Electric Ladyland

As I continue to listen to the music of 1968, I turn to Jimi Hendrix, who died on this date 48 years ago. The 1968 album, Electric Ladyland, the third and last studio album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, is considered his greatest work, and was his only number one album. I'm sorry to say I don't agree.

Electric Ladyland is a double album, and is an example of an artist who has too much free reign. Perhaps this would have made a much better single disc. There are two tracks over thirteen minutes long, and  many of the songs sound similar, making me actually tired of Hendrix's guitar playing. I'm glad to agree that he's the greatest rock guitarist of all time, or at least the greatest American, but there are limits.

The album has three great tracks. "Crosstown Traffic" is a perfect, short, pop song, almost bubblegum pop, but with Hendrix's heavy strings (and a makeshift kazoo). It's my favorite Hendrix-composed song, other than "Purple Haze."

Classic number two is "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)," which was Hendrix's only number one hit in the UK. An example of swamp blues, its one of the Hendrix's best guitar riff. There is another song on the album called "Voodoo Chile," which is over fifteen minutes long. I like the return better.

Finally there's "All Along the Watchtower," a cover of the Bob Dylan song and my favorite Hendrix recording. Dylan wrote the lyrics, but Hendrix takes the melody and transforms it something epic. Dylan's reaction, from Wikipedia: "Dylan has described his reaction to hearing Hendrix's version: "It overwhelmed me, really. He had such talent, he could find things inside a song and vigorously develop them. He found things that other people wouldn't think of finding in there. He probably improved upon it by the spaces he was using. I took license with the song from his version, actually, and continue to do it to this day."

Hendrix just fills every nook and cranny on this record, not only with the chugging guitar, but his vocals, which were always thought of second to his guitar playing. I get chills every time I hear that last line, "and the wind begins to howl!" It is the best cover of a Bob Dylan song, and may be the best cover ever.

The rest of Electric Ladyland, it seems to me, was best listened to on some sort of hallucinogenic, which I'm not against, but of which I was fresh out when I listened to this all the way through last night. This era of music is my favorite of any, but with success could come indulgence, and there's too much of that on Electric Ladyland.