BBC Sessions (The Jimi Hendrix Experience album)
| Untitled | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
| Robert Christgau | B+[2] |
| Rolling Stone | [3] |
BBC Sessions is an album of recordings by the rock group The Jimi Hendrix Experience, released on MCA Records on June 2, 1998. It contains all the surviving tracks from their various appearances on BBC radio programmes, such as Saturday Club and Top Gear, recorded in 1967. At a BBC radio 'session', a practice still alive in British radio today, a band is required to record material in a studio quickly with limited overdubbing, largely limited to and relying upon their live sound. Many groups as part of this tradition choose to record some songs that are not part of their main repertoire. The album also includes the only two surviving Hendrix UK TV soundtracks (both BBC) Late Night Line Up ("Manic Depression" only survives) and the 1969 Lulu Show (complete).
BBC Sessions therefore offers its own unique example of the Experience sound, and a revealing glimpse of a song from their early repertoire Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor" and their only known studio recording of Bob Dylan's "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?"
Apart from the "live" in studio versions of well-known Experience songs, there are several unique studio recordings of songs, i.e. "Driving South" (x3), which includes several licks derived from Albert Collins' "Frosty" (1962) and "Thaw Out" (1965), "Hoochie Coochie Man", "Catfish Blues", "Hound Dog", "Hear My Train a-Comin'"(x2) and a couple of novelty tracks: the amusing parody of a BBC Radio 1 jingle "Radio One", and a recording with a young Stevie Wonder on drums (a cover of Wonder's own "I Was Made to Love Her"). It also includes the sound track from the band's infamous appearance on Lulu's television show in 1969.
The Top of the Pops references were overdubbed by Brian Mathews onto Top Gear recordings for the BBC produced Swedish (English language) radio show of the same name. The original recordings minus Brian no longer exist.
This collection has been re-released as part of the Hendrix Family's project to remaster Jimi's discography in 2010 by Experience Hendrix and Legacy Recordings. The re-release contains 2 digitally remastered sound discs with "Burning of the Midnight Lamp" bonus track from August 24, 1967, and 1 DVD videodisc of footage from recording sessions, and 22 pages of program notes.[4]
Some of this material had previously been released by Rykodisc in 1988 on an album titled Radio One.[5]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Foxey Lady" | Jimi Hendrix | 2:59 |
| 2. | "Alexis Korner Introduction" | 0:27 | |
| 3. | "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?" | Bob Dylan | 3:31 |
| 4. | "Rhythm and Blues World Service" | 0:12 | |
| 5. | "(I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man" | Willie Dixon | 5:31 |
| 6. | "Traveling with the Experience" | 0:22 | |
| 7. | "Driving South" | Albert Collins | 5:30 |
| 8. | "Fire" | Hendrix | 2:43 |
| 9. | "Little Miss Lover" | Hendrix | 2:57 |
| 10. | "Introducing the Experience" | 0:51 | |
| 11. | "Burning of the Midnight Lamp" | Hendrix | 3:43 |
| 12. | "Catfish Blues" | Robert Petway | 5:28 |
| 13. | "Stone Free" | Hendrix | 3:25 |
| 14. | "Love or Confusion" | Hendrix | 2:54 |
| 15. | "Hey Joe" | Billy Roberts | 4:01 |
| 16. | "Hound Dog" | Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller | 2:42 |
| 17. | "Driving South" | Collins | 4:49 |
| 18. | "Hear My Train a-Comin'" | Hendrix | 5:00 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Purple Haze" | Hendrix | 3:17 |
| 2. | "Killing Floor" | Chester Arthur Burnett | 2:29 |
| 3. | "Radio One" | Hendrix | 1:34 |
| 4. | "Wait Until Tomorrow" | Hendrix | 2:57 |
| 5. | "Day Tripper" | Lennon–McCartney | 3:24 |
| 6. | "Spanish Castle Magic" | Hendrix | 3:07 |
| 7. | "Jammin" | Hendrix | 3:20 |
| 8. | "I Was Made to Love Her" | Stevie Wonder, Lula Mae Hardaway, Henry Cosby, Sylvia Moy | 3:04 |
| 9. | "Foxey Lady" | Hendrix | 2:43 |
| 10. | "A Brand New Sound" | 0:54 | |
| 11. | "Hey Joe" (alternate take) | Roberts | 2:57 |
| 12. | "Manic Depression" | Hendrix | 3:10 |
| 13. | "Driving South" (alternate take) | Collins | 3:21 |
| 14. | "Hear My Train a Comin'" (alternate take) | Hendrix | 5:02 |
| 15. | "A Happening for Lulu" | 0:19 | |
| 16. | "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" | Hendrix | 4:08 |
| 17. | "Lulu Introduction" | 0:22 | |
| 18. | "Hey Joe" | Roberts | 2:43 |
| 19. | "Sunshine of Your Love" | Pete Brown, Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton | 1:17 |
| 20. | "Burning of the Midnight Lamp" (2010 Reissue Bonus Track) | Hendrix | 4:31 |
Recording details
Based on CD track numbers.
- Tracks 1/1, 1/13-15 and 2/9-11 recorded February 13, 1967.
- Tracks 1/8, 2/1-2 recorded March 28, 1967.
- Track 2/12 recorded April 17, 1967.
- Tracks 1/9-12, 1/16-17, 2/7-8 and 2/13 recorded October 6, 1967
- Tracks 1/2-7 recorded October 17, 1967.
- Tracks 1/18, 2/3-6 and 2/14 recorded December 15, 1967.
- Tracks 2/15-19 recorded January 4, 1969.
- Track 2/20 (bonus track) recorded August 24, 1967
- Track 2/14 Not an alternate take.
Personnel
- Jimi Hendrix: vocals, guitar
- Mitch Mitchell: drums, except on tracks 25-26
- Noel Redding: bass
- Stevie Wonder: drums on tracks 25-26
- Alexis Korner: slide guitar on track 5
Charts
- US Billboard 200: No. 50[6]
- UK Albums Chart: No. 42[7]
Sources
References
- ^ Allmusic review
- ^ Christgau, Robert (2011). "Robert Christgau: Album: Jimi Hendrix: BBC Sessions". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
- ^ Rolling Stone review
- ^ The Jimi Hendrix Experience BBC Sessions (2CD + DVD and LP Editions) The Official Jimi Hendrix Site
- ^ "Jimi Hendrix Experience, The - Radio One (CD) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2014-06-06.
- ^ Billboard album charts info - The Jimi Hendrix Experience BBC Sessions at AllMusic. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
- ^ "UK chart history - The Jimi Hendrix Experience BBC Sessions". www.chartstats.com. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
