Jimi Hendrix
Voodoo chile.
During a frontline career that lasted little over three years, Jimi Hendrix had an extraordinary and lasting impact. His music fast-tracked pop into rock, while his image, akin to a counterculture Che guevara, defined the romantic guitar hero. He worked incessantly, both on stage and in the studio. Yet prior to his shocking death in September 1970, he’d made just four complete albums, including one – Band Of Gypsys – he didn’t want released at all. There have since been more than 50 albums bearing his name. Of course, Hendrix’s stature is such that, like da Vinci’s jottings, there’s a case to be made for most of them. But a series of contractual wrangles – a blight even during his lifetime – have seen control of the catalogue pass from label to label; from producer alan Douglas, who during the ’70s controversially fleshed out material with overdubs, to, in 1995, the Hendrix family. Though more commercially minded (Hendrix golfballs, anyone?), Experience Hendrix has handled the catalogue well, calling in the experts, upgrading key titles, keeping the work alive with themed archive releases and securing Hendrix’s reputation for future generations. The latest is a deluxe, 50th anniversary edition of Electric Ladyland, the pivot on which Hendrix’s career swung. released in October 1968, just two years after he’d quit the uS r&B club scene to join producer Chas Chandler in London, Ladyland consigned the boa-wearing, guitarburning showmanship of his first year in England to history. Chandler was gone too, leaving Hendrix to take off on a sonic crusade for love and peace. Battling against indecision and perfectionism, he never reached the destination. “When i die,” he said, “just keep on playing the records.” He had no idea just how many there would be.
“He defined the romantic guitar hero.”