Produced by Eddie Kramer & John Jansen
Engineered by Eddie Kramer, John Jansen, Gary Kellgren,
Dave Palmer, Kim King, Bob Hughes & Tony Bongiovi
Remix at Electric Lady Studios by: Kramer / Jansen
Executive Producer: Michael Jeffrey
Line up:
Jimi Hendrix: Vocals, Guitars
Billy Cox: Bass
Noel Redding: Bass on 2, 3, 6, 7
Mitch Mitchell: Drums
Albert & Arthur Allen: Backing Vocals on 9
Source: (Side 1: MS - 2103 A 31472 -A- 1H / Side 2: MS 2130 31473 -B- 1H
Sterling RL on both sides)
Vinyl Transfer & Restoration by Prof. Stoned
Prof. sez:
These were cut by vinyl cutting/mastering master Robert (a.k.a. Bob) Ludwig and have been highly rated among fans for their exquisite sound quality. The album was originally mixed and mastered in New York and so -in combination with Ludwig's cutting and mastering skills- it shouldn' t come as a surprise that this pressing is the best way to go for this album on vinyl.
There are two different CD reissue of this album, both have gone out of print. The first one is the now highly sought after Polydor cd from 1988 which went out of print in the early nineties. This CD sounds quite good but when comparing it to this new rip it clearly has more hiss and less dynamical sound, just like 'Hendrix in the west'. My guess is that the CD was sourced from the 1972 UK lp masters, which would have to be one or two generation below the mastertapes. The 2nd one was an early 90's reissue which essentially used the same source material but was treated with peak limiting and noise reduction. All of the tracks have since been reisued on EH releases, most of them on ' First rays of the new rising sun' and 'South Saturn Delta'.
Researched and Written by Prof. Stoned (Updated on 25/10/2007)
'War Heroes' was the third posthumous Hendrix Studio album to come out under Michael Jeffery's (Hendrix' manager) supervision.
Had it been tough for Eddie Kramer and Mitch Mitchell to complete the 2nd posthumous studio album 'Soundtrack of the film Rainbow Bridge" to a satisfyting result, the compiling of 'War Heroes' was what Eddie Kramer called 'scraping the bottom of the barrel'. With only two recordings that Hendrix had more or less approved during his life (Izabella & Stepping stone) and two older recordings which had not been released in the States yet (Highway Chile and Stars that play with laughing's Sam's dice, which would eventually turn up on Loose ends from 1973), Kramer -now fully assisted by John Jansen- once again went through all the tapes in the hopes to find useable pieces of music.
The collection they came up with did indeed not live up to the standard that was set with Cry of Love, Rainbow Bridge & the live album In the west. But for a more than average fan, War Heroes does not disappoint. It has a few blistering instrumentals, that Hendrix may not have wanted to be released, but who demonstrate his fine talents on the guitar nonetheless. Only '3 little bears' and 'Peter Gunn/Catastrophe' are throwaway's. Apart from the fact that Kramer wanted to offer a glimpse of Hendrix working (and joking around) in the studio, he probably also had another motive for including these.
Kramer realized that Michael Jeffrey and Warner Bros. would want him to compile more studio albums, and by using these two tracks he was able to back-up his argument that there simply were no quality studio recordings left in the vaults. When Kramer delivered 'War heroes' to WB, he also made a silent statement by not delivering any background information on the songs for the sleeve. The gloomy front cover and the unexplained album title (was it supposed to be a link to 'Izabella' ?) only added to the confusion. The album sold a moderate 180.000 copies, and reached 48 in the US charts.
*** The tracks
"Bleeding Heart"
Recorded with on March 24, 1970 at the Record Plant Studio in New York City. Overdubs were added in June 1970 at the Electric Lady Studios (ELS). Mixed by Eddie Kramer and John Jansen at ELS on March 11, 1971. Previously played by the Experience as a slow blues (a sublime rendition can be heard on Reprise's 'Concerts'), this version takes a more funky approach. Originally produced by Jimi Hendrix.
"Highway Chile"
Recorded with the Experience on 3 April 1967 at Olympic Studios, London, UK. This song reflected on Hendrix' restless time as a traveling musician on the Chitlin' circuit. In Europe it became the B-side of the "Wind cries Mary' single (released: 5 May 1967 in the UK) and later appeared on the Track/Polydor version of 'Smash hits', but wasn't released in the States until 1972 when 'War heroes' came out. This track only existed in mono until 2000 when EH released a newly made (but IMO disappointing) stereo mix on the box set. Engineered by Eddie Kramer. Produced by Chas Chandler.
"Tax free"
Recorded on January 26 & 28 1968 at the Olympic Studios, London, UK and Record Plant, NYC, 1 May 1968. Mixed by Kramer/Jansen January 26, 1972 at ELS. This was written by Sweden's Bo Hanssen and Janne Karlsson. Hendrix heard this instrumental while touring Sweden in 1967 and decided to record it. The Experience recorded five basic tracks, the fifth being successful. When production switched to over to the Record Plant Studio in New York, Hendrix worked on the track again there, trying to add some overdubs. The Experience added Tax Free to their set list during early 1968 and continued to play it live until early 1969. A live version can be heard on the now out-of-print "Live at Winterland" album. Originally produced by Chas Chandler.
"Peter Gunn / Catastrophe"
Recorded mid-summer of 1970 at the Electric Lady Studios, NYC. 'Peter Gunn' was the first song that Jimi learned to play during his Seattle childhood days. 'Catastrophe' is a take-off by Jimi of the song 'Jealousy' popularized by Frankie Laine in late 1951. During the improvisation of 'Catastrophe' Jimi invented his own lyrics. This little ditty was added to the album by Eddie Kramer just to give a little insight into Hendrix's sense of humor, and is without a doubt the weakest selection. Maybe even the weakest Hendrix studio performance ever officially released. Engineered by Eddie Kramer. Originally produced by Jimi hendrix
"Stepping stone"
Originally recorded on January 7, 17 & 20, 1970 with the Band of Gypsys at the Record Plant, NYC.Drum overdubs were added at Electric Lady Studios, NYC. June 26, 1970. This recording was rush-released as a single with 'Izabella' on the B-side (Reprise 0905, Rel: 13/04/70), and quickly withdrawn again. Only a few copies of this single leaked out, making it a ultra-rare item. According to Hendrix: "Some of the copies out there have no bass on them. I had to go out somewhere and tell the guy to remix it but he didn't. Sure, it matters..." # The single contained a mix with Buddy Miles on drums. Jimi -who was still working on the recording- later opted to erase Miles' drums from the multitracks to be replaced by Mitchell's. However, the drums were never fully completed to Hendrix's satisfaction during his life and therefore it's a pity that Kramer and Jansen did not use the original mix with Miles' drums for this album. While being a far more technically skilled drummer than Miles, Mitchell failed to lay down the steady beat that this track really needs. The original mix can be heard on the OOP compilation 'Cornerstones: 1967-1970' and the 2001 EH release 'Voodoo child; The JH Collection'. Engineered by Bob Hughes at the Record Plant and Eddie Kramer at Electric Land Studios. Originally produced by 'Heaven Research Unlimited' (=Jimi Hendrix).
# (Hendrix was referring to the low-end rather than the bass guitar, PS).
"Midnight"
Recorded by the Experience at the Olmstead studio's, New York, April 1, 3, 1969. These sessions were booked to record the fourth Experience studio album, which never materialized. The group cut a similair instrumental during these sessions called 'Trashman', that was eventually released (with lots of overdubs & editing) on the inferior Alan Douglas' produced 'Midnight lightning' album from 1975. Engineered by Eddie Kramer and mixed by Kramer/Jansen at ELS January 28, 1971.
"3 Little bears"
Recorded on 2 May 1968 at the Record Plant, NY. Another left-over from the 'Electric Ladyland' sessions. The first half of this extended jam was released on 'War Heroes'. The U.S. lp version had parts of Hendrix' frustrated comments censored by wiping them out or mixing them down very low ("Oh, fuck me" and "stop that shit, stop it"). In 1999 EH released the Jimi Hendrix "Merry Christmas and happy new year" EP, which made '3 little bears' available again. The complete extended version is only available on bootlegs; "The mixdown master tapes 1-3", for example. Originally produced by Jimi Hendrix
"Beginning"
Recorded on 1 July 1970 at Electric Lady Studios, NYC. A guitar overdub was added later on 22 August. It was mixed by Kramer/Jansen on January 24, 1971 at ELS. This instrumental had previously been known as 'Jam back at the house' and was developed during the Woodstock rehearsal sessions in the summer of 1969. It first appeared as a strongly edited live version on the 'Woodstock 2' triple album in March 1971. It's not very likely that Mitch Mitchell actually composed this track. It seems more likely that Mitchell was given this credit in an attempt to compensate him financially for his tireless dedication over the 1967-1971 period. This version is slightly edited as well, and a complete version can be found on bootlegs. Originally produced by Jimi Hendrix.
"Izabella"
Recorded on 17th of January 1970 at the Record Plant, NYC, It was released first as a B-side on a quickly withdrawn single (see 'Stepping Stone' details). Further guitar and drum overdubs where added in June 1970 at Electric Lady Studios. After that, Hendrix considered the recording complete and only a final mix was needed. But he never got that far, and the mix here was made by Kramer and Jansen on January 31, 1971 at ELS for the inclusion on the 'Cry of love' album (which it didn't make). The original mix can be heard on EH's 2001 release 'Voodoo child; The JH Collection'. Originally produced by 'Heaven Research Unlimited' (=Jimi Hendrix).
Sources:
'Setting the record straight' by John McDermott & Eddie Kramer
Booklet "First rays of the new rising sun" by John McDermott
'Black Gold' by Stephen Roby
'Electric Gypsy' by Harry Shapiro and Caesar Glebbeek