The Winterland Ballroom was packed in 1968 to see the first of a three-night run by the Jimi Hendrix Experience must have been feeling the anticipation: Hendrix & Co. were less than a week away from the release of their third album. The power trio got a classic poster from a power duo: Rick Griffin and Victor Moscoso teamed up on this work of art — so popular it’s been reprinted eight times — to promote the shows.
The following week, on October 16th, the Jimi Hendrix Experience released “Electric Ladyland,” the trio’s last album together and the final studio album Hendrix would release before his death in 1970. Though the double-LP received some mixed reviews at the time, “Electric Ladyland” has become about as classic as a classic album can be. On the strength of the Bob Dylan cover “All Along the Watchtower,” the Hendrix Experience’s top-selling single, “Electric Ladyland” became the trio’s only album to top the charts in the U.S. (it reached No. 6 in the UK).
Hendrix, Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell recorded the album in several blocks, laying down tracks in sessions between July 1967 and January 1968 at studios in the U.S. and England. Soon after the Record Plant recording studio opened in March 1968, Hendrix moved in, recording the rest of “Electric Ladyland” there between April and August of 1968. A perfectionist in the studio, it’s said that Hendrix and Mitchell recorded 50 takes of “Gypsy Eyes” before the singer and guitarist was satisfied. “Electric Ladyland” is also notable for contributions from several high-profile guests, including Steve Winwood, Buddy Miles, Al Kooper and the Rolling Stones’ Brian Jones.
The Fat Angel Sings 