Sold Date: September 22, 2020
Start Date: September 15, 2020
Final Price: £180.00 (GBP)
Bid Count: 3
Seller Feedback: 87
Buyer Feedback: 0

This version of the blue text ‘Electric Ladyland’ confuses things even more!

This is the famous and extremely rare first or second edition of The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s ‘Electric Ladyland’. Famed for its blue misprinted text on the inner cover, and the larger images of Mitch Mitchell and Noel Reading above the text, there’s no real conclusive evidence to say whether or not this was the original or 2nd pressing of the record. Reports say that it was quickly pulled due to the misprint, so there is only a small handful of these in circulation.

Typically the blue misprinted text leaves a streaky quality to the blue text (as seen in photos). Apparently the original text was meant to be white, but there was a fault with the printer that offset the colours (hence the streaky quality and shards of white coming through).

Interestingly with this copy, the Track Records logo and Polydor information are in white and not blue (although there is a tiny spec of blue I think the polydor info), which is not typical even for the misprint, and looking through photos online I have not seen one like this before. I believe this makes this copy even more obscure and confusing within the mythology of the record.

Identifiers include:

+ ‘Patent no 800513 & 973939’ & '108' (October 1968) printed on the inner sleeves

+ Run out matrixes read: Side A: 61300##8 A//1 12 10; Side D: 51 61300#8 B//1 1 (Note the '51' prefix NOT suffix); Side B: 10 61300#9 A#//1 1 ("10" has the '1' backwards, or it's an oddly stamped "CJ" upside down. Note the '10' prefix NOT suffix); Side C: 61300#9 #B#//1 12 10

+ Matte texture labels

+ Gatefold opens to view inner spread (glued to outer cover's inside tabs as separate element). Gloss laminate exposing matt areas on all four edges

Sleeve/Records’ Visual Condition (see photos):

Unfortunately, the cover isn’t in the best of shape as it was rescued from a garage many moons ago.

The cover is still in one piece, but is very fragile as the spine has split. I have read of people fixing spines before, but haven’t done this myself. The corners and seems of the cover are in better condition but have experience some damage too. Also the laminate has bubbled in a few place.

The original inner sleeve are included, and whilst they have held there shape the have ripped at the seams. The poly-lining has not stayed stuck within the inner sleeves, however, the lining is still included with in the sale.

The discs have some scratches, and some fairly major looking ones too. Playing the records on my turntable (which is properly weighted) the scratches don’t sound as bad as they look (please see below). Otherwise these are clean records with the exception of a finger print on sides A and D.

If you would like any more photos please feel free to ask.

Listening quality:

As this is an extremely rare record, I am bypassing the typical Goldmine standard, and have painstakingly gone through each track so I can give you an accurate description of the sound quality. There is more deatail below, but as a summary, it’s mostly a good clean sound with crackling at the start of discs and some light vinyl background sound in places that generally does not affect play unless stated in my notes. One skip occurs during Little Miss Strange.

Audio files of the full discs are available on request.

Side A:

1 (00:00) – And the Gods Made Love (medium crackling during start, but quickly fades after around 30 seconds. Light crackling during outro)

2 (01:23) – Electric Ladyland (some light crackling at the start, some light popping occurs in first verse, some clipping occurs at peaks)

3 (03:31) – Crosstown Traffic (light pop at start, otherwise clear)

4 (05:57) – Voodoo Chile (medium popping during intro, light popping towards end of first verse, 13:30-14:30 very light intermittent crackling, some clipping occurs during peaks towards the end, and a couple of medium pops as track fades out)

Side B:

1 – Little Miss Strange (medium crackling before start, does not affect playback, skip during first verse)

2 – Long Hot Summer Night (medium crackling at start, reduces to a light barely audible crackle with occasional popping during first verse, very light crackling towards the end of track)

3 – Come On (light-medium crackling during quiet sections during first and second verse, occasionally audible during full band play, sounds very clear towards end, pop during fade out)

4 – Gypsy Eyes (some light crackling during intro, otherwise clean sounding, except light crackle during fade out)

5 – Burning of the Midnight Lamp (mostly clean sounding)

Side C:

1 – Rainy Day, Dream Away (medium crackling at start, quickly fades, otherwise clean sounding, some light cracking occurs during transition between tracks 1&2)

2 – 1983 (A Merman I Should Turn To Be) (light crackling particularly audible in quite parts and intermittently throughout first half, a couple of light pops appear towards the end as the track goes back into the main theme after the instrumental interlude, light crackling as track fades out)

3 – Moon, Turn the Tides… (Gently Gently Away) (repeating heavy pop for around 30 seconds at the end)

Side D:

1 – Still Raining, Still Dreaming (heavy crackling at start, barely audible during song pops and crackling throughout first 30-60 seconds, sounds clean for the rest of the track, medium crackling as fade out)

2 – House Burning Down (some crackling from last track at the start, but sounds clean throughout, light crackling between tracks 2&3)

3 – All Along the Watch Tower (sounds clean throughout, like crackling during fade out)

4 – Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) (clean sounding, with a couple of pops during the intro, clean throughout, light crackling during fadeout)