And it’s this rich layered textured brew that continues to spellbind people, and why there are Blues fans and Rock fans and Funk fans and Psych fans and Prog fans who all worship at the altar of Jimi. Hendrix filled these songs with swirling details and blurry embellishments that were panned across the stereo channels and swam through your mind, weaving a world that continued to reveal its fractal patterns with each listen. The band was not consulted and Electric Ladyland was shipped to retailers with the nude photograph. Attempting to build a buzz through controversy, the label photographed nineteen naked women and spread the photo across the outer gatefold. That song is a journey I still find thrilling. The Jimi Hendrix Experience was signed to Track Records in the UK. But a song like (my personal favourite) “1983… (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)” sounds truly psychedelic. Sometimes it was just folk-rock with a weird warped guitar solo in the middle. In an era defined by experimentation, the psychedelic scene of the 60s often saw bands adding ‘trippy’ sounds or gimmicks to their songs, or using distortion and feedback or euphemistic lyrics to emulate or allude to the drug experience. And though all of his albums are must-haves, for my money, the double-album Electric Ladyland still stands as the ultimate manifestation of these sonic forces. Forty years on, the songs of The Experience still sound like some of the freshest, most alive sounding Rock ever created. Not to mention the incredible playing of Noel Redding on bass and Mitch Mitchell on drums (who were usually both soloing along with Jimi, more like a Free-Jazz trio than a rock group).
‘How the hell did he do that?’ But this designation often overshadows and negates Hendrix’s other skills as singer and songwriter and lyricist and producer, which were every bit as awesome as his wah-wah wailing. And the Gods Made Love Lyrics 9.1K 2 Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland) Lyrics 24K 3 Crosstown Traffic. He achieved sounds that still mystify guitarists today. The Jimi Hendrix Experience Released OctoElectric Ladyland Tracklist 1. Hendrix redefined the guitar (and the blues) like no one else.
No matter who comes along now, whenever they try to make one of those ‘Greatest Guitarists of All Time’ lists, the #1 spot will always be reserved for Jimi Hendrix.