Eddie Kramer Completes Posthumous Jimi Hendrix Trilogy With 'Both Sides Of The Sky'


Jimi Hendrix performs at the Hollywood Bowl in Sept. 1968.
Chuck Boyd/Authentic Hendrix, LLC

Producer and engineer Eddie Kramer still remembers the first time he heard Jimi Hendrix play. It was 1967 and he was assigned to work with a young guitarist that everyone in London was talking about.

"Jimi got up and plugged into the Marshall stack," Kramer remembers. "I had never heard anything like it. It just completely blew me away."

At the time, Hendrix was recording his debut album, Are You Experienced. Now, more than 50 years later, Kramer co-produced Both Sides of the Sky, the third album in a posthumous trilogy featuring the best of Jimi Hendrix's unreleased studio recordings.

When they worked together, Kramer and Hendrix fed off each other to push the guitarist's music to new technical heights. Kramer seemed to understand Hendrix's unique musical language. Kramer says he still hears Hendrix's voice in his head directing him in the studio.

"He did have a tendency to describe sounds in colors," Kramer says. "If he said, 'Hey, man, give me some of that green,' I knew exactly what he meant; it was reverb. Or if he said, 'Hey, man, more red,' I knew it was distortion. And then if it went purple, it was really stupid distortion."

Kramer would go on to mix and record every album Hendrix made before his death in 1970. Both Sides of the Sky captures studio recordings Hendrix made between 1968 and 1970. It was a transitional time for Hendrix, spanning the breakup of his first band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, and his work with other players.

"He used the studio as a rehearsal place, and thank goodness that was happening, because tape was running and he would bring in different musicians to try to figure out what he was going to do with his musical direction," Kramer says.

Kramer says sometimes it would take Hendrix nine months to complete a song. Many of the songs of this record are audio cuts of songs prior to being completed. The album also features notable cameos from artists like blues guitarist Johnny Winter, as well as Stephen Stills. Stills sings the Joni Mitchell tune "Woodstock" which he would go on to record with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.


Eddie Kramer in the recording studio.
Courtesy of Experience Hendrix LLC

Kramer says there's not a lot of unreleased studio recordings left in the Jimi Hendrix vault, but 48 years after Hendrix's death, he still hasn't tired of working with the rock star's material.

"I get so excited," Kramer says. "I want to keep doing Jimi Hendrix for the rest of time."

Both Sides of the Sky is available now.

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FIRST LISTEN: [www.npr.org]

"To celebrate the occasion of the release of Jimi Hendrix’s BOTH SIDES OF THE SKY, Jimmy Kimmel Live! welcomed Buddy Guy along with Billy Cox on bass, Mato Nanji of Indigenous, Calvin Cooke & Chuck Campbell of The Slide Brothers and Tim “Awesome” Austin on drums all paying tribute to genius of Jimi on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Originally aired March 13, 2018."

Buddy Guy - Red House (Jimi Hendrix tribute) (Jimmy Kimmel Live!)





Buddy Guy - The Sky Is Crying (Jimi Hendrix tribute) (Jimmy Kimmel Live!)

Thanks Cristiano - I watched that the other night and forgot to post here.
They only aired Red House, so nice to see this wild version of The Sky Is Crying!
Wondering why Buddy didn't sing on either?

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

Wow, thanks for posting! Billy Cox still looks and sounds great, especially for 76. And Buddy is still rippin it up on that guitar. What a legend. And @#$%& love his polka dot guitar and shirt to match. Love that guy.

Jack White did a cover of "Hear My Train A Comin'" on April 24 at Providence Medical Center Amphitheater, Bonner Springs, Kansas.

YM

Quote
Cristiano Radtke

"I get so excited," Kramer says. "I want to keep doing Jimi Hendrix for the rest of time."

I wish Kramer would get excited and remix/remaster the Stones' El Mocambo sessions! I mean, C'mon...He was the engineer/producer of those sets and now he's even a part owner of the refurbished club. Big missed opportunity last year on the 50th anniversary....