...and on guitar - The Book (2023)

Now that I've posted what could turn out to be the final entry in the '...and on guitar' series, here's something that I've been thinking about doing this for quite a while. When the number of posts in the series reached over 75 then I thought that now was the time to put them all together in one place, almost like a book. So what you have here are all the write-ups for the '...and on guitar' series, presented in alphabetical order, so that they can be dipped into as you are listening to the albums, or just read as a history of the lives of all these great guitarists. 

Soulseek hint      book aiwe

Jimi Hendrix - Mosaic (1970)

Just when I thought that I had every Hendrix out-take out there on the many, many bootlegs that I have, a couple of new multi-CD sets turn up, which include stuff that I hadn't heard before. The 'Black Gold' 5CD set includes a number of out-takes and alternate versions of tracks recorded around 1970, with quite a few of them being different takes of 'Electric Ladyland' songs, but it also features a jam with Stevie Wonder on 'I Was Made To Love Her', a new song to me called 'Honey Bed', and two takes of a title that I didn't recognise called 'Pride Of Man'. The other box set was the 6CD 'Astro Man' collection, which consists of 3 CDs of studio recordings and three live discs, with the studio discs including alternate takes and mixes of songs as old as 'Purple Haze' and '51st Anniversary', and quite a few from the 'Cry Of Love' period. This set also included some tracks with titles new to me, such as 'Highway Of Broken Dreams', 'La Pouppee Qui Fait Non', 'World Traveller', and 'Too Bad', the last two with organist Larry Young. It could be that these were just already released tracks with new titles, and that actually proved to be the case with 'Pride Of Man', as you can see from the notes that accompanied the 'Black Gold' set, and as they had some interesting insights, I'm repeating them here. 'I Was Made To Love Her' was recorded on 06 October 1967 at the Playhouse Theatre, London, with Stevie Wonder playing the drums and Noel Redding on bass. There are no vocals, but faintly you can hear someone, possibly Wonder, singing verses from 'Ain't Too Proud To Beg', which I split off to make a new track, and Hendrix lays down some nice licks on both of them. 'South Saturn Delta' is just Hendrix solo on guitar, with no other accompaniment, unfettered by the horns and everything else you hear on the 'Lifelines' albums, and utilising some very effective stereo separation. 'Midnight, Valleys Of Neptune Arising' was recorded on 03 April 1969 with Mitch Mitchell and Billy Cox, and a couple of the takes sound just like the 'Pride Of Man' out-takes, and so that is why I didn't recognise that title, as it turns out that it's just one segment of the afore-mentioned 'Neptune...'. 'Sending My Love To Linda' comes from 21 April 1969, and is an instrumental take of the song which has appeared on other bootlegs with vocals. It's unlike the version on 'Lifelines', which besides having vocals, has a much more restrained guitar sound, with this version sounding much heavier at times, and I extracted the best version from the three takes on the CD. 'Blues Suede Shoes' was taped on 23 January 1970, and is a great studio version of the live track from 'In The West' album, while 'Honey Bed' hails from 10 September 1969, or possibly 23 December 1969, depending on who you believe, and I've taken the best parts from the five incomplete takes to make one good version of the song. Not much information about 'The Things I Used To Do', other than it was recorded some time in 1969, and is an edited version of the fourth vocal take of an unreleased track. So from these two multi-CD box sets I've managed to extract nine songs which I didn't already have, and with some judicious editing here and there it gives me a 51-minute album, which was perfect. I've wanted to use the mosaic of Hendrix's face that was created with guitar picks for some time, and I thought that this was the ideal album for it, and as this is a random collection of different recordings, I've also titled it 'Mosaic', as that seemed to fit. 

    
Track listing

01 The Things I Used To Do
02 Honey Bed
03 Blue Suede Shoes
04 Midnight, Valleys Of Neptune Arising
05 World Traveller
06 South Saturn Delta
07 Too Bad
08 Ain't Too Proud To Beg
09 Sending My Love To Linda

Various Artists - An Alternative Hendrix (1990)

I was listening to my New Fast Automatic Daffodils 'Peel Sessions' album the other day, and was reminded at just how great their take on 'Purple Haze' was, which in turn prompted memories of another couple of Hendrix covers by new wave/alternative bands that I'd always loved - 'All Along The Watchtower' by XTC and 'Foxy Lady' by The Cure. I wondered if there were any more punky versions of Hendrix's songs out there, and found that although there have been two tribute albums released, with 'Stone Free' in 1993 and 'If Six Was Nine' in 1990, they seemed to concentrate on more mainstream groups to contribute to them, and so I only had to borrow four songs from the latter to flesh out this collection of re-imaginings of Hendrix classics by some of my favourite new wave/alternative bands. 

Track listing

01 Purple Haze - New Fast Automatic Daffodils
02 Can You See Me - Thee Hypnotics
03 Stone Free - Supergrass
04 Are You Experienced - The Mock Turtles
05 Who Knows - Bevis Frond
06 Foxy Lady - The Cure
07 Love Or Confusion - The Screaming Trees
08 Hey Joe - Patti Smith
09 All Along The Watchtower - XTC
10 Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) - The Membranes
11 Crosstown Traffic - Richard Hell & The Voidoids

Band Of Gypsys - Stepping Stone (1969)

 Updated cover to replace the old one in your folder.

Jimi Hendrix - ...and on guitar (1970)

Considering the many, many hours of Jimi Hendrix recordings that exists, including both studio and live tapes, it's surprising at just how little there is of him collaborating with other artists in the later years of his career. There's the famed bootleg of him jamming with members of Traffic, and one album from Irish psyche-poppers Eire Apparent, for which he acted as producer and played guitar, but apart from those his guest appearances were limited to helping out friends Robert Wyatt, Arthur Lee and Stephen Stills, doing a favour for Paul McCartney, and appearing with a stellar cast of mates on two sessions, for Lighting Rod and Timothy Leary. 
Eire Apparent (a pun on their Irish heritage) hailed from Northern Ireland, and launched the careers of both Henry McCullough and Ernie Graham, but their main claim to fame is getting Hendrix to act as producer and play guitar on their sole album 'Sunrise' in 1968. The link is that both artists were managed by ex-Animals bassist Chas Chandler, and at one point both were signed to Track Records, for whom Eire Apparent recorded one single. Following this the band were sent to tour America, firstly with The Animals, and then later with Soft Machine and The Jimi Hendrix Experience, and while in Los Angeles they recorded songs for their debut album 'Sunrise', with Hendrix producing and playing on the record. 'Sunrise' went the way of a lot of albums of the late 60's, selling a moderate number at the time, but being re-discovered in the 80's as a 'lost classic', and original copies now go for large sums, helped quite a bit by the Hendrix connection. 
Also is 1968, Roger McGough and Mike McGear were members of hit Liverpool art/rock/poetry band The Scaffold, and fancied doing a duo album of their own stuff. They roped in Mike's brother Paul McCartney to produce it, and between them they managed to engage the services of Hendrix to provide guitar on two of the more song-orientated tracks, both of them mid-to-late 60's pop/psyche offerings.
At the end of the tour, on which Eire Apparent supported Hendrix and The Soft Machine, The Experience gave Robert Wyatt access to their recording studios after hours, so that he could record some demos, and Hendrix added guitar to one of them, 'Slow Walkin' Talk'. 
In 1969, The Last Poet's member Lighting Rod was perfecting one of the earliest example of rapping, and wanted to record his outlandish tale of the prostitute 'Doriella Du Fontaine', so persuaded Buddy Miles and Hendrix to improvise in the studio with him. They recorded a basic 8 minute take which was eventually released as a 12" single in 1984, together with an edited four minute instrumental version of the track.
In 1970, Hendrix provided guitar on one song from Stephen Stills' debut solo album. The pair had known each other for years, and there's an hour-long jam session of the two of them in Stills' basement in 1968 available on Youtube, and during the sessions for the album the pair also recorded a jam called 'White Nigger', which Stills later turned into 'High And Dry' for his Manassas project. This was actually a re-acquaintance of the two in a recording studio, as the previous year Hendrix had invited Stills to a session at New York’s Record Plant, and it was there that Stills performed the Joni Mitchell song 'Woodstock' for the first time, a year before it would appear on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's album ‘Déjà vu’. Stills and Hendrix then recorded a version of the song, along with a take on Stills' '$20 Fine', both with Stills on vocals. 
Also in 1970, Hendrix was invited by Love's Arthur Lee to contribute to his band's album 'False Start'. Hendrix returned to Olympic Studios, the recording facility where he'd recorded 'Are You Experienced' and 'Axis: Bold As Love', and he and percussionist Remi Kabaka joined Love in recording 'The Everlasting First'. The three musicians recorded sixteen takes before a basic track met Lee's approval, and they also taped two takes of Hendrix's own 'Ezy Rider', before they took part in an extended instrumental jam session, later titled 'Loon', before departing. This album doesn't aim to include everything that Hendrix was involved in outside The Experience or Band Of Gypsys, but it's more of an overview of his collaborations, so I've picked just two songs from Eire Apparent's album, on which his guitar-playing is particularly up-front, along with the two 'McGough & McGear' songs, three with Stephen Stills, the Robert Wyatt demo, and the recording with Love. The Timothy Leary recording is nice to hear once, but doesn't really warrant repeated plays, so if you want to hear it you can do so here. I  haven't included the Love versions of 'Ezy Rider', as Hendrix sings on them and so they just sound like normal Hendrix out-takes, and 'Loon' is just a ten-minute jam, and I've also omitted '$20 Dollar Fine' which is available on the 'Both Sides Of The Sky' album. If you like the two Eire Apparent tracks then do check out their album as it really is excellent stuff.  

Track listing

01 The Clown (from 'Sunrise' by Eire Apparent 1968)
02 Mr. Guy Fawkes (from 'Sunrise' by Eire Apparent 1968)
03 So Much (from 'McGough & McGear' by McGough & McGear 1968)
04 Ex Art Student (from 'McGough & McGear' by McGough & McGear 1968)
05 Doriella Du Fontaine (by Lightning Rod 1969)
06 Old Times Good Times (from 'Stephen Stills' by Stephen Stills 1970)
07 White Nigger ('Stephen Stills' out-take 1970)
08 Woodstock (out-take with Stephen Stills 1969)
09 Slow Walkin' Talk (from ''68' by Robert Wyatt 1968)
10 The Everlasting First (from 'False Start' by Love 1970)

Now that this has turned into a series, I've updated the artwork on this post to match the others, although I've left the original cover in the file. If you want this cover then just right-click and save it from the post.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Church (1968)

The Jimi Hendrix Experience began working on their fourth album during the last two weeks of October 1968, at an old rundown studio called TTG in Hollywood, where Jimi was also producing an album by Irish band Eire Apparent. Despite the party atmosphere and a host of groupies and musicians stopping by to jam, they did somehow manage to complete some recording. The tapes were then sent to the Record Plant in New York where they just gathered dust. and so here is an album made up of those somewhat chaotic sessions. If these tracks had been polished in the studio this could have formed the basis for a fourth Experience album, being made only six weeks after they finished working on 'Electric Ladyland'. It starts with a song that Jimi tried numerous times to get right in the studio but never captured to his satisfaction, 'Here He Comes', otherwise known as 'Lover Man'. The title track is next, and is actually a version of 'Red House', featuring Mitch Mitchell on drums and Buddy Miles on percussion. The explosive version of Van Morrison's 'Gloria' is a highlight, and remained unheard for over a decade until it was released as a bonus 7" single with 'The Essential Jimi Hendrix Vol. 2' in 1979. Another elusive track is 'Look Over Yonder', also called 'Mr. Bad Luck', as despite having already recorded a decent version back in May of '67, Jimi wanted to try again, possibly an indication that he was running out of new ideas. 'New Rising Sun' is a nice guitar piece that Jimi was working on, and which to my ears sounds very much like an extended take on the introduction to 'Angel', while 'Hear My Freedom' is another unstructured blues jam, and we conclude with the heavy and somewhat ridiculous 'Calling All the Devil's Children', one of the few songs that were actually completed at TTG.. This could very well have been the band's fourth album if they'd managed to get their act together and kept on at the Record Plant to do something with the raw tapes, but they didn't, and so only now can we hear what it might have sounded like.

Track listing

01 Here He Comes (Lover Man) 
02 Electric Church Red House
03 Gloria
04 Look Over Yonder 
05 New Rising Sun 
06 Hear My Freedom
07 Calling All the Devil's Children 

From The Album Fixer September 2015.

Band Of Gypsys - Stepping Stone (1969)

In late 1969, bassist Billy Cox and drummer Buddy Miles agreed to help Jimi make a new album in order to settle an old contract dispute with PPX Industries, with whom Jimi had signed a contract in 1965 giving him only a 1% royalty rate. PPX had come after him with a vengeance after he became famous, and a settlement was finally reached where Jimi would give them a new album to be distributed by Capitol Records in the US. Recording started in October 1969 at an old run down rehearsal space called Juggy Sound, before moving into The Record Plant in November, where they made considerable progress on a new studio album. In December, they decided that the quickest way to honour their obligation was to record their New Years gigs at the Fillmore and give a live album to PPX. This meant that they could save the studio recordings for an album later in 1970, but in January Jimi's manager suddenly fired the band in order to reunite the original Jimi Hendrix Experience.  By that point they'd recorded enough material for a studio album, and so with a view to releasing a new Experience record, Mitchell overdubbed his own drums over Buddy's tracks, although luckily the original tapes with Miles on drums were saved. 
Some of these songs have since turned up on albums such as 'Cry Of Love' and 'Rainbow Bridge', but 'Bleeding Heart' actually comes from an informal jam session held by the trio back on May 21st, 1969, before they ever officially formed a band. 'Stepping Stone'/'Izabella' was released as a single briefly in April 1970, before being recalled for reasons unclear, and although it took some doing, I did manage to track down the original 7" Band Of Gypsys versions of these two songs. 'Hey Gypsy Boy' is an early version of 'Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)', and the album ends with 'Hear My Train A Comin'', which is another song from that May 21st jam session. 
This album was a stepping stone between the break-up of the original Experience and Mitchell's return to the fold a year or so later, and so I think that's an apt title. 

Track listing

01 Ezy Ryder  
02 Power Of Soul
03 Bleeding Heart 
04 Izabella  
05 Room Full Of Mirrors  
06 Stepping Stone 
07 Message To Love
08 Hey Gypsy Boy 
09 Earth Blues 
10 Hear My Train A Comin'  

From The Album Fixer October 2015.

Band Of Gypsys - Band Of Gypsys (1970)

An intriguing suggestion for reconstructing an unreleased album was suggested by someone a while back, who wanted to hear a studio version of Jimi Hendrix's Band Of Gypsys live album from 1970. I wasn't entirely sure that it was possible, but after looking into all the out-takes from the period, it is possible to achieve by changing the concept of the band from Jimi Hendrix's Band Of Gypsys to just the Band Of Gypsys. This allows us to use the Buddy Miles version of 'We Got To Live Together', as no full Hendrix studio recording of this song exists. In the end we have three studio jams, two actual Hendrix studio recordings, and one from Buddy Miles from the same year, giving the best approximation of a studio version of the live album. It's no great revelation, but it was fun to do, and good to hear the Buddy Miles version of his great 'We Got To Live Together'.

Track listing

01 Message Of Love
02 Who Knows
03 Changes
04 Power To Soul
05 Machine Gun
06 We Got To Live Together

After I posted this it was pointed out to me (thanks Paul) that a studio version of 'Changes' does exist, whereas I originally said that it didn't, so the link has now been updated to include it.