Jimi Hendrix’s Engineer Cues Up ‘People, Hell and Angels’ Single, ‘Somewhere’
For years, record engineer and producer Eddie Kramer had a front-row seat to the genius of Jimi Hendrix. As the guitar idol’s right-hand sound man, Kramer engineered Hendrix’s classic Electric Ladyland and served as the director of engineering at the musician’s state-of-the-art Electric Ladyland studios. As he explains in this clip, their recording space was where Jimi truly felt at home. “In ’68 and ’69, Jimi was in the studio constantly,” recalls Kramer. “His whole life was in the studio.”
In this interview, Kramer reminisces about the experimental vigor that fueled Hendrix in his final days as he began recording his next album. The previously unreleased recordings comprise People, Hell and Angels, out March 5th. Kramer is also excited to cue up the lead single, “Somewhere,” a track that features Stephen Stills and drummer Buddy Miles and displays a particularly bold usage of Hendrix’s soulful guitar squall. “That’s a fantastic example of Jimi’s amazing control of the wah-wah [pedal], the tone of the wah-wah – how that affects the whole song,” he enthuses.