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Rating: 1967 is the year that saw the release of both "Are You Experienced" and "Axis: Bold As Love" by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, while in April 1968, "Smash Hits" hit the market, the collection that marked the end of the collaboration between the producer and former bassist of the Animals Chas Chandler and the Anglo-American group.
The difficult gestation of the third studio effort is the most distressing experience that the artist from Seattle had to endure, dedicating an enormous effort to weaving and unraveling the elaborate and multifaceted musical tapestry that would ultimately birth a varied kaleidoscope of sounds, reflecting a greater awareness that doesn't detract from the instinctiveness that had brought him to light until that point. It was a year that Jimi mostly spent alone or with numerous collaborators (Steve Winwood and Chris Wood from Traffic, Jack Casady from Jefferson Airplane, Buddy Miles, and others), relegating Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell to the role of little more than luxury session musicians. The prolonged sessions had the primary objective (successfully achieved!) of researching and ultimately recording a pretentious combination of psychedelia, blues, and a vigorous sonic expressiveness to seal it all.
The opening is left to the brief tumult of "...And The Gods Made Love", which drags us straight to the moving "Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)", where Hendrix's falsetto vocals effortlessly lead us to the boogie convulsions of "Crosstown Traffic". In "Little Miss Strange", composed and sung by Redding, the lightness and pleasure of the sixties sounds of the period emerge, along with the tempting opportunity for great embroidery work that Hendrix certainly does not let slip away. More reasonableness and cerebral quality for this album, where not only standout tracks like "Burning Of The Midnight Lamp" with its epic chorus or the abrasive yet touching "Gypsy Eyes" (appeared as the B-side of "Crosstown Traffic" for both the UK and US markets), recorded about seventy times and dedicated by Jimi to his mother, but also "Rainy Day, Dream Away" - with Mike Finnigan on organ and Buddy Miles on drums among others - where jazz and blues are sublimely married, seamlessly flowing into the thrilling reprise of "Still Raining, Still Dreaming". There is also room for two covers: "Come On (Let The Good Times Roll)" is a blues & roll by Earl King, reprised with extraordinary respect, while the famous "All Along The Watchtower", borrowed from Bob Dylan who included it in his "John Wesley Harding" released a year earlier, is reinterpreted here, conferring upon it an unknown electric elegance, boasting the collaboration of Dave Mason (Traffic) on bass and Brian Jones (The Rolling Stones) on percussion. It might seem disrespectful not to mention all the album's tracks, but it would certainly be even more so if we forgot to cite "Voodoo Chile" as a delectable jam session that leaves Hendrix an infinite freedom of creation-expression through his gleaming Stratocaster, presenting himself as the Van Gogh of the seven notes, capable of reproducing singular musical rainbows, as yet undiscovered. The monumental "1983...(A Merman I Should Turn To Be)" is a slow and relentless magmatic flow, where the balance between the instruments - where one provides to the other what it needs - manages to conceive a splendid example of psychedelic blues. The concluding "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)" drags us with a whirling introduction into a maelstrom of sounds with an acidic taste, where that innovative stylistic inclination culminates in a clamor never an end in itself.
The third album of the Experience has all the cards to eventually become one of the apogees of rock music, where intensity is articulated through the passion of the tracks that find relief in a natural outpouring capable of reflecting the transparent brightness of the soul. A record chapter that, to be fully appreciated, certainly needs more listens, which will result in the necessary connecting bridge, with those sounds capable of igniting our most recondite imagination.
[The shiny tri-fold package of the most complete remastered edition includes a DVD titled "At Last...The Beginning...The Making Of Electric Ladyland", but also a juicy 36-page booklet where you can view the shots taken at Central Park in New York by Linda Eastman for the album cover that was about to be released with the title "Electric Landlady" - as renamed by a studio technician - the mistake of which Hendrix promptly noticed and corrected. The images of the future Mrs. McCartney were then preferred to that which reproduced the 19 electric ladies (as Jimi called the groupies) nude, with the image of the guitarist prominently displayed.].
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Have You Ever Been (to Electric Ladyland) (02:11)
Have you ever been (have you ever been) to Electric
Ladyland?
The magic carpet waits, for you.
So don't you be late
Oh, (I wanna show you), the different emotions
(I wanna run to) the sounds and motions
Electric woman waits for you and me
So it's time we take a ride,
we can cast all of your hang-ups over
the seaside.
While we fly right over the love filled sea
Look up ahead, I see the loveland, soon you'll understand.
Make love, make love, make love, make love.
(I wanna show you)
The angels will spread their wings, spread their wings
(I wanna show you)
Good and evil lay side by side while electric love penetrates
the sky
(I wanna show you)
Lord, Lord I wanna show you
(I wanna show you)
Hmm, hmmm, hmmm
(I wanna show you)
Show you
(I wanna show you)
03 Crosstown Traffic (02:27)
You jump in front of my car when you, you know all time
90 miles an hour girl, is the speed I drive
You tell me it's alright. you don't mind a little pain.
you say you just want me to take you for a drive!
you're just like
(crosstown traffic!) so hard to get through to you
(Crosstown traffic) I don't need to run over you
(Crosstown traffic) all you do is slow me down!
and I'm trying to get on the other side of town
I'm not the only soul who's
accused of hit and run
tire tracks all across your back, I can, I can see you had your fun.
but uh darling, can't you see my signals turn from green to red
and with you, I can see a traffic jam straight up ahead
you're just like
(crosstown traffic) so hard to get through to you
(Crosstown traffic) I don't need to run over you!
(Crosstown traffic) all you do is slow me down
and I've got better things on the other side of town
yeah girl
(Crosstown traffic, yeah)
Look out, Look out,
Look out, Baby, Comin' through
(Crosstown traffic, yeah) yeah girl now
(Crosstown traffic, Look out) Look out, look out, Baby
(Crosstown traffic, yeah, Look out)
What's that in the street?
06 Long Hot Summer Night (03:28)
Show us a long
Long, long hot summer night
As far as my eyes could see
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Well my heart was way down
Cold cold winter stone
Well my darlin' where can you be
Where can you be baby
Where can you be
There were three sugar cane walls
And two candy cane windows
But the silliest move welted all those inside
Well everybody's on fire, but its
A snowin' in a cold blizzard
Where are you in this a hot cold summer?
Where are you in this a hot cold summer?
Where are you in this a hot cold summer?
God, god, god
Around about this time the telephone
Blew its horn across the room
Scared little Annie
Clean out of her mind
Out of her mind
And grabbed little Annie from the sink just in time
And the telephone just keeps on screamin'
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
"Hello," said my shaky voice
"Well, how you doing"
I started to stutter
Ah, ah, can't you tell that I'm doin' fine
Can't you tell I'm doin' fine
It was my baby talkin'
Way down across the border
She says "I'm goin' to hurry to ya, I've been a fool
And I'm tired of cryin'"
Ah, ah
Yeah
I said a long
Long, hot summer night
As far as my eyes could see
As far as my eyes
I could feel the heat comin' on
As my baby's gettin' closer
I'm so glad my baby's comin' to rescue me
So glad my baby's comin' to rescue me
My baby's comin' to rescue me
Rescue
Rescue
07 Come On (Let the Good Times Roll) (04:10)
People talkin' but they just don't know,
What's in my heart, and why I love you so.
I love you baby like a miner loves gold.
Come on sugar, let the good times roll. hey!
So many people live in make believe,
They keep a lot a going up their sleeves.
But my love baby is no kind that folds.
Come On Baby, let the good times roll.
(Let the good times roll).
ah baby, come on and let daddy fill your soul.
baby, let the good times roll.
hey!
A love is nice if it's understood
It's even nicer when you're feelin' good
You got me flippin' like flag on a pole
Come on sugar, let the good times roll
Hey! Yeah! Let the good times roll!
feel me baby! Come on, good times roll!
come on and let me fill your soul,
hey, let the good times roll
08 Gypsy Eyes (03:44)
Well I realize that I've been hypnotized,
I love your gypsy eyes
I love your gypsy eyes
Alright!
Hey!
Gypsy.
Way up in my tree I'm sitting by my fire
Wond'rin' where in this world might you be
And knowin' all the time you're still roamin' in the country side
Do you still think about me?
Oh my gypsy.
Well I walked right on to your rebel roadside
The one that rambles on for a million miles
Yes I walk down this road searchin' for your love and ah my soul too
But when I find ya I ain't gonna let go.
I remember the first time I saw you
The tears in your eyes look like they're tryin' to say
Oh little boy you know I could love you
But first I must make my get away
Two strange men fightin' to the death over me today
I'll try to meet cha by the old highway.
Hey!
Well I realize that I've been hypnotized, I love your gypsy eyes
I love your gypsy eyes
I love your gypsy eyes
I love your gypsy eyes
Alright!
I've been searchin' so long my feet have made me lose the battle
Down against the road my weary knees they got me
Off to the side I fall but I hear a sweet call
My gypsy eyes is comin' and I've been saved.
Oh I've been saved
That's why I love you uh
Said I love you
Hey!
Love you uh
Lord I love you
Hey!
09 Burning of the Midnight Lamp (03:40)
The morning is dead
And the day is too
There's nothing left here to greet me
But the velevet moon
All my loneliness
I have felt today
It's a little more than enough
To make a man throw himself away
And i continue
To burn the midnight lamp
Alone
Now the smiling portrait of you
Is stll hangin' on my frowning wall
It really doesn't really doesn't bother me too much at all
It's just the, uh, ever falling dust
That makes it so hard for me to see
That forgotten ear-ring laying on the floor
Facing coldly toward the door
And i continue
To burn the midnight lamp
All alone
Burn
Lonely lonely, yeah
Lonely lonely lonely
Loneliness is such a, drag
So here i sit to face
That same old fire place
Gettin' ready for the same old explosion
Goin' through my mind
And soon enough time will tell
About the circus and the wishing well
And someone who will buy and sell for me
Someone who will toll my bell
And i continue to burn the same ol' lamp
Alone
Darlin' do you hear me callin' you
So lonely
Lonely!
11 1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be) (13:46)
Hurrah i awake from yesterday
alive but the war is here to stay
so my love catherina and me
decide to take our last walk
through the noise to the sea
not to die but to be re-born
away from a life so battered and torn....
forever...
oh say can you see its really such a mess
every inch of earth is a fighting nest
giant pencil and lip-stick tube shaped things
continue to rain and cause screaming pain
and the arctic stains
from silver blue to bloody red
as our feet find the sand
and the sea is strait ahead..
strait ahead.....
well its too bad
that our friends
cant be with us today
well thats too bad
"the machine
that we built
would never save us"
thats what they say
(thats why they aint coming with us today)
and they also said
"its impossible for man
to live and breath underwater..
forever" was their main complaint
(yeah)
and they also threw this in my face:
they said
anyway
you know good well
it would be beyond the will of God
and the grace of the King
(grace of the King yeah yeah)
so my darling and I
make love in the sand
to salute the last moment
ever on dry land
our machine has done its work
played its part well
without a scratch on our bodies
and we bid it farewell
starfish and giant foams
greet us with a smile
before our heads go under
we take a last look
at the killing noise
of the out of style...
the out of style, out of style
13 Still Raining, Still Dreaming (04:26)
Rainy day, rain all day
Ain't no use in gettin' uptight
Just let it groove its own way
Let it drain your worries away yeah
Lay back and groove on a rainy day hey
Lay back and dream on a rainy day
Lay back and groove on a rainy day
Lay back
Oh yeah !
Lay back and groove on a rainy day
Lay back and groove on a rainy day
Lay back and dream on a rainy day
Lay back and groove on a rainy day
Lay back and dream on a rainy day
Lay back and, lay back, lay back, lay back and groove.
Ooh
Aaaah !
Lay back and groove on a rainy day
Lay back and groove on a rainy day
Lay back and groove on a rainy day
Lay back and groove on a rainy day
Lay back and dream on a rainy day.
Still rainin' still dreamin'
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Other reviews
By Mario
"Electric Ladyland" is the definitive testament of the genius.
"Voodoo Chile" lasts 15 minutes, with a robust organ that even surpasses the guitar.
By Lor444
His defiance of genres; and it is precisely in this album... that his personality is reflected.
An epochal album that lays bare Hendrix’s true soul: that creativity that eludes every scheme.
By woodstock
Those notes seem to have been etched onto a tombstone by gods making love.
This magnificent art gallery is nothing but Psychedelia, a manifestation of the soul.
By TraumaCronico
Magic. Hendrix was magic, above all else.
Electric Ladyland could be considered Hendrix's Blonde on Blonde, the ultimate musical testament of a genius.
