This article is about the album by Richie Havens. For the common term, see mixed bag. For the video game company, see MixedBag. For the Troggs album, see Mixed Bag (The Troggs album).
Mixed Bag is the 1966 debut album by Richie Havens. Although it was Havens' first album release, Douglas Records later issued two unauthorized albums of material that had been recorded prior to the Mixed Bag recording sessions—Electric Havens (1968) and Richie Havens' Record (1969). Mixed Bag was released after Havens signed on with manager Albert Grossman and was released on Verve Folkways, a new folk music imprint of Verve Records.[7]
Mixed Bag is frequently cited as the singer's best work,[1] and was his first album to appear on Billboard's charts (appearing on both the jazz and pop charts). The recording was the first to introduce a wider audience to Havens's rich baritone vocals and the full-sound of Havens's distinct guitar style (thumb-chorded and played in open E tuning).[1]Electric Havens and Mixed Bag were two of the records reported among the personal collection of Havens' one-time Greenwich Village buddy, Jimi Hendrix.[8]
The album was initially released on vinyl in 1966 on Verve Folkways, a newly formed folk section at the Verve division of MGM Records.[1] It was re-released as a CD in 1993 on Polygram. In 2004, Mixed Bag was combined with two other Havens albums on a double CD titled, Flyin' Bird: The Verve Forecast Years, a limited edition release of 3000 individually numbered copies.[9][10]
^Ellen Geisel, "Richie Havens: Seeker of Change", Dirty Linen, 65, August–September 1968, p. 44-47
^James Rotondi, "Listening Experience: Jimi Hendrix' Personal Record Collection", Guitar Player, 30:4, April 1996, p. 37-42
^ abThis is the double CD release, High Flyin' Bird: The Verve Forecast Years (Universal/Hip-O Select) which combines Mixed Bag with Something Else Again and Richard P. Havens, 1983. The release was limited to 3000 individually numbered copies (link at Hip-oselect.com).