At the Core of Hendrix's Ladyland Experience - Essay Example

Though it lacks the recording quality and quiet grace of "All Along the Watchtower", it throws out the real Hendrix that was woven through all of his too few albums. The song is rooted in Hendrix's genius for creating open-ended passages that flow out of a simple construction based on few chords. His prolific use of the 9th chords provides the song with a rock-blues sound with an ever-present feeling of tension. As Hendrix overlays his classic guitar leads, he pulls the song back to its blues roots only long enough for the listener to catch up and anticipate the coming resolution.

The song is reminiscent of other blues giants of the period such as Butterfield, Mayhall, and Bloomfield but benefits from the addition of the extra musical filigree that only Hendrix possessed. The song is further enhanced by the profound use of multi-tracking, which was still a relatively new concept. By today's standards "Long Hot Summer Night" is rather poorly produced. At times the song is muddy and lacks the clear and crisp sound found on other songs from "The Experience". However, Hendrix's guitar leads remain intact with the hair-raising richness that is immediately identifiable.

He handles the neck of his Stratocaster as if it's another appendage. Though few devices are noticeable on the track, Hendrix utilizes slides and bends with an ease that leaves no doubt that Jimi is in charge. The fullness of the amplifiers produce a sound that fills the listener with the liquid metallic smoothness of the finest blues-rock sound ever created. The guitar is rife with the round richness of overtones that we know as Hendrix.The familiar guitar is accompanied by Hendrix on vocals and spotlights his classic combination of defiance, pleading, and poetry.

Though Hendrix was often self critical of his own voice, on "Long Hot Summer Night" he provides the harmony on the back up parts as well. His self-consciousness shows through as the back up vocals are often thin and seem out of place with the rest of the high power material. However, the force of Hendrix's poetry is able to overpower the song as the back up passages contain no meaningful lyrical content. It is able to successfully tell the age-old story of struggle and conflict that is as important today as it was then.

The lyrics, typical of the period, are laced with psychedelic references that would be out of step today. The song tells of "three sugar walls and two candy cane windows " and serves up images of the surreal world of Hendrix. Yet, these are only lyrical devices that Hendrix uses to set the stage for his story. It is about the troubled "Summer of '68" and the trouble Hendrix was confronting while seeing himself as a musician thrust into a world of business and fame that he privately shunned. It is a song about escaping the twin masters he served, his art and the record label, as we see in his use of contrast as he repeats the line "hot cold summer".

When he first introduces the telephone, clearly an annoyance, he says, "the telephone blew its horn". A few lines later, the tension has escalated and now "the telephone is screaming". At this point Hendrix breaks into a guitar solo signaling his escape from the torment and back into his craft, the quintessential Hendrix. The lyrics beg for release from the confusion of the earlier verses as he pleads for his