So that's how I end up thinking about this oddball Jimi album that came out in 1980. It's a UK budget series and I'll bet it still cost me top dollar since it's an import. Now, I'm not the biggest Jimi fan. All my Jimi records are some kind collection, and none of them are his original albums. Some day, I might fix that, but it's been okay for me for a long time, so things may never change. I was a senior in high school when I got this. I think it was at a really cool old place that used to be in Parma. They carried a lot of imports back then and I'm pretty sure this is where I'd have bought it. I know I bought it for two reasons: Stone Free is my favorite Jimi song by a long shot, and I just absolutely love the cover. What got me thinking about it was that back in April for Record Store Day they made a big deal about releasing a 45 with Stone Free on it, and the big selling point is that it's in mono. BFD. I've had the mono version of Stone Free since 1980, because that's what they chose to put on here. It sounds great, so I can see unearthing it, but I'm good with this album.
I'm mostly good with this album because for some reason it sounds really great! I love the way this record sounds. Considering the source material probably isn't original masters or anything like that, this record just has a really black background and a nice, balanced attack that lends itself well to letting the neighbors in on your fun. They'll appreciate you, because this record is also a bunch of well chosen songs that someone actually thought about how they would work together. I've always thought that the flow of the songs on an album can make a good album a great one when they work together and sound like they all belong with each other, and Stone Free just really works for me. I mean, it's got Castles Made of Sand, Crosstown Traffic, Ezy Rider and two Bob Dylan songs - All Along the Watchtower (you know it's the best version, even if you're a big Bob fan) and The Drifter's Escape (which I don't know where that came from, but it's cool). But every song is a keeper, including a blistering version of Johnny B. Goode that's live from somewhere. I'm sure you can look it up on the internets. I'll tell ya, the guy that put this together must have actually talked to me at some point, and he took notes and made my record!
There used to be a stereo store in my town and I think I had just taken my Dual turntable in to get a new cartridge that was better than the 12 dollar Audio Technica that was there when I bought it. I think that's when I figured out that this record sounded better than a lot of my other ones, and I think this album is one of the records I took to Audio Craft in 1982 when I bought my first really decent stereo. Unlike today, there was no internet where people with no stereo at all made fun of your "entry level" stereo even though they had never heard it. But I liked the guy that ran the little stereo store in town. He didn't last long, and he even sold records, but he showed me how to mount a cartridge and was the first person that proved to me that a better one was worthwhile. This record really benefited from that better cartridge. It sounds like a brand new record even almost 35 years later. I think it's really good. You should get it if you come across it.
*A little edit - some of the songs are a little less awesome in sound quality, but most of this record always gets me to to go, "man, this sounds great!"
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