“undoubtedly a rock album, albeit rock on the point of evolving into something else.”
– David Stubbs“one of the greatest double-albums in rock.”
– John Perry
Electric Ladyland is the third and final album of new material by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, released in October 1968 on Reprise Records. It is the only Hendrix studio album professionally produced under his supervision. It topped the Billboard 200 album chart for two weeks in November 1968.
| Released | October 25, 1968 (some sources says October 16…worth celebrating anyhow) |
|---|---|
| Recorded | Olympic Studios, London and Record Plant Studios, New York, July and December 1967, January 1968, April–August 1968 |
| Genre | Psychedelic rock, blues rock, acid rock, hard rock |
| Length | 75:47 |
| Label | Reprise, Track, Barclay, Polydor |
| Producer | Jimi Hendrix |
All along the watchtower, the best Dylan cover of all time! (live, Isle of Wight):
This is a perfect Hendrix album. It is poppy and funky and original at the same time, and what a great soul singer Hendrix was! I also think it is very inventive, sonically speaking. Jimi Hendrix really searched for “new sounds” on this record, he produced an album that has stood the test of time marvelously.
An incredible live performance of Voodoo Child (Slight Return) by Jimi and his band in Stockholm, 1969:
Electric Ladyland was the Experience’s most commercially successful release and their only number one album. It peaked at number six in the UK, where it spent 12 weeks on the chart.
Electric Ladyland included a cover of the Bob Dylan song, “All Along the Watchtower,” which became the Experience’s highest-selling single and their only top 40 hit in the US, peaking at number 20; the single reached number five in the UK.
Although it confounded critics upon its release, Electric Ladyland has since been viewed as one of Hendrix’s best work and one of the greatest rock albums of all time. It has been featured on many greatest-album lists, including Q magazine’s 2003 list of the 100 greatest albums and Rolling Stone ’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, on which it was ranked 54th.
“split between brain-frying psychedelic epics (“1983 (A Merman I Should Turn To Be)”) and off the floor live jams like “Voodoo Child”, the album is the bridging point between the flowery-shirted psychedelic pop records of Hendrix’s London days, and the self-determining war funk of Band Of Gypsies, combining the best of both.”
– John Robinson (Uncut)
The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Crosstown Traffic (nice video):
“Jimi Hendrix’s third and final album with the original Experience found him taking his funk and psychedelic sounds to the absolute limit. The result was not only one of the best rock albums of the era, but also Hendrix’s original musical vision at its absolute apex. When revisionist rock critics refer to him as the maker of a generation’s mightiest dope music, this is the album they’re referring to.”
– Cub Koda (allmusic)
Electric Ladyland on Spotify:
– Hallgeir