Turn That Damn Guitar Down!

If I don't meet you no more in this world then
I'll meet ya on the next one
And don't be late, Don't be late

I love Electric Ladyland, from the opening wobblies of ‘…And The Gods Made Love’ to the final riff of ‘Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)’ fading like distant thunder* 15 tracks later. I just love it.

Born into a Hendrixian household** I never really had much choice in the matter and I have strong memories of playing a taped copy of this on my little clock radio/cassette player in my room, in the dark so I could really concentrate on it, aged 13.

The medium has changed and I am more prone to falling asleep before the mermen enter into proceedings now, but that’s something I still do; plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose, as we Welsh say.

Abandon hope of objectivity all ye who enter here.

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I have owned Electric Ladyland in one form, or another for knocking on 40 years and I find myself still exploring it. Despite, or because of this I have never really looked it up, or read much about it, finding out more about the LP today than in the preceding time period. Not that it adds, or detracts, much of anything to/from the Jimi Hendrix Experience of it all.

You aren’t getting the usual track-by-track slew of self-important nonsense tonight, that would run kinda contrary to how I (Jimi Hendrix) experience this album^. I will instead furnish you with ten idiotsyncratic observations/talking points.

One. What could be more tedious than a 15-minute blues-based jam eh reader? nothing, that’s what. Well, unless it is the fourth track here ‘Voodoo Chile’^^ that is, which is very narrowly my favourite track with that title on Electric Ladyland. This is the track I used to crank the volume on in the dark trying to hear every amp crackle and snippet of studio chatter.

I knew Steve Winwood played organ on this cut, but not that the bassist was Jack Casady; Noel Redding having seen his arse about Hendrix bringing a crowd into the studio. I love that guitarist Larry Coryell was invited to jam but declined^*.

That ‘Voodoo Chile’ is a super-heated super-charged take on the blues that somehow manages to pay homage to the entire blues tradition and yet still sounds futuristic in 2025 fascinates me. The playing from absolutely everyone involved is utterly interstellar, the manner in which the rhythm and scope of the whole song warps and shimmers throughout its course and yet never once meanders is a source of constant joy. A lot of musicians manage perfectly respectable careers without amassing this many ideas.

Two. Around the 11-minute of ‘Voodoo Chile’ someone, possibly Hendrix, laughingly shouts ‘turn that damn guitar down‘, which tickles me as one of the least appropriate things ever said in a recording studio.

Three. The other ‘Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)’ is so good, its almost painful to contemplate. You can hear whole careers and new genres springing from his fingers in that riff and that fuzzily potent production. I love the way Hendrix’s voice is too sweet to make the lyrics sound macho. Its still one of the best heavy tracks ever recorded.

Four. When I got to university there was a DJ at a club called Ricky’s who would play ‘Crosstown Traffic’ in his set, speeding it up slightly so that it matched the beats of the numbers around it. It was one of the coolest things I had ever experienced and my friends and I always used to go crazy to it while others watched. The line about ‘Tyre tracks all across your back/ uh-huh, I can see you had your fun‘ is just unbeatable.

Five. There is a real widescreen apocalyptic quality to Hendrix’s reading of ‘All Along The Watchtower’*^ and those final two lines are a whole movie in themselves. Which makes it apt that it soundtracks my favourite moment in one of my fave films ever – when I flips the shades down on his Lennon glasses and drives off.

Six. The JHE’s second longest track ‘1983 … (A Merman I Should Turn To Be)’ is very occasionally my fave track on the LP. A wonderful spiralling flanging 1960’s travelogue confection with a Love-esque bolero feel and some wonderfully deployed stereo panning, it hits all my boxes. Chris Wood from Traffic adds some flute but for me it is Mitch Mitchell’s drums and Jimi’s understated voice that jazz my nibblies here.

Seven. The absolutely rocking ‘Come On – Part 1’ is such a brilliant adornment to Electric Ladyland, albeit a bit of a hidden one. Do I really need to tell you how a certain guitarist takes a driving earthy delight and just takes it for a spin into the sky, before bringing it all back down to our mortal level. I have yet to hear the original Earl King version of this track.

Eight. ‘Gypsy Eyes’ follows, of course and it was an early candidate for my fave track here, for the rhythmic intro and chorus. Again the final production adds all manner of psychedelic touches and the way the guitar parts swirl around each other is a real treat.

Nine. ‘Still Raining, Still Dreaming’ is another undersung fave of mine and companion piece to ‘Rainy Day, Dream away’. Hendrix really lets his guitar sing out on this one, the players on this one almost mark a shift into Band Of Gypsys territory and I really like the playful changes in tone and rhythm here. True story: it is the Electric Ladyland cut I find myself singing most often.

Ten. I had to get the awful 19 unflatteringly lit women cover of Electric Ladyland. I still boggle at how this cover image happened, especially when Hendrix wanted to use Linda Eastman’s great Central Park photo of the Experience. The alternative blurry live shot that was used later and in more prudish territories is truly terrible, that an LP this good could have a cover that bad is just inconceivable. I mean it wouldn’t do for band morale I’m sure, but just use the brilliant portrait of Jimi from the inside gatefold!

Eleven. My copy is a 1973 reissue formatted for an LP autochanger thingy – Sides A and D on record 1. Occasionally that’s a pain, but I find it quaint overall.

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I have no flippant sign off or summary to give you of Electric Ladyland, it looms too large in my cultural consciousness for that – in fact it is exactly the sort of LP I usually dodge writing about properly.

I think Electric Ladyland documents the greatest rock guitarist there ever will be functioning at the height of his powers, as best he could given personnel and party issues. I do like the addition of other musicians into the mix and the ways in which that expanded the palette. It’s a vain wish but I really would have liked to have seen more of the same, I bet Band Of Gypsys third LP would have been a real beast.

If I don't meet you no more in this world then
I'll meet ya on the next one
And don't be late, Don't be late

1289 Down.

PS: this Eddie Kramer interview is wonderful. What a nice man.

*over a mountain which I presume was chopped down only 4 minutes previously.

**my parents saw everybody in London in the 60’s but Jimi was the one that got away. My dad tried and failed to get tickets for his last tour and thought ‘oh well, I’ll see him next time’.

^this hilarious witticism will now be retired for the remainder of this review.

^^I used to earnestly pronounce ‘chile’ as ‘chili’, until it made me look seriously uncool once in front of someone I was trying hard to impress circa 1989. I ascribe the fact that I have yet to have an intimate cuddle with her, solely to this.

^*I mean, WTF Larry?! wow.

*^I didn’t hear Dylan’s version for a decade after I knew this one, it was no contest as Dylan uncharacteristically acknowledged.