The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Voodoo Chile (1970)

June 26, 2012

I always remember my father talking about this record. This was always one of those stories that would come up after a few whiskies. Long and short of the story was that my Dad had swapped this Jimi Hendrix record for something a long time ago, and that the record must have been worth a fortune now. He mentioned it once after my initiation into the awesome world of vinyl and I decided to look online for it. eBay was loaded up, and I quickly bought it for a quid or two. Nevermind. It might not have been rare as fook but at least it didn’t exactly cost me the earth. And that was the end of that story. I considered selling this as I had no interest in Hendrix (the guitar nerds at school bumming fuck out of him really put me off), but I kept it and forgot about it for a few weeks. When I actually listened to it, I really liked it. 

I won’t dwell too much on side A because, let’s face it, every person in the world has heard Voodoo Chile. What fascinates me is side B, which stretches 8 minutes (on a 7″ mind) at an astonishing 45rpm with no apparent deterioration or loss in volume. Holy mother, that isn’t physically possible under the laws of vinyl pressing! I don’t understand it at all. Anyway, two of my all time favourite songs on side B; “Watchtower” and “Hey Joe”. I prefer “Watchtower”, but listening to “Hey Joe” is what having a record player is all about. Shivers up the ol’ spine, and all that. Makes me wanna go out to shitty boot sales and buy thousands of crackly old 45s!