Along The Watchtower, Little Miss Strange
Jazz Rock - Rainy Day, Dream Away, Still Raining, Still Dreaming
Funk Rock - Crosstown Traffic, Long Hot Summer Night
Blues Rock - Come On, Voodoo Chile, Gypsy Eyes
Space Ballad - Have You Ever Been (To Elecric Ladyland)
Hendrixian Universe - ...And The Gods Made Love, , 1983..., Moon, Turn The Tides..., Burning Of The Midnight Lamp, House Burning Down
Quite a few tunes can fall into multiple categories.
The tunes groove better on this album.
Part of this can be attributed to the fact that Hendrix himself ends up laying many of the bass tracks (along with a few other instruments).
"There were some things where it was just faster to work just Jimi and myself. Some were cut guitar and drums, some just bass and drums, there was no set gauge for that."
~Mitch Mitchell
When asked if Jimi playing drums and organ on record based on pics...
"Not organ, but he did play harpsichord on Electric Ladyland, and he was pretty good on the piano. Drums he would play on demos, but not actually on a finished product. He sounded a bit like Stevie Wonder on drums."
~Eddie Kramer
The sound of his guitar on Voodoo Chile is the best i've heard on any of the 3 records.
It's nice to get to hear him display his rhythm chops with someone to play off of for a change.
Recorded live in the studio (at least the band was), Stevie Winwood's organ gives him the chance to be a looser, responsive player and not have to carry the full load.
"Out in the corridor were all these musicians waiting to be given their chance to play. Jimi came out and said "Hi, come in." There were no chord sheets, no nothing. He just started playing. It was a one-take job, with him singing and playing at the same time."
~Steve Winwood
Outside of the album's opening 4 tunes, the heart of this album starts with Burning of the Midnight Lamp and continues with the conceptually perfect Rainy Day, 1983, Moon Turn The Tides..., Still Raining dream sequence...
...sssssmmmmp...Yeah I see what you mean brother. Lay back and groove.
On tunes like Burning of the Midnight Lamp, Rainy Day, Still Raining and Voodoo Child he certainly laid down the law on wah-wah guitar playing.
In true mystical psychedelic form this trip ends with the apologetic and eerily prophetic lines from Voodoo Child...
I didn’t mean to take up all your sweet time
I’ll give it right back to ya one of these days
I said I didn’t mean to take up all your sweet time
I’ll give it right back one of these days
If I don’t meet you no more in this world
I’ll meet ya on the next one and don’t be late
Don’t be late
Quite fitting that this would be the last studio recording that he had complete control over.
However, I always felt that he was just getting started and had a few more surprises in store.
When asked in 2001 what he thought Hendrix would be doing now if he were alive...
"Here's my take: He'd probably be the president of his own record label. He'd be directing movies. He'd have absorbed some of the hip-hop dance techniques, sampling. Since he was such a maverick and leader and well ahead of his time, he would have been ahead of the curve before hip-hop even occured! Certainly jazz and fusion were part of his vocabulary, but classical music and hearing his own music performed by a large orchestra were also possibilities."
~Eddie Kramer
Extra info on specific cuts:
. . . And The Gods Made Love
Jimi - Tympani
Have You Ever Been (To Elecric Ladyland)
Jimi - bass
Crosstown Traffic
Jimi - piano, kazoo (explanation on the kazoo can be found on the VH-1 Classic Albums DVD)
Little Miss Strange
Jimi - guitar solos
Noel - guitar, bass, acoustic guitar
Long Hot Summer Night
Jimi - bass
Gypsy Eyes
Jimi - bass
A song written about his Mother...
...Lucille (coincidentally, that's my Mom's name also)
1983 . . . (A Merman I Should Turn To Be)
Jimi - bass, percussion
House Burning Down
Jimi - bass
Burning Of The Midnight Lamp
Jimi - harpsichord, mellotron
"Jimi was a musical sponge, and I often remember going up to his hotel room to deliver tapes and spying Bach, Handel and Mozart on the player. He got inspiration from the stuff."
~Eddie Kramer
All Along The Watchtower
Jimi - bass
Dave Mason - acoustic guitar
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
This post has gone on much longer than i'd intended (don't they all).
So even though there's more I could add i'll end it by saying based on my personal tastes, at no time up to this point had the combination of unbridled energy, innovation, freedom, creativity and musicianship been allowed to be categorized as mainstream. Quite remarkable.
Kramer spoke reverently about Hendrix and let the students in on some interesting inside observations. Despite his drugged-out public persona, for example, Hendrix was all business when he was recording. He had a keen musical mind and knew precisely what he was doing in the studio. "He knew before he walked in the studio exactly where each note was going," said Kramer. "He was so prepared. Every detail was in his mind. It was the antithesis of what you would think Jimi Hendrix is all about."
Eddie Kramer from a 9/1/2000 "Mixing with a Master" interview
(a framed poster size version of this pic adorns one of my office walls)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Cause I got my own world to look through, and I ain't gonna copy you.
|
In a screenplay or script it's generally better to write things out as they are going to be pronounced, even if you wouldn't do that in regular writing. It's clearer for the actors, and since script length is often used to guess the running time, writing things out phonetically makes the script more "honest".
Let us know!