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As much as the world was in turmoil while Electric Ladyland was being made, so, undoubtedly, was The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Made by an over-worked, over-managed group led by a guitarist keeping demandingly odd hours, forty years on the album displays an unquestionable power and beauty, but also records a huge tension.
Split between brain-frying psychedelic epics (“1983 (A Merman I Should Turn To Be)”) and off the floor live jams like “Voodoo Child”, the album is the bridging point between the flowery-shirted psychedelic pop records of Hendrix’s London days, and the self-determining war funk of Band Of Gypsies, combining the best of both. This supplants the 2002 reissue only in bundling it with the Classic Albums doc, while sleeve-wise, this continues to use neither the original (that Jimi loathed), nor the Linda Eastman shots he wanted.
JOHN ROBINSON
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