Is It The End Of Time Or Just Tomorrow?

On 26th February 2022, I posted a mixtape of The Jimi Hendrix Experience, recorded in 1990 and featuring a selection of tracks from the superb double vinyl compilation, Radio One, released the previous year.

Three years on from that post, and nearly thirty five years on from that mixtape, here are a dozen more classics from Jimi Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding.

This time, it's a mix of radio and studio recordings, with no duplication of songs from the previous mixtape. Apart from Little Miss Lover, that it, but this time I've included the album version rather than radio session.

The selection opens with a version of Drivin' South from the Radio One collection, as a belated thank you to Martin for recently achieving 20 years with the excellent New Amusements blog. I only discovered New Amusements in 2020, but it's been a must visit and a continual source of inspiration ever since. 

Martin shared his love for this version of Drivin' South in a comment on my previous post. It took three years, but I finally delivered. Thanks, Martin!

1) Drivin' South (BBC Session Version) (1967)

2) 51st Anniversary (Single Version) (1967)

3) All Along The Watchtower (Album Version) (Cover of Bob Dylan) (1968)

4) The Wind Cries Mary (Single Version) (1967)

5) Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) (Album Version) (1968)

6) Little Miss Lover (Album Version) (1967)

7) I Was Made To Love Her (BBC Session Version) (1967)

8) Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland) (Album Version) (1968)

9) (I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man (BBC Session Version) (1967)

10) House Burning Down (Album Version) (1968)

11) Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? (BBC Session Version) (1967)

12) May This Be Love (Album Version) (1967)

Is It The End Of Time Or Just Tomorrow?  (45:22) (KF) (Mega)

You can find the original 1990 mixtape Is It Tomorrow Or Just The End Of Time? right here

Summer's End Gathered In The Dampened Grass

Even further back today, with some heavy hitters from 1967 to 1969. Aretha! Beatles! Stones! Marvin! Bowie! Byrds! Monkees! Scott! Jimi! And more, much more.

 

Before I go into that though, a few words about today's photo, which was taken during a visit to Oceanogràfic València on day 2 of the recent Clan K tour. Billed as the largest aquarium in Europe, we spent a full seven or eight hours there and even that wasn't enough. I have mixed feelings about places such as these. I recognise the important conservation work and protection of endangered species. At the same, I feel utterly heartbroken that there are sentient creatures who, no matter how 'big' the space or millions of gallons of water used are still confined and caged. It was simultaneously an enlightening and enervating experience. In an ideal world, places like this wouldn't need to exist.

Back to today's selection, I originally had in mind a relaxed, acoustic heavy set but that kind of went off track as soon as I picked the delightfully unsettling Oleh Oleh Bandu Bandong by Kevin Ayers as the opening song. Choosing to follow it up with Aretha Franklin's cover of I Say A Little Prayer and there was no turning back.

 

Most of these songs will be familiar by virtue of being stone cold classics but I've lobbed a few rarities in to spice things up. 

Get Behind Me is lifted from Scott 4, Mr. Engel's first album entirely featuring his own songs and one which I only heard for the first time in 2018. Very, very late to discovering this but wow, what an album.

 

Time And Time Again by The Monkees was a 'lost' song originally recorded for the album Changes but unused and unreleased until the Missing Links compilation in 1988. I first heard it tucked away on the limited edition 2CD of The Definitive Monkees, a 60-track budget price treasure trove released in 2001. Time And Time Again is essentially Davy Jones solo with a team of session musicians. Peter Tork had left at this stage and the three remaining Monkees were recording their own songs separately.

The version of Little Doll by The Stooges featured here is the original mix by John Cale featured as a compare-and-contrast re-release of their eponymous debut album in 2005. Much as a I love the original, there's a charm and grit to these alternate versions too.

 

Dandelion by The Rolling Stones was originally the B-side of We Love You. The original single version featured an outro of the latter A-side, which has been edited from most of it's subsequent compilation appearances, including the one I own. None of that detracts from the song's general brilliance, though. And a mere B-side!!

The Innocence was the studio creation of songwriters Pete Andreoli (Pete Anders) and Vini Poncia, who released a handful of singles and a self-titled album in 1967. Vini co-wrote and appeared on five of Ringo Starr's solo albums in the 1970s and co-wrote Kiss' disco-rock classic, I Was Made For Lovin' You.

The Beatles and David Bowie seemed liked obvious companions and a natural way to close this selection, which ventured way off from my original idea but hey, that was the Sixties man, go with the flow.

More attempts to fake that I have a clue what I'm doing tomorrow. Stay tuned!

 

1) Oleh Oleh Bandu Bandong (Album Version By Kevin Ayers & Peter Jenner): Kevin Ayers (1969)

2) I Say A Little Prayer (Album Version By Burt Bacharach & Hal David) (Cover of Dionne Warwick): Aretha Franklin (1968)

3) Get Behind Me (Album Version By John Franz): Scott Walker (1969)

4) Ain't No Mountain High Enough (Album Version By Harvey Fuqua & Johnny Bristol): Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell (1967)

5) Time And Time Again ('Changes' Session Outtake): The Monkees (1969)

6) This Wheel's On Fire (Cover of Bob Dylan & The Band): The Byrds (1969)

7) Little Doll (Original John Cale Mix): The Stooges (1969)

8) Come On (Let The Good Times Roll): The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1968)

9) Dandelion (Single Version By Andrew Loog Oldham) (Edit): The Rolling Stones (1967)

10) All I Do Is Think Of You: The Innocence (1967)

11) Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (Album Version By George Martin): The Beatles (1967)

12) Memory Of A Free Festival (Album Version By Tony Visconti): David Bowie (1969)

 

1967: The Innocence: 10

1967: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: 11

1967: United: 4

1968: Aretha Now: 2 

1968: Electric Ladyland: 8

1969: Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde: 6

1969: Joy Of A Toy: 1

1969: Scott 4: 3

1969: Space Oddity: 12

1988: Missing Links: 5

2005: The Stooges (Expanded Edition): 7

2007: Rolled Gold +: The Very Best Of The Rolling Stones (Expanded Edition): 9

 

Summer's End (45:05) (KF) (Mega)

Is It Tomorrow Or Just The End Of Time?

The first record I ever bought by The Jimi Hendrix Experience wasn't Are You Experienced or Electric Ladyland, it wasn't even Smash Hits. Instead, in a branch of WH Smith in suburban Bristol, I bought a copy of the 1989 compilation, Radio One.

I no longer have it, the victim of either a financially-driven cull in the late 90s/early 00s, or one of a number of records either lent, never to be returned. It was a beautiful package, 17-track double gatefold vinyl, with a striking cover shot of Jimi by Mike Polillo and liner notes by Leland Stein. All for the princely sum of £5.99.

The songs are drawn from various BBC Radio One sessions in 1967 and they really are very, very good. With the constraints of the BBC studio, most songs are compact but bursting with energy, really demonstrating how tight the trio of Jimi Hendrix, Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell were. I still prefer many of these sessions to the album versions that I subsequently heard.

 

There are a handful of covers, including rollicking takes on Day Tripper and Hound Dog, as well as an ad-hoc Radio One Theme, and it's all great fun. The selection comes full circle, closing with Hear My Train A Comin', broadcast Christmas Eve, 1967, with additional friends in the studio creating a warm, bluesy vibe.

 

I originally recorded this circa summer 1990, I'm not sure of the exact date but it looks like it was another of the bunch of tapes that I compiled to go travelling. Hendrix occupied one side, with select cuts from The Rolling Stones (mostly the Rolled Gold compilation and one or two from Exile On Main Street) on the other. 

 

On the original Hendrix, I included a couple of studio tracks: Cross Town Traffic, which had been re-released in April 1990 on the back of a Wrangler jeans ad, though it failed to achieve the same UK success of similarly Levi's-backed retro hits. The 12" single also included Hey Joe, which I remember having to fade out at the end, in order to squeeze 15 songs on a 45-minute cassette side.

 

For this recreated selection, I've kept the track listing purely to BBC Radio One sessions. Fortunately, the expanded BBC Sessions compilation from 1998 provides three versions of Hey Joe to choose from. Unfortunately, there wasn't a session version of Cross Town Traffic included, so I've swapped it for Little Miss Lover, which originally appeared on second album, Axis: Bold As Love. 

1) Spanish Castle Magic (Top Gear, 24 December 1967)

2) Purple Haze (Top Of The Pops, recorded 28 March 1967)

3) Day Tripper (Cover of The Beatles) (Top Gear, 24 December 1967)

4) Radio One Theme (Top Gear, 24 December 1967)

5) Fire (Saturday Club, 01 April 1967) 

6) Foxey Lady (Saturday Club, recorded 13 February 1967)

7) Killing Floor (Cover of Howlin' Wolf) (Saturday Club, 01 April 1967)

8) Wait Until Tomorrow (Top Gear, 24 December 1967)

9) Little Miss Lover (Top Gear, 13 October 1967)

10) Love Or Confusion (Saturday Club, 18 February 1967)

11) Stone Free (Saturday Club, 18 February 1967)

12) Hound Dog (Cover of Big Mama Thornton) (Top Gear, 13 October 1967)

13) The Burning Of The Midnight Lamp (Top Gear, 13 October 1967)

14) Hey Joe (Cover of The Leaves) (Saturday Club, 18 February 1967)

15) Hear My Train A Comin' (Top Gear, 24 December 1967)

Except where specified, I've referred to the date the songs were first broadcast.

 

Is It Tomorrow Or Just The End Of Time? (46:46) (KF) (Mega)