7/6/10

Jimi Hendrix's Record Collection Pt. 2/A Man With Great Taste

I've had a lot of enthusiastic response to my last post, about Jimi Hendrix's record collection.  As I mentioned in that post, the Experience Music Project in Seattle has the only other known group of records from Jimi's collection.  As people seemed truly interested in what Jimi was listening to, I reached out to the great Jasen Emmons, director of curatorial affairs at EMP, who graciously provided me with a list of their Jimi LP holdings (and some photos too.)





So courtesy of Jasen, here's a list of the rest of Jimi's records:
Jimi Hendrix Experience "Are You Experienced"; Muddy Waters "Down On Stovall's Plantation"; Elmore James "The Best Of"; Various Artists "Chicago The Blues Today !, Vol. 1"; John Mayall with Eric Clapton "Blues Breakers"; Cream "Fresh Cream"; The Spencer Davis Group "Autumn '66"; Little Richard "Vol. 2"; Bob Dylan "Blonde on Blonde"; Jimmy Reed "The New Jimmy Reed Album"; Lightnin' Hopkins "Soul Blues"; John Lee Hooker "Live at Cafe Au-Go-Go"; Howlin' Wolf "More Real Folk Blues"; Various Artists "Heavy Heads"; Muddy Waters "Electric Mud"; Junior Wells "It's My Life Baby"; Various Artists "We Sing The Blues !"; Various Artists "Original Hits of the Great Blues Singers, Vol II"; Various Artists "The Original American Folk Blues Festival";  Various Artists "Blues Classics"; Sonny Boy Williamson "Down and Out Blues"; Lowell Fulson "Lowell Fulson";  The Free Spirits "Out of Sight and Sound"; Canned Heat "Canned Heat"; Lightnin' Hopkins "Earth Blues"; Charlie Musslewhite's Southside Band "Stand Back !"; Lightnin' Hopkins "Something Blue"; Lightnin' Hopkins "The Roots Of"; Lightnin' Hopkins "Lightnin' Strikes"; Albert King "Live Wire-Blues Power"; Leadbelly "Take This Hammer"; John Mayall "Crusade"; Jimi Hendrix Experience "Smash Hits"; Bill Cosby "I Started Out as a Child"; Bob Dylan "John Wesley Harding"; The Band "Music From Big Pink"; Pierre Henry "Le Voyage: D'apres le Livre des Morts Tibetian"; Johnny Cash "At Folsom Prison"; Friar Tuck "And His Psychedelic Guitar"; Original Soundtrack "The Trip" (featuring the Electric Flag); Jimmy Smith & Wes Montgomery "The Dynamic Duo"; Ravi Shankar "Sound of the Sitar"; Red Krayola "The Parable of Arable Land"; The Zodiac "Cosmic Sounds" and last but certainly far from least The Mothers of Invention "Freak Out !"

Once again, few surprises here--a lot of blues,  some boundary challenging rock.  Of course Dylan's "John Wesley Harding" LP features his original version of "All Along The Watchtower," which Jimi virtually made his own.  And notice the collection contains a Lightnin' Hopkins album titled "Earth Blues"--a title Hendrix used for a song of his own, which first appeared on the soundtrack to the film "Rainbow Bridge."

I was happy to see many albums I own myself.  And virtually all of Jimi's picks have stood the test of time (ok, probably not "Friar Tuck and his Psychedelic Guitar" or The Zodiac's "Cosmic Sounds." But almost every other album here is a classic .)  If you don't know these records and you're a Hendrix fan (and I trust you are if you've read this far) you'd be well served by Jimi's choices.   Many of these albums are still in print--some even on vinyl--and all of the music he owned is probably available on Amazon or through iTunes, if not your local record store.

And once again, if you have any rare records or music collectibles you're interested in selling, let us know.  We are always buying, and can pay very high prices for the right material.  Email us at recordmecca@earthlink.net or contact us through the Recordmecca website.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Theres no doubt Jimi had an ear for good music, Even if a couple of the titles are relatively obscure, Im surprised there wasn't a copy of Bill Cosby's "Hooray For The Salvation Army Band" The title track is a spoof of 'Purple Haze'. Thoroughly enjoyed your article & look forward to many more.

Unknown said...

This is like visiting someone and looking to see what books and albums they have, fascinating! I love that he had at least five Lightnin Hopkins records as he also seemed to me a master of the blues who could play what he heard in his head and heard some cool stuff in there. Jimi as seen through his collection comes off as eclectic and not someone who followed the crowd, no surprise but welcome!