Customer Reviews

Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland (Thirty Three and a Third series)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Jimi Hendrix after 30 years from his death is still revered as a guitar hero and innovator in the way the instrument was played and recorded, and Electric Ladyland was a major benchmark in his too short studio recording career in letting him stretch out and play compared with his prior 2 LPs and hit singles.

That this book is written by a guitar afficionado should thus come as no surprise, and the author was clearly influenced by Hendrix at an early age having seen him live in the UK and in his own subsequent career as a guitarist. The content (especially on the individual tracks and their recording) is very guitar playing orientated, explaining a lot of chords, tuning and playing techiques that made Hendrix sound so different and while a fascinating insight into exactly how unique Hendix was in his playing, I suspect it will potentially grate with many non-musicians (of which I am one) though as a long time Hendrix afficionado I must admit I found it all fascinating.

The book also picks up on many side issues that help one understand Hendrix and his times better esp. his position as a black American who in the heated anti Vietnam war and US domestic race riots happening at that time remained politically indifferent and his treatment at the outset and afterwards by white rock critics.

A captivating book especially for Hendrix fans and in the end piece that speculates that Hendrix at the time of his death shortly afterwards had already potentially delivered his best recorded work.

I like the idea of books devoted to an individual classic album. This is the second such book to tackle the Jimi Hendrix Experience catalog, following an equally enjoyable book about the first Experience LP. As much as I do like this book, I feel that the author could have improved it by going into greater depth and detail. Don't get me wrong - the focus of a small book such as this is an asset but to be successful, the focus must be deadly accurate and also must have carefully seasoned perspective. I find too much of this book to contrast with historical facts found in Hendrix bios such as Electric Gypsy and Musician.

As an example, Perry states that Jimi's first manager Chas Chandler "failed to appreciate the depth and ingrained nature of American racism" in regards to searching out all of Jimi's previously existing recording contracts. I'd like to see the supporting proof for that allegation, since comments by numerous people that were on the scene at the time don't seem to support it. Chas was a fairly well-traveled and savvy guy. Aside from Chas's appreciation (or lack of appreciation) of American racism, the reason he didn't learn about the Chalpin contract is because Jimi didn't tell him about it when asked.

Realize that the above is picking nits. Perry does bring out much excellent perspective in this book, for example when he compares Eric Clapton's playing style to Jimi's. But I do feel that the details and the "apparent writing pace" are what sets the great books apart from the good. Another aspect of this book is that it's very personal. Perry saw Jimi live numerous times and takes the reader into his memories. After a first read, I can't say that he does so successfully, but I'll have to let the book sit a bit and give it a re-read to be fair. For now, his depiction of these influential shows seems a bit too rushed, lacking in texture and substance. Again, picking nits to justify not giving this book five stars.

If you haven't read Shadwick's Musician and want a book focused just on Electric Ladyland, then I suspect you'll enjoy this very much. All of the key issues are discussed with sufficient detail. But I'd certainly recommend Musician over this book because Electric Ladyland is covered extremely well in Musician, as are all aspects of Jimi's life. It's the standard I compare every Jimi book to.

As I have said elsewhere, Continuum Publishing has a wonderful thing going with its 33 1/3 series of minibooks, each one a small treatise of sorts regarding one of the legendary rock/pop albums of the past 45 years. I had previously enjoyed Sean Nelson's book on Joni Mitchell's "Court and Spark" (number 40 in the series, which series is now nudging toward the 100 mark), and decided to give number 8, John Perry's book on Jimi Hendrix' third album, "Electric Ladyland," a try. In a recent issue of "Mojo" magazine, this album was not only selected as one of the Top 40 psychedelic records of all time, but received the exalted No. 1 spot. ("Sgt. Pepper's," by the way, came in at No. 5.) A longtime personal favorite of mine, Hendrix' most ambitious recording has been blowing aging hippies' minds ever since its release in the autumn of 1968. Perry's book, to its credit, not only gives us a capsule biography of Hendrix, but recounts the author's experiences seeing him live in England (the lucky so-and-so!) and gives us a track-by-track analysis of all 16 songs on the record. Perry writes well, and his love and enthusiasm for his subject are both obvious and contagious.

I must admit that I, a fan of "Electric Ladyland" since its release 43 years ago (there are times when I honestly believe it to be the most imaginative, mind-blowing and orgasmic record ever made), learned an awful lot from Perry's work. Apparently a musician himself (he tells us that he "played the Trentishoe festival" in 1973, and has been involved in all kinds of studio work, but leaves his exact musical niche quite vague), Perry has a keen ear for detail, and points out facets of the music that this listener had never noticed before (such as Hendrix' piano accents at the 0:30 mark of "Crosstown Traffic"). I must also confess that much of what Perry discusses is a bit over my head. As a person who does NOT read musical notations or play an instrument, I found his numerous discussions of fingering technique, pentatonic scales and various chords a bit perplexing. Honestly, what is a NONmusician to make of this sentence: "The main sequence, in the key of A major, steps through C# minor 7, Bmin7, F# min7--and their respective relative majors"? These instances of musical technobabble aside, Perry's book should certainly please all fans of Jimi and his third great work. It has given me a deeper appreciation of this beloved piece of music, which I would not have thought possible after four-plus decades, even as it demystifies some of the legends surrounding its creation. It is certainly a worthwhile purchase for all fans (although, at $14.95 for a small 132-page book, an overpriced one, as are all the 33 1/3 volumes).

Having said this, I must also add that the book comes with a number of problems. Like "Court and Spark," this volume has its fair share of typos and faulty punctuation; a good copy editor really needs to be brought in for this series! Perry is often guilty of bad grammar, too, as when he writes "there's hardly a band from that era who weren't robbed blind," instead of "that wasn't." He also gets his facts wrong on occasion. For example, he tells us that he first saw Hendrix play at the Locarno club in Bristol on February 9, 1967, on a Monday night. Well, Hendrix did indeed play at the club on that date...except that that date was a Thursday. He talks about London's Marquee club on Wardour Street, but as far as I can make out, the Marquee was on Oxford Street; the Flamingo club was on Wardour. Perry mentions that on the song "Gypsy Eyes," the bass enters at the 0:28 mark; that should be 0:35. I could also have done without his gratuitous put-down of Grand Funk Railroad, a group that I feel has been needlessly maligned by critics who are largely unfamiliar with the band's 13 very solid studio albums. (Indeed, even Hendrix was a fan of Mark Farner; as the story goes, at a GFR concert at Madison Square Garden, Jimi was heard to have exclaimed, "Man, that guy can PLAY!") Quibbles aside, however, I am indebted to Perry for his loving, clear-eyed and (for the most part) lucid piece of work.

I would like to add one personal anecdote regarding "Electric Ladyland." During the last days of Tower Records, when I purchased the CD to replace my superworn vinyl, the young cashier girl asked me, "Who's Jimi Hendrix?" When I told her that he was a very popular guitarist in the '60s and had even played at the original Woodstock, she blithely asked, "What's Woodstock?" I just sighed, picked up my precious CD and walked out....

If your into Hendrix enough to want to find out more about Electric Ladyland, your probably already going to know everything in this book. If you've read such great Hendrix books such as 'Electric Gypsy' then you won't get much from this book other than information obtained that you've read before from 'Electric Gypsy' coloured in this authors opinion on Jimi's music.
The author lays down his opinion that reads like someone either not overly impressed by Jimi Hendrix, or someone that has trouble laying praise where it's due. The author makes big calls in this book which fall flat, for example expressing his view on how Jimi could of edited and recorded certain songs better in his opinion (not unlike like Alan Douglas made true) or ego trips like footnotes after mentioning 'Like A Rolling Stone' at Monterey can only be outdone by the rare hard to find Flamingo Club version in 1968 - where does he get that from? The Flamingo club version is near inaudiable for most of the recording with its vocals and the guitar very distorted at the very least and is no way a superior rendition than Monterey but the book has many little comments by the author like that which only makes you think, is this guy trying to brag about his Hendrix collection? Or does he just have to have a different opinion on everything to try and make his book, which really has nothing new, stand out from the pack? His opinions would be valid if he didn't try to go against the grain to just go against the grain! If you've ever heard or seen Jimi at Monterey you don't need to be told how so many people thought he played crap that night - the evidence that this is one of his greatest performances is right there on CD or on the screen as you watch it which just makes bringing up that negative side without balancing it with the many rave reviews he also got seem targeted. Why point out the bad things and not mention the good?

If you want to learn the technical side of the recording or the technical side of Hendrix, you won't learn it from this book. You'll get the classic Hendrix bio for most of it with this Authors strange comments, some bad reviews for Electric Ladyland to show Hendrix was human after all i guess and an author bringing up all his 'friends' and 'visits' to people that are well documented in knowing Jimi.

All in all, if you have no opinion on Hendrix and read this you probably won't think he's that great and get a distorted opinion on him, if you love Hendrix and read this you'll wonder why this Author bothered to write a book about Jimi in the first place other than to let us know he has so many friends that knew Jimi, was lucky enough to see him play a few times and the funniest of all, could of done some things better in his opinion.

Two stars because there's many books out there with much more information about Electric Ladyland, let alone Hendrix, that aren't trying to re-write Jimi's history from one person's perspective and critique thou it's cheap and quite funny if you have a big Hendrix library anyway.

Very interesting, as usual for the 33 1/3 series. Found out many details about the record and Jimi I did not know about.

If you've read anything about Hendrix beyond the liner notes you will find little new here beyond the author's personal memories of seeing Jimi in concert. The actual analysis of the album is spotty at best, shedding very little light (or anything of real interest for that matter) on this masterpeice of rock music.
Considering the cost of this tiny book, there is very little bang for your buck.

Jimi Hendrix's rock pinnacle Electric Ladyland was one of the best guitar albums ever made for the genre, affording Hendrix the creative expression and freedom he needed for the first time. John Perry examines Hendrix's unique talent using the album as a foundation for his analysis. Electric Ladyland's short stature may make it a difficult library loan, but any fan of the Hendrix sound will consider it an essential guide.

Ya need this if you are a complete Hendrix nut. But the author attempts musicological analysis where people like Velvert Turner, Wolf Marshall, Andy Aledort, and others have done an excellent job already. I needed some historical and political analysis but none was forthcoming, mostly because the author is an Englishman and deals with Hendrix through that social lens. This is an otherwise excellent series of books, but I implore the publisher to get a Yank to do another one on Hendrix. Maybe someone affiliated with the Hendrix museum up in Seattle, Washington USA. Heck, let ME write the Hendrix volume. I have all the bios, recordings; even the instruments and effects of the sort used by Hendrix. I'll write the publisher directly and see if they'll give me the gig.