Someone sent me this picture they took at the Hendrix museum at the house at 23 Brook Street, London W1 where Jimi lived in 1968-69.
In the recreation of his bedroom we see Jimi’s record collection and look, he had the first Zappa LP Freak Out, the Byrds’ Fifth Dimension, Wes Montgomery’s A Day In The Life, the first Canned Heat album and last, but by no means least….
*Drum Roll*
THE BEANO ALBUM
http://i.imgur.com/uHHrfP5.jpg
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I expect he used to put in on when he fancied a laugh 🙂
Great gag ernie.
Actually when Chas Chandler was trying to persuade Jimi to come to London in late 1966, the deal breaker was the promise of an introduction to Clapton. Hendrix was already aware of the Beano Album and wanted to meet the guitar player.
Deal maker surely ?
Didn’t Eric and Townshend walk from the first Hendrix show wanting to give up guitar ?
Ahem:
deal-breaker (in business and politics) a factor or issue which, if unresolved during negotiations, would cause one party to withdraw from a deal.
Jeff Beck tells the story of going to see Jimi at one of the Speakeasy-type London clubs before Hendrix took off, and considered giving it all up.
Clapton and, to a lesser extent, Townshend were also feeling the pressure in late 1966
I believe that, after Jimi had joined Eric on stage for the first time, Clapton lit a fag with trembling hands and protested to Chas – ‘you didn’t tell me he was this good’.
As shown (more or less) in a scene from the jolly spiffing Jimi biopic ‘All Is By My Side’:
I’ve heard bad things about that movie but it looks OK in that clip. The actor playing Chas Chandler looks exactly like him and they got most of the gear right.
Except for Jack’s bass. I don’t recall ever seeing him use a Fender Telecaster bass (which was a re-issue of the original 1953-57 Fender Precision bass).
The clip is set in 1966 and the Telecaster bass he’s using there wasn’t introduced until 1968.
And most obviously of all, Eric wouldn’t have had a perm in late 1966, before even meeting Jimi.
Eric in 1966, still growing out his Yardbirds buzzcut:
http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad15/camplimp/eclap_zpswtbvqg3z.jpg
@johnny-concheroo, maybe you recognise the photograph and can tell us something of its provenance? Perhaps it appeared on an album sleeve somewhere?
Let me think.
Decca Studios, West Hampstead
1960 Gibson Les Paul Standard (with fag in the headstock)
Marshall JTM 45 solid state amp
Proto Gaz Coombes sidies
Nope. Doesn’t ring any bells.
Looks like the Barnet he had on the cover of Fresh Cream.
Eric with the Bluesbreakers
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w209/mistersnappy/Scan0001Clap.jpg
Inside cover of Looking Back, I see.
Clapton: “Look, Jimi, I’m growing my hair just like yours!”
Hendrix: “Looks great, Eric! (thinks – you fucking idiot!)”
http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad15/camplimp/tumblr_nnd83zGYVM1rqn0oeo1_500_zps4kg4shsc.jpg
I read it as deal maker as in it was the added incentive to come over. Was he not going to attend unless he met EC ?
Townshend in his bio talks of him and EC leaving tehHendrix gig despairing of how far behind they were.
I suppose both terms are applicable/correct. As I understand it Jimi was unsure about the move to London at first, then Chas sweetened the deal with the promise of an introduction to Clapton. I guess we’ll never know if the deal hinged on this, or if it was based a number of other factors combined.
I’ve said this before, but Beck and Clapton both admit that it was their British reserve that was holding them back. There was Jimi playing behind his head as flash as you like and doing all the other showman stuff, and the white boys were just too uptight and reserved to compete with that, despite their musical ability.
Townshend didn’t feel so threatened by Hendrix I think, because he was a different kind of player to Hendrix.
How can we be sure he owned those actual records? A recreation may merely involve an imagining of what he might have had in his collection, based on what was available to buy and a guess as to what his taste may have been and ‘someone’ visiting the museum could easily have brought that particular album with them and just placed it there for the photo when no one was looking. Where’s the proof eh?
No, it’s all genuine. Notwithstanding JCs valiant attempts to dismiss my earlier claims, if you turn over that Beano album you will find Jimi’s scathing track by track assessment handwritten on the back.
Well, there’s this:
Zappa, Canned Heat and the Beano Album are mentioned here.
http://recordmecca.com/news/jimi-hendrixs-record-collection-pt-2a-man-with-great-taste/
http://recordmecca.com/news/jimi-hendrixs-record-collection-2/
Jimi had an Acker Bilk album??!!
Acker recorded for Denis Preston’s Lansdowne imprint which was released on Columbia. A pretty cool recording studio at the time, responsible for some ground-breaking British modern jazz, like Don Rendell-Ian Carr, Joe Harriott etc as well as proto world-music albums like Guy Warren’s ‘Afro Jazz’. Maybe it was the label that attracted Jimi?
Lansdowne Studios was at the Holland Park end of Ladbroke Grove and, as you say, turned out some important UK jazz.
But they moved into rock in the 60s and the first few Deep Purple LPs were recorded there as well albums by Uriah Heep and other bands.
My girlfriend worked at Lansdowne in the early 70s as secretary to Zack Laurence, who had just scored a big chart hit with Groovin’ With Mr. Bloe. She also did shorthand and dictation for Denis Preston.
I wasn’t really aware of the studios’ jazz legacy at the time, otherwise I might have been much more interested. But it was the Groovin’ With Mr. Bloe hitmaker who impressed us the most.
I thought for the longest time that the title of that song was a thinly-veiled drug reference, until I read somewhere that ‘Mr Bloe’ was the name the musicians gave themselves.
There’s an Elton John connection there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Bloe
Interesting he has The Crusade album by the Bluesbreakers featuring Mick Taylor but no request to meet the uncredited hit maker.
Also a couple of your LPs there Junior!
Modesty prevented me drawing attention…?
Here’s Jimi spinning some groovy platters.
Ignoring the sleeveless 7″ singles on the floor, Dylan’s Blonde On Blonde is clearly visible, as is Lenny Bruce Is Out Againa rare Philles release.
On the floor is The Real Folk Blues compilation by Muddy Waters. All three LPs are 1966 releases.
http://i.imgur.com/LIDhMSl.jpg
Hendrix was clearly a monster as Kathy Etchingham said he would regularly leave his records lying around out of their sleeves. Furthermore, he had a nickel taped to the arm of his record player.
Here’s another account of Jimi’s record collection. Not only does it list The Beano Album, but also claims Jimi’s favourite London record store was One Stop in South Moulton (Street). In a few years this would be Danny Baker’s place of employment of course.
http://jasobrecht.com/jimi-hendrixs-personal-record-collection/
“At their best-known residence, 23 Brook Street in Mayfair, where they lived in 1968 and ’69, Jimi gathered a collection of nearly a hundred albums”
GASP! Where did he put them all!?!?
The OP’s photo looks very much like a ‘job lot of vinyls’ auction on Ebay – the good stuff is always at the front, behind lies SingalongaMax 3 and the South Pacific OST.
Not in my house!
Just imagine how long it would take for you to decide on ‘the good stuff’ Beany!
Anything by Beck or Blair…?
I found this online. A Beano Album cushion for 25 quid. They accept PayPal too!
http://www.byred.co.uk/
http://i.imgur.com/DJNHduw.jpg
Amazingly, the site is run by John Mayall’s daughter.
Well it was easy to pick and choose classic albums in your collection back then: I estimate that at the time of the photoshoot only about 20 decent LP’s had ever been released.
Yes indeed, and they were all recorded by Jim Reeves.