Notes

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Produced by Chas Chandler
Engineers: Eddie Kramer & George Chkiantz (Olympic Studio), Mike Ross (CBS Studio)
Dave Siddle (De Lane Lea)

Jimi Hendrix: Vox, Guitars
Noel Redding: Bass, Backing Vox
Mitch Mitchell: Drums

All tracks Mono
All of these mixes are officially unavailable on CD except Tr. 03 & 10.

Source: (Side 1:820 143 A 2 / Side 2: 820 143 B 1)


Prof. sez:

The UK Track LP had practically all of its high-end stripped off. Basically, it was mastered to sound like AM radio but then with huge bass. The Barclay revealed a previously unheard brilliance and snap in the higher frequency regions, a far more natural soundstage. Not to say it is not compressed ('Fire' still sounds pretty squashed) but compared to the UK Track this source has plenty dynamic range and it's mainly the drums sound that benefits from this. There can be no doubt that this is a lot closer to what Chas Chandler, Hendrix & Eddie Kramer heard in the studio while mixing the album.

So far 'Experience Hendrix' has failed to re-release the mono mix of this album in any format. There were plans to do so in 2002 when they did an audiophile mono pressing of Axis: Bold as love in cooperation with Classic Records but it did not materialize. This may have something to do with the fact that some of the 1967 mono master tapes are missing in action, among them the tracks that were done at the CBS studio in 1966. Eddie Kramer used two inferior sources on the 1997 AYE UK re-master: the fake stereo version of Stone free & the mono Red House needledropped from the UK Track. In 2006, a new 45rpm box set called 'The Classic Singles Collection Vol. 2" once again demonstrated that EH had not yet succeeded in finding the missing tapes or a better alternative. Stone free was replaced by (the mono version of) Foxy Lady as the B-side of the Hey Joe single but it appeared to be a needle drop from the UK Track. Finally, you will be hear be able to hear Red House & Foxy Lady and the other tracks in a much better sound quality.


Some info on the album:

AYE is still regarded by many fans as Jimi's best LP. The album was recorded over six months in different low-budget studio's and finally finished off in the Olympic studio, all of them based in London. Despite the fact that the album had been recorded over such relatively a long period, it was very much a touch-and-go job. During the first months, money issues simply had made it impossible for Hendrix and his new manager/producer Chas Chandler to spent hours and hours in the studio. But when the Experience started recording in the Olympic Studio in February 1967 things were looking better for the group and their mentor. The first single 'Hey Joe' was riding high on the British charts and the business manager of the group, Michael Jeffrey, had secured a monster deal for the US market with Warner Brothers. The advance that Warner Bros had paid was immediately used to continue recording the album, and finish off the 2nd single 'Purple Haze' (of which the basic tracks had been recorded earlier).

Chas had little experience as a producer, and was more or less dependent on the skills of the house engineer in the studio's he rented. Therefore some of the early recordings sound quite different to the ones that were done at Olympic. It was there that Hendrix & Chandler met employee/engineer Eddie Kramer, the man who would become one of Hendrix' most trusted associates during the rest of his life. Kramer quickly proved to fit in great with the team, helping Hendrix to realise the sounds he heard in his head and helping Chandler to learn about recording and mixing. The threesome would continue recording (and mixing the albums) in the Olympic until early 1968.

The album was finished near the end of April and released in June 1967 in the UK in mono only. The mono mix was supervised by Chandler, Hendrix & Kramer. But shortly after its UK release, Reprise demanded true stereo mixes for the US release of AYE. So Eddie Kramer was sent back to the studio to quickly remix the album tracks and the A-sides of the first three singles in the summer of 1967. Supposedly neither Chandler nor Hendrix attended these mixing sessions. Kramer (mistakenly or deliberately) chose to use a different take of 'Red House' while his remix of 'Can you see me' featured a previously unheard vocal line (treated with ADT to create a vocal doubling effect). Ever since the early 70's, the stereo version has been the standard for any commercial re-issue. But it is the mono version that should be considered the one true version of AYE since it was produced under Chandler's & Hendrix' supervision .