Q&A

Eddie Kramer: Producer

Do you have a favourite set?

It keeps changing as there are so many good bits from each one. Jimi and I first mixed Band Of Gypsys at a little studio in New York. It was all pretty cool and then it came to the inevitable Buddy Miles interminable jam and I looked at Jimi and he had his head on the console muttering “Shut the fuck up, Buddy.” Buddy was perfect for Jimi as he was one of the world’s best fatback drummers. Rhythmically, he was a machine, but there was that unfortunate other part of it where he was excessive with his vocal jams.

Was that a challenge for Jimi?

He loved Buddy because Buddy made him laugh. And the drumming part of it was cool. Without that machine-like quality, Billy and Jimi would not have been able to do their extensive jams. It freed Jimi and there were definite positives about that lineup. They began rehearsing at Baggys and were very tight by the time they got to the Fillmore. There is so much fantastic material and over the two nights and four shows they were able to experiment. Every version is different.

How much editing has taken place?

Some tracks were cut whether we did that for technical or musical reasons, I won’t get into. We had to do a few clean-ups when someone dropped a bollock but you want to protect the instant and the flow. The whole intention of this box is to put it out the way it was, warts and all. The fans want to hear every note no matter how wonky.