Jimi Hendrix’s 'Electric Ladyland' gets deluxe 50th anniversary reissue
The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s seminal 1968 album ‘Electric Ladyland’ is getting an expanded deluxe reissue this autumn to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
Released on Friday 9th November, the album is available as a 3CD/1 Blu-ray set or a 6LP/1 Blu-ray set. Both packages boast the original album newly remastered by esteemed producer Bernie Grundman from the original analogue tapes.
Included on the Blu-Ray is a new 5.1 surround sound mix of the entire original album by Hendrix’s original engineer Eddie Kramer, which brings listeners the original stereo mixes in uncompressed 24 bit/96 kz high resolution audio.
Kramer, who engineered every Hendrix album made during his life, and produced or co-produced nearly all of his posthumous material, enthuses: “I had always dreamed of mixing ‘Electric Ladyland’ in 5.1 surround sound.
“It always felt to me as the perfect vehicle for the kind of adventuresome stuff that Jimi and I were trying to do in 1968. The visceral thrill when we completed the first surround mix of ‘Voodoo Child (Slight Return)’ was palpable. It was an overwhelming experience—pun intended.
“We viewed this song as the surround test and the moment I heard it I flashed back on those moments when Jimi and I were mixing the stereo album, laughing at our attempts to find that ‘elusive’ sound.”
For the first time, the album will come adorned with the cover Jimi Hendrix actually wanted; a Linda Eastman (later McCartney) photograph of the band and children at the statue of Alice In Wonderland in New York’s Central Park.
Snubbed by Jimi’s label, the image was relegated to the inside cover of US version on Reprise Records, which was printed in black and white.
The UK edition didn’t feature the cover at all and, of course, instead featured a gatefold photo of 19 naked women, which Jimi famously despised.
In keeping with Jimi’s wishes, this edition features Linda Eastman’s photo in full colour.
Among the plethora of extras is ‘At Last…The Beginning: The Making of Electric Ladyland: The Early Takes’, which 20 never before heard demos and studio outtakes from this period in Hendrix’s career.
The third disc is ‘Jimi Hendrix Experience: Live At the Hollywood Bowl 9/14/68’; a previously unreleased concert in the fabled California venue recorded a few weeks before the release of ‘Electric Ladyland’.
Alongside Eddie Kramer’s surround sound mix, the Blu-Ray features the critically acclaimed, feature length documentary At Last… The Beginning: The Making of Electric Ladyland.
On top of this, there’s also a full colour, 48-page book containing Jimi’s handwritten lyrics, poem and instructions to his record label, an essay by veteran Rolling Stone contributor David Fricke, and never before published photos from the recording sessions shot by Eddie Kramer.
The deluxe track-listing is as follows:
Electric Ladyland – original album remixed by Eddie Kramer and remastered by Bernie Grundman:
Side A
1) … And the Gods Made Love
2) Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)
3) Crosstown Traffic
4) Voodoo Chile
Side B
1) Little Miss Strange
2) Long Hot Summer Night
3) Come On (Part I)
4) Gypsy Eyes
5) Burning of the Midnight Lamp
Side C
1) Rainy Day, Dream Away
2) 1983….(A Merman I Should Turn To Be)
3) Moon, Turn the Tides….Gently Gently Away
Side D
1) Still Raining, Still Dreaming
2) House Burning Down
3) All Along the Watchtower
4) Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
At Last…The Beginning: The Making of Electric Ladyland: The Early Takes:
Side A
1) 1983…(A Merman I Should Turn To Be)
2) Voodoo Chile
3) Cherokee Mist
4) Hear My Train A Comin’
Side B
1) Angel
2) Gypsy Eyes
3) Somewhere
4) Long Hot Summer Night Demo 1
5) Long Hot Summer Night Demo 3
6) Long Hot Summer Night Demo 4
7) Snowballs At My Window
8) My Friend
Side C
1) At Last…The Beginning
2) Angel Caterina (1983)
3) Little Miss Strange
4) Long Hot Summer Night Take 1
5) Long Hot Summer Night Take 14
Side D
1) Rainy Day, Dream Away
2) Rainy Day Shuffle
3) 1983...(A Merman I Should Turn To Be)
Jimi Hendrix Experience: Live At The Hollywood Bowl Sept. 14, 1968 (Dagger Records)
Side A
1) Introduction
2) Are You Experienced
3) Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
Side B
1) Red House
2) Foxey Lady
3) Fire
Side C
1) Hey Joe
2) Sunshine of Your Love
3) I Won’t Live Today
Side D
1) Little Wing
2) Star Spangled Banner
3) Purple Haze
At Last… The Beginning: The Making of Electric Ladyland documentary (Blu-ray)
Uncompressed LPCM Stereo 24b/96k
Uncompressed LPCM 5.1 Surround 24b/96k
DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround 24b/96k