All Along the Watchtower might now be synonymous with Jimi Hendrix. However, the track was originally written and released by Bob Dylan on his eighth record, John Wesley Harding (1967). The Hendrix version, released within a year of Dylan's as a single from his final studio album, Electric Ladyland, breathed new life into the song.

It signaled a new sophistication in the virtuoso's studio work, one that would later appear fully realized on the posthumous release First Rays of the New Rising Sun. Yet, the recording sessions for Watchtower – held between Olympic Studios in London and the Record Plant in New York in 1968 – were marked by frustration and studio mishaps. This heady combination would ultimately contribute to the song's brilliance.

“After a long, frustrating day, Mitch [Mitchell, drummer] and Jimi get to about take 18 or 19, and then things start to change,” recalled Hendrix producer Eddie Kramer in a 2011 Guitar World interview.

“Mitch has finally got the intro and then… crash! On the tape, you hear this other being in the studio, and it's Brian Jones from the Rolling Stones. He stumbles in, and he's out of his frickin' mind!”

During that time, Jones was already deep into his drug and alcohol addiction. As a result, he had become increasingly unreliable in the studio, even with the Stones.

“Jimi was trying to get work done,” continues Kramer, “but he didn't want to just throw Brian out, because they were really close friends. Unfortunately, on take 20, Jones started playing the piano, and all you heard was clang clang clang clang – total rubbish, out of time, wrong chords. Take 21 was even worse.”

Eventually, Jones managed to get into the control room, and as soon as he found himself in front of the mixing console, passed out. “So Jimi and Mitch resumed, and we finally got the magic take.”

However, another issue soon cropped up. Bassist Noel Redding was nowhere to be found.

“Jimi grabbed Noel's bass, which is strung for a right-handed person, and played it upside down and nailed the part. It's that beautiful looping, swooping bass tone you hear that is just a central part of the sound on the final track.”

There was a long way to go before the track was finished. Hendrix, ever the perfectionist, was also working on the acoustic guitar parts and invited Dave Mason from Traffic to play a 12-string.

“For some reason, Dave couldn't get it together,” the producer recalls. “Eventually, he got it, but there was a lot of tension getting to where the two of them were locked in.”

The four-track recording was initially transferred to a “new and innovative, but rather noisy” twelve-track one-inch tape. While Hendrix added a whole bunch of percussion and guitars to it, both Kramer and the guitarist hated the noisy machine.

At this point, Hendrix had become increasingly dissatisfied and scrapped the work they had done on the twelve-track. Instead, the two invested in what was then one of the newest sixteen-track machines – which proved to be a game-changer.

“Introducing a sixteen-track machine into the Electric Ladyland sessions was a big deal,” noted Kramer. “It kicked open the doors, technologically speaking, and gave us the tremendous flexibility of being able to manipulate individual sounds.”

Few producers and engineers have had as much impact on rock ’n’ roll history as Eddie Kramer. His sonic fingerprints can be heard on career-defining records such as Led Zeppelin’s Led Zeppelin II, Kiss’s Alive!, and Anthrax’s Among the Living.

Yet it’s perhaps his close collaboration with Jimi Hendrix that most pushed the envelope of the craft itself, including pioneering techniques such as stereo phasing/flanging, which created the characteristic whooshing psychedelic sound that’s quintessentially Hendrix.

“Experimenting with stereo, which I really, really got into on Axis: [Bold as Love, released in 1967] showed the next expanse of Jimi’s sound: phasing,” Kramer tells Rick Beato when reflecting on Hendrix’s ever-expanding palette of guitar sounds.

“I was very fortunate to have worked with the Beatles on two occasions. I did All You Need is Love and Baby, You’re a Rich Man. I think it was on the All You Need Is Love session. We asked – now he's dearly departed – George Chkiantz, a fantastic engineer, and we said, ‘George, how did you get that phasing sound for the Beatles?’”

Chkiantz was far from keen to spill his secrets. “He says, ‘Well, chaps, you know, if you look in the BBC Radiophonic Handbook, you’ll actually find it there.’ And we said, ‘Fuck you, George.’ I mean, come on, we’re just asking!”

Kramer knew that the Beatles had managed to get it in mono, and, spurred by the nonchalant reply, was determined to go one step further – and teamed up with Chkiantz himself to do so.

“George, God bless him, locked himself away in one of the small studios in the back with about four tape machines, and a week later he came out and said, ‘Eddie, I got it. I got the stereo phasing.’ ‘Great! Let’s try it with Hendrix.’”

That’s exactly what they did, testing it first on the coda of the freshly recorded Bold as Love.

“On the appointed day, we're putting the final touches to the mix. ‘Jimi, come in. We want to play you something.’”

As Kramer relates, the tape machines were rolling, and right as Mitch Mitchell launches into that massive, thundering drum break, the phasing kicks in – created by slightly delaying one signal against another – forever defining Hendrix’s psychedelic-infused sonic universe.

“Jimi's sitting behind me on the couch, and he hears this, and he loses his shit completely,” Kramer recalls.

“He falls on the floor in a fetal position and puts his hands on his ears. ‘Oh my god, oh my god, I can’t believe [it]! What is that? That was something in my dream. How did you do that? Play it again!’ So we play it again. Oh, he’s going crazy! [He says], ‘I want that shit on everything, man.’

“True story!” the producer concludes with a laugh. Watch the full interview above, or subscribe to Rick Beato’s channel for more.

Kramer spilled the beans on what went into working with Hendrix in a recent Guitar World interview, where he also detailed how they managed to achieve the “backwards guitar” on Are You Experienced.

Kiss have never been a band to follow trends. When they looked to capture the extravagance of their live shows after their first three studio releases failed to capture the band at their best, the chaos of their performances meant a little in-studio doctoring was needed to get the tracks sparkling.

Its title is a not-so-subtle nod to Peter Frampton’s mega-selling live record, Frampton Comes Alive!, and the man behind the album has revealed it wasn’t just its name the band lifted. Frampton’s gear was on the menu, too.

“Kiss was a new band and the effort they put out in those shows was monumental, so we did a bunch of guitar and vocal overdubs at [Jimi Hendrix’s] Electric Lady Studios,” Kramer tells Guitar Player in a new interview.

Both live records were being worked on simultaneously within Electric Lady’s walls, and Kiss looked at Frampton’s collection of electric guitars, amps, and beyond to sweeten their fumbles and foils.

“They kept on coming to us and asking if we had guitars, amps, or basses, as they were doing some fixing on their live record,” Frampton told GP in 2005.

“They just kept on coming in and borrowing all sorts of different stuff. So my equipment is on that album – but not me!”

The Kiss gang mainly had eyes for Frampton’s mid-1950s Les Paul Custom “Black Beauty.” It features on the cover of his iconic live album, and before that was used on Humble Pie’s 1971 live record, Performance: Rockin' the Fillmore.

Five years later, it was renamed “Phenix” after it survived a plane crash. He’s lost and recovered 44 guitars across his storied career, but the Les Paul’s survival is widely considered the most remarkable.

Kramer, meanwhile, says, “I remember Peter’s amps in Studio A other than the Marshall stacks that Ace and Paul had,” with more of Frampton’s rig borrowed.

The fact Alive! was treated to quite extensive post-production magic – owing to audio being marred by “bombs going off, Gene spitting fire, rockets from Ace’s guitar”, as Kramer has explained – was controversial upon its release. However, fans didn't seem to mind as it became the band's biggest success to date, and has since gone multi-platinum. Half a century on, Paul Stanley believes the band made the right call.

“We never claimed to be virtuosos, we were virtu-no-sos, he told Guitar World. Call them overdubs or call them replacing things that weren’t up to snuff. I make no apologies.”

He adds that the band had felt “unstoppable” during the tour, as well as revealing that Frampton’s work in Humble Pie was a big reason he played Gibson guitars during that era.

Meanwhile, Frampton continues to defy his health issues by playing guitar. He recently joined Pearl Jam for a guest spot in Nashville after taking on a Beatles classic with Grace Bowers and Trey Anastasio, making the most of his numbered playing days.

Inspired by Frampton's ability to overcome adversity, Andy Timmons wrote a song in tribute to the guitarist – and his hero ended up playing on it in a poetic twist of fate.

Take a walk down New York’s 8th Street in modern times and you’ll find barely a sniff of the ’60s counterculture that once pulsed in this neighbourhood. There is just one last holdout against the gentrification of Greenwich Village.

Blink and you’ll miss the mirrored gunmetal door. Yet beyond it lies the city’s most fabled recording studio, conceived by Jimi Hendrix in the late ’60s, operational by summer 1970, and the scene of the guitarist’s final creative burst before his death that September.

By now, everybody knows about Hendrix’s 1966 touchdown in London and the shifting of rock’s tectonic plates, about this Seattle-born sonic terrorist’s onstage humbling of Clapton, and the breakout Bag O’ Nails show that forced Britain’s guitar class to give up or get serious.

By contrast, one chapter that has never been trawled to death is the birth of Electric Lady Studios. And that’s a curious oversight because the story of this recording facility has everything, from quixotic ambition and ruinous debt, to last-gasp redemption and some of Jimi’s most beautiful music.

Now, at last, the guitarist’s spiritual home is getting its due with director John McDermott’s fantastic new documentary, Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix Vision.

“It’s the history of how we put the damn place together, which was kind of a miracle when you think about it,” says Hendrix’s famed engineer Eddie Kramer, as he joins our Zoom call. “It was basically a bunch of hippies who thought they knew what they were doing. And I guess we did…”

The story goes that Electric Lady was originally going to be a nightclub?

Eddie Kramer: “Well, that was Jimi’s thing. He loved to jam. He loved to go down to the Generation Club, as a place to hang – and he would always jump on the stage, no matter what was going on. So one day I get the call saying, ‘We’re gonna build a nightclub in the Village.’ And I’m looking at the site, thinking, ‘This is a great space. But what about what Jimi’s been doing for the past year, spending money day after day at the Record Plant, The Hit Factory, wherever?’

“I mean, thank goodness he did that because it meant we had a huge body of material to work with. But, you know, he was spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on studio time. So I came up with a proposal: ‘Let’s make this the best studio in the world for Jimi. It’s gonna be his home, he’ll love it, it’ll be a place he can relax and create.’ And they went, ‘Yeah, good idea. Okay, let’s do that.’”

John McDermott: “I think it was an easy switch for Jimi. Once Eddie made the point to him that this could be his creative home, I think that’s when he really seized on that concept. As a commercial enterprise, the nightclub business was much more rough and tumble in those days.

“If you think about Cerebrum or the Generation Club or The Scene – none of which worked – I think building a studio was really the wisest move. The idea that somebody like Jimi could come in and successfully manage a club – it just wouldn’t have lasted. Unlike the studio, which is still here today.”

How much of a wreck was the original site?

John: “The Hendrix family was able to purchase the photography that documents the construction of the studio. And it truly was a mess. Y’know, they’ve got this problem, that problem, they hit water underneath the studio. It spiralled to the point where, as you’ll see in the film, he had to go to Warner Brothers to get a $300,000 loan to finish the studio. Which in itself was a ballsy move.

“That was an enormous amount of money back then. It came at a difficult time for Jimi. He was in litigation with Ed Chalpin over the old Curtis Knight recordings. He had [financial] obligations that seemed unrelenting. So it was difficult to be able to have the cash to simply move forward and get it done.”

How did it feel to finally see that derelict shell become a psychedelic spaceship?

Eddie: “Well, I love your description of the spaceship. It looks like something out of Star Wars. Another cool thing was the colours. There were these bloody great big coloured spotlights, in various shapes and sizes. And then, in the control room, you had pro theatre lighting – none of that electronic digital shit, this was the real deal. I almost felt like you could play those lights like I could play the console.

“Jimi would say, ‘Hey man, I want green over here, purple over there,’ and we’d just dial in this beautiful vibe, which helped to create the atmosphere of the music. He’d be like, ‘Give me red, man.’ And that would mean distortion.”

John: “There was no studio construction industry back then. They were winging it. It wasn’t as if they were hiring a major company who had built 12 studios before. They were hiring technicians, craftsmen, who could bring [architect] John Storyk’s drawings to life. The round windows, the carpeting on the wall, the coloured lighting – Jimi was looking for a comfortable environment to be creative.

“And for someone like Hendrix – who had known poverty, right there in the rear-view mirror – it had to be exhilarating to think, ‘I’m on the cusp of having this unimaginable place and I can come down here any time I feel like it.’ At that point, you start to have all kinds of collaborative and creative opportunities. It’s like, ‘Hey, Steve Winwood’s in town, let’s ask him to come on over and do something.’ Because now they have the place to do it and no-one is gonna tell them to stop because there’s another group waiting out in the lobby.”

Do you remember Jimi’s reaction when he saw the finished studio?

Eddie: “Oh, he loved it. He came in early every bloody night. It was amazing to see him at the door. Like, ‘Jimi’s ready at seven o’clock, holy crap!’”

Hendrix recorded all over the map, but do you think there was a certain flavour that crept into his guitar playing once he got to Electric Lady?

Eddie: “I don’t know if I would use the term ‘crept in’ – it manifested itself immediately. The energy level was so high. Man, he was on fire. The music took on this high-energy, high-voltage feel – and Jimi is ramping up those performances, and laughing and giggling.

“When you hear the outtakes, it’s wonderful, the rapport between him, myself, the band, even the roadies. It was a joy to be there. The three of them [Hendrix, drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Billy Cox] were just fantastic together. Their brains were on fire. You could tell. There was this fabulous energy, that sparkle in the studio.”

Why was Electric Lady such a good recording space for guitar?

Eddie: “Well, we lucked out. I mean, John Storyk had never designed a studio in his life before. But we had a very good acoustician who helped us. If you look at the shape of the room, the ceiling sloped up to the highest point, which was right by the control room. The way the plaster was laid up into that ceiling, one half of the room sounded live and the other half sounded kind of dead and down.

“It just became this magic formula. Drums and bass sounded great. Guitar sounded amazing – because if Jimi was overdubbing a solo, we would just open up all the screens in the studio. I could stick a mic at the back end of the room, and you’d hear the guitar at the front, but then you’d also hear this beautiful decay. When that was mixed in, the guitar sounded frickin’ enormous.”

Another departure from the norm was that Electric Lady had a huge control room.

Eddie: “Yeah. Today, of course, everybody sits in the control room to overdub guitar, but nobody was doing that in those days. Jimi would say, ‘Hey man, can I play my guitar in the control room?’ He’d get this long cord, jack a few things, find a place to plug it in. And then he’s sitting there listening, like, ‘Ah, so that’s what it sounds like on the big speakers.’ And we’d say, ‘This is Jimi’s jack, nobody messes with that.’

“We were one of the first studios to have 24-track, and I did the same thing with the console, making sure that we were able to cut 24 tracks. So we felt we needed a bigger control room with more depth than standard. When you were sat at the desk, you’d be looking at four huge monitors. There’d be two horizontal Altecs and two vertical ones, and the idea was to be able to have four-track monitoring.

“Plus, if you look at where the console ended, there was this drop-down and this beautiful bench below, all done in velvet for Jimi’s guests. So they were out of sight, thank God. It was like, ‘Shush down there!’ You could have 10 people in there and it wouldn’t bother you. But at Electric Lady, there were only ever a few hangers-on.”

Where did Jimi keep his guitars and amps at Electric Lady?

Eddie: “The guitars were mostly kept at his apartment because he lived just around the corner on 12th Street. With recording, sometimes, he might use a Gibson – just for the tone difference – but 98 per cent of the time at Electric Lady it was the Strat. And Marshall was front and centre.

“Obviously, on the Electric Ladyland album, there were a couple of tracks where it was a huge Fender amp with, like, eight speakers, and that’s what gave it that crazy bottom-end. But in that late period, Marshall was his go-to. That and the pedals. I think Roger Mayer had done some more tweaking. But there were so many other companies coming to him by then. Gibson gave him some crazy-ass pedals in those days.”

John: “You gotta think about this: when they started at Electric Lady, yes, it was operational, but the freight elevator didn’t work yet. So they had to hump that stuff by hand down those long stairs. So they had some stuff like amps in lockers, so Jimi didn’t necessarily have to take his Marshalls out and bring them back in.”

Jimi only got about 10 weeks at Electric Lady. But as the new boxset reminds us, he nailed some great tracks in that period.

Eddie: “Well, you look at the tape boxes and how far back a track like Dolly Dagger goes, how many overdubs were done – it was a work in progress and Jimi wasn’t satisfied until it was the way he heard it in his head. It’s a complex track, a lot going on.

“There were so many intense overdubs that we would have to punch in. I would even have to cut the tape to make sure we didn’t get any overrun, then splice it back together. Freedom – same thing. Same intensity. Same attention to detail.”

John: “The interesting thing about Electric Lady is that you were able to build the complex tracks there. For example, Freedom, if you go and listen to the West Coast Seattle Boy boxset, there’s a May ’70 live take, just the three guys on the floor instrumentally doing Freedom because they’re still developing it. But by the time you move the needle forward, timeline-wise, to June and July of 1970, they’ve built it up to this thing.

“You take a track like Night Bird Flying, let alone Dolly Dagger, and think about all the guitar overdubs interlaced through that piece. I mean, that comes with continuity. You can’t get that from going to the Record Plant, coming back three weeks later, trying to restart it again.

“Jimi wasn’t someone who would be able to present guys with charts and say, ‘Okay, play this, do this, you’ll come in here.’ But so much time was jamming these songs in that room at Electric Lady that it became, like, ‘Do you hear where I’m trying to go with this?’ And as Eddie said, because they were so in tune, they were able to quickly get it. Like, ‘Okay, yeah – here we go.’”

Eddie, you spoke to Jimi for the final time at Electric Lady, when he phoned to suggest you join him in London to record there instead?

Eddie: “Yeah, that phone call was very interesting. I reminded him, ‘But Jimi, we’ve just spent all this money and it’s a gorgeous studio.’ And he was like, ‘Yeah.’ Almost like he was snapping back to reality. He told me, ‘I’ll see you in about a week.’ He knew he had to come back and finish the album. And he was looking forward to it.”

John: “Had Billy never gotten ill and had to leave the tour, and Jimi had just finished the shows and come home, you never know what would have happened on September 18. He might have been somewhere else that day. You just never know. Life doesn’t work that way.”

Do you feel like Hendrix had more to give as a guitarist, had he lived?

John: “Oh God, yes. Listen to the Monterey performance of ’67 – which is an all-time classic – and then go two years later to listen to Machine Gun. Again, you’re talking about three pedals, a guitar and Marshall amps. So it isn’t as if there’s some kind of magic technology going on.

“It’s still one guy, two hands, making sounds that nobody else had ever made before. So that’s the great tragedy of this. I mean, as you listen to Night Bird Flying, you think, ‘Wow, think of what the next record could have been, with him trying horns and more keyboards.’ Who knows?”

Eddie: “John’s absolutely right. Jimi was on a rise, no question. I think the Band Of Gypsys was the key that opened the door because not only did it yield a fantastic album, but it also had that funk, blues, tough R&B vibe, which led to this beautiful open space for him to jam and really just stretch out for 15 minutes. That was the stepping stone. So his death was not only a shock to everybody, but it was premature in the sense of what he was thinking musically.”

Finally, bands who record at Electric Lady Studios often say they can still sense Hendrix’s presence. What do you think?

Eddie: “Oh, unquestionably. Y’know, you’ll be mixing something, and it’s like you get a little tap on your shoulder: ‘You might not want to do that drum fill like that.’ That studio has a mystique. I know musicians who are very empathetic and they walk in that room and they immediately feel something. And that’s Jimi.

“They go, ‘Okay, I can make some nice music in this place.’ And they feel relaxed and the creative juices start to flow. It could be coincidental – but I like the other story.”

• Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix Vision is out now on Experience Hendrix, LLC and Legacy Recordings

There have been more than a few notable producers and engineers who have impacted rock music over the years, including George Martin, Bob Ezrin, Tom Werman and Butch Vig. But few have specifically influenced rock music pertaining to the electric guitar in the way that South African-born knob-twirler extraordinaire Eddie Kramer has.

Even if you don’t know his name, you’ve undoubtedly heard Kramer’s work if you’re into the guitar-driven heroics of the late Sixties, Seventies and beyond. His resume boasts massive production and engineering credits on records like Jimi Hendrix’s Are You Experienced (1967), Led Zeppelin’s Led Zeppelin II (1969) and Kiss’s Alive! (1975).

Beyond those massive titles, Kramer’s discography features dozens of records created at the family New York City institution, Electric Lady Studios, which was commissioned by Hendrix and designed by Kramer and architect John Storyk.

So it goes without saying that Kramer has been as essential to guitar music as the players themselves. And to be sure, that association has left him with many favorites, but still, his iconic work with Jimi Hendrix stands out most. 

“The backwards guitar on Are You Experienced was memorable,” Kramer tells Guitar World. “Jimi would take home tapes of the session, reverse it, practice to that and come back saying, ‘I know exactly where I want to play from here.’”

Elaborating on Hendrix’s process, Kramer says, “And then, bam, it was done. He knew what he had to do when I flipped the tape because he’d practiced it, which was an example of Jimi’s genius. And along with that, I will never forget the sheer beauty of Little Wing.

“It’s still one of the most emotional things I have ever heard. I could go on and on; all his stuff is bloody marvelous. But I guess some are more marvelous than others.”

These days, despite being nearly 82, Kramer remains busy and tuned into what’s happening. But while he understands that advancement and digitization are inevitable, for Kramer, analog remains king.

“Nothing can substitute for analog,” he says. “It just sounds more pleasing to the ear. I know many things are done digitally, but it lacks warmth and soul. I think guitar players should think more analog; there’s just something about digital that rubs me the wrong way.”

Kramer still beams when talking about getting behind the glass and settling behind the boards. No matter where technology takes us, for as long as Kramer is around, the spirit of what made guitar music great will linger. 

“I still get excited about this stuff,” he says. “Music has been such a big part of my life and still stimulates me. When I walk into a studio, I still get chills. There’s something about a bunch of musicians – or even one musician – getting in a room and striking that first chord. And when that happens, it all comes back, and I say, ‘Ah, yes, I know what to do with that.’”

Did you know from a young age that you wanted to be a producer and engineer? 

“Growing up in South Africa, I was fascinated with the idea of, ‘What the hell is coming out of that speaker?’ I wanted to know how it got its power and volume and how it worked. I was just so curious, and I remember being young and sticking a screwdriver in a spot it shouldn’t go back in the days when the loudspeakers were powered by voltage. [Laughs]”

Once that fascination crept in, how did you view guitars within that space?

“It’s important to have perspective here because where I grew up, I studied music, but classical music was a massive part of my life. Understanding that allowed me to think outside the box and not be prejudiced by sound or a piece of music which was deemed offensive.

“My ears and mind were open when the Sixties came around, and I was recording a guy like the Kinks’ Dave Davies. But even then, this was before stereo recording, and the skill of working with mono was how we were taught, so by the time I got to Olympic Studios in ’66, and I was working with Jimi [Hendrix], my brain was on fire. I heard his guitar, and it completely changed my life.”

Nothing could have prepared you for witnessing Hendrix first-hand. Aside from having your mind blown, what went through your mind?

“To set the scene, it was January 1967, and [Hendrix manager and former Animals bassist] Chas Chandler had called me to book studio time as he and Jimi were unhappy with Hey Joe, The Wind Cries Mary and a few other tracks that were to be on Are You Experienced. The record was not finished, but they had heard that Olympic was a top studio, and they wanted to come down. So Jimi walks in, and I see these big amps coming in behind him. 

“As that’s all sorted out, Jimi is sitting quietly in the corner, wrapped in a raincoat. He wasn’t saying a bloody word, but once the amp was set up, he wandered over, switched it on, plugged in his guitar, and just as I was setting the mic up, he started playing, and man, my brain froze. In that second, my life changed. I heard that sound, and I don’t know how to describe it other than God himself being in the room.”

Was it difficult to capture the enormity of that on tape?

“It was so remarkable and overwhelming. I had to think rather quickly about how I would record him, and I picked microphones that gave us the best shot of capturing the enormity of that sound. And then I said to Jimi, ‘I’m going to go to the control room and have a listen,’ and he looked at me, grinned, and said, ‘Okay…’ 

“And then, Jimi began tweaking his pedals, guitar and amp; all the while I’m frantically twiddling knobs, trying to keep up with him. In the end, we worked our asses off together, but we had so many laughs. Jimi knew I was trying to give him what he wanted and that I could give him a huge palette to work from.”

Did Jimi’s off-the-cuff nature as a soloist present much of a challenge for you?

“The trick was never to have a moment where the tape wasn’t running. I had total control over that, and the directive was, ‘Keep that damn thing rolling from the moment Jimi walks into the studio.’ You had to be ready whenever he plugged in because sometimes his first takes were so good that they’d smack you in the face.”

In hindsight, what was the most significant difference between working with Jimi and other guitarists?

“There was no separation between what he physically played and what his brain and soul were telling him to play. Those things were deeply interconnected as one piece, meaning the brain, heart, hands and fingers, so it was complete and utter expression. And then his sound had this unique technical quality that defied imagination. 

“I often wondered, ‘How the hell did he do that? How did he make it sound so gorgeous yet aggressive?’ I heard so many magnificent things from him while sitting in the control room, but I’d still be amazed by what he could pull off.”

Is there one song or solo that stands out?

“All of them were brilliant in their own ways. But my favorite is Little Wing, which goes from beautiful tones created with the volume knob, getting this lovely, sweet sound before roaring into the solo. That dynamic shift is something to behold. It’s magnificent to the point that it’s overwhelming and incredibly emotional. But all of Jimi’s songs feature different levels of brilliance.”

And there’s Jimmy Page; how did you first meet him?

“Well, that’s a whole different ball game. A very interesting one. I met him… you know, we mentioned The Kinks in ‘63, ‘64, and I think on that song, You Really Got Me – either You Really Got Me or one of the others – I remember seeing Jimmy Page come in and doing an overdub.

“Now there is some contention about that, but that’s how I remember it. I was an assistant engineer in those days, but he was the guy. You know, you bring in this young, amazing guitar player or session guy – 17 or 18 years old or something, I don't know – but damn, he was good.”

You ended up in the studio with Jimmy for Led Zeppelin II, but were you a fan of their first album?

“It’s funny because, by 1968, I had gone to America and was working at the Record Plant. But I called John Paul Jones to catch up during a visit back in England, and he said, ‘Come over. I want to play you something.’ So I went to his house, and he played me the acetates of the first album, saying, ‘This is the band I’ve been working with.’ I couldn’t believe my ears and said, ‘What is this? It’s amazing.’

“So John said, ‘We’re called Led Zeppelin.’ I thought that was the worst name I’d ever heard. I thought, ‘Man, how could you be so stupid and wrong?’ But they got it right, and that first record was amazing. And later, in ’69, while I was getting going at Electric Lady Studios, I got a phone call from Jimmy Page, saying, ‘Do you want to work on an album with us?’ I said, ‘Absolutely.’ They brought in the tapes from England, and off we went.”

Jimmy is something of a studio wizard himself. What was it like matching wits with him?

“The cool thing was that I’d set up the mics how I did it, and Jimmy would listen and say, ‘Yeah, great.’ There was never a point of contention. It was an exchange of ideas and a lot of give and take. I appreciated that Jimmy knew what he was looking for, and he knew I could get the take and make it sound good. While we were mixing Led Zeppelin II, like with Jimi Hendrix, we laughed a lot and created a lot of great sounds. We had a very compatible relationship.”

Seeing how diverse Zeppelin’s Seventies records are, it seems the atmosphere didn’t change after they became kings of the world.

“The magic word there is ‘diverse.’ I loved the fact that Page was able to play acoustically so beautifully. And here’s the thing: dynamics is a huge part of what Zeppelin did, you know? All the greats, like [Frank] Zappa, Hendrix or whoever, understand that dynamics within music are important. They would bring the music down low and then come back slamming. I love that, and Page was an expert at that. So was John Paul Jones. It wouldn’t have been the same experience in the studio without both of those guys.”

Can you pick out a solo or moment from Jimmy Page as a favorite?

“Led Zeppelin II stands out for me because of the guitar work. Every album they did was magnificent, but I have a special place in my heart for Zeppelin II. The dynamics and the fact that we created some things through panning and using frequencies to create a vibe make it special. But I also must call out the live record; The Song Remains the Same, which was done under some challenging circumstances but did a great job of reflecting their energy and interaction on stage.”

Regarding live records, your work on Kiss’s Alive! changed the band’s trajectory. Working with a young band like Kiss must have been very different from working with Zeppelin.

“The thing with Kiss was we knew we had to get everything down on tape no matter what it took. It was hard because they were always jumping around, and we had to do a bunch of work on the album after the fact, but that’s how it was. The band may deny it, but the fact remains that on Alive!, we had to fix a bunch of stuff.”

Did anyone in the band have a say in those fixes?

“They did. And the album came out bloody great because the guys in Kiss were very particular about how it should sound and be mixed. We worked tirelessly for weeks to make Alive! sound amazing. So, while it’s not totally ‘live,’ it’s a great creation of the live sound of Kiss from that time.

“There were just bits we had to fix for obvious reasons, like the guys being on stage in six-inch boots, bombs going off and rockets and flames shooting to God knows where. [Laughs] It takes a lot of work to keep in time and tune while jumping up and down. They can do it now, but in those days, not so much.”

It goes without saying that Paul Stanley and Ace Frehley were rough around the edges then, but could you tell they were stars in the making?

“Right from the beginning, I knew that Ace Frehley would be a star – that’s for sure. Ace had intuitive talents; he could play blues and rock, and I loved that he could play all these cool blues licks but make them his own. Ace wasn’t scared of anything.

“As for Paul, I thought he was good. He was an okay guitar player then but became very good later. Paul got sharper and steadier as a rhythm player. But Ace had this huge sound from the start, and his talent was instantly recognizable.”

You had the Midas touch with Ace, as you also got great results from him during his solo career. What was your secret?

“Ace is interesting because many interesting things go on in his brain, but you must get him in the right mood to get that cool stuff out. I remember working with him on his ’78 solo record, and I had to have him lie on the floor with a pillow behind his head and a bottle of Heineken because he was too nervous to stand up.

“So I’d have him on the floor with a bottle of whatever to calm him, and the more takes we did, the more confident he got. By the second or third take, he was up on his feet, and I said, ‘Alright, Ace, keep going. It’s cool.’”

What’s your tried-and-true technique for getting a good guitar sound, regardless of who you’re working with?

“You know, it’s different each time. But at the same time, there’s a principle involved in terms of where I put the microphones, what sound the guitarist is looking for, the tone of the guitar; I always want to make sure the sounds aren’t foreign, you know? I don’t want to be 180 degrees away from what the player is doing. 

“If it’s an established player who has their specific tone, I’m not going to alter that with a bunch of crap. It’s important to have pure tone from the room that’s resonating and sounds like it’s alive instead of being shut down by excessive limiting. I give them whatever they need to make them happy. If the sound in the room isn’t great, I make it great.”

Looking back, you’ve immeasurably impacted the way listeners perceive rock guitar in recorded music. Could you have imagined as much when you first stepped into Electric Lady Studios?

“Thank you, I appreciate that. With Electric Lady, for me, when I first saw the space in ’69, I had heard they wanted to make it a nightclub, and I was like, ‘You’re out of your fucking minds. Let’s make this the best recording studio in the world for Jimi Hendrix.’ It became that and has repeatedly proved its point and is still living famously and beautifully. The sound of that room is special, and Jimi has blessed it with his spirit.

“I am so proud of Electric Lady; it’s a wonderful place to create music. It’s magical. It really is, man. I genuinely believe Jimi’s spirit is there because some of the stuff that comes together there… It’s been hard for me to find the same thing in other studios. I’m very proud of all I’ve done – especially the Electric Lady stuff. A few studios have a similar vibe, but nothing compares to the charm and mystery of Electric Lady.”

Dave Davies has responded to recent quotes from Eddie Kramer that have led to increased interest around the recording of You Really Got Me, with The Kinks guitarist disputing claims that Jimmy Page recorded overdubs for the 1964 hit.

During an interview in the most recent issue of Guitar World, Kramer was asked about his experiences working with Jimmy Page in the studio, which prompted the producer to voluntarily recall the time he first met Page.

To that end, Kramer said he first met Page in the studio during a Kinks recording session, in which he remembers “seeing Jimmy Page come in and doing an overdub”. He also names You Really Got Me as a potential song that Page may have been overdubbing for, and notes: “There is some contention about that, but that’s how I remember it.”

A clip of the audio of the interview – as well as a transcript of the exchange – can be found in full below.

You mentioned Jimmy Page, which I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention – [was a] totally different animal in the studio. He’s renowned for his studio wizardry as well. Once you got into the studio with him, what was that experience like?

Eddie Kramer: “Well, that’s a whole different ball game. A very interesting one. I met him… you know, we mentioned The Kinks in ‘63, ‘64, and I think on that song, You Really Got Me – either You Really Got Me or one of the others – I remember seeing Jimmy Page come in and doing an overdub.

“Now there is some contention about that, but that’s how I remember it. I was an assistant engineer in those days, but he was the guy. You know, you bring in this young, amazing guitar player or session guy – 17 or 18 years old or something, I don't know – but damn, he was good.”

The anecdote was the focus of a recent story that was published on GuitarWorld.com, which sought to explore the history behind the recording of the track, and question Page’s potential involvement.

In that initial article, it was noted that both Davies and Page – as well as producer Shel Talmy – had all previously refuted the notion that Page featured on You Really Got Me, drawing on quotes from The Guardian and Rolling Stone that illustrated that important point.

“I, Dave Davies, invented the distorted guitar sound and played the solo on ‘You Really Got Me’ and Ray Davies played rhythm guitar,” Davies was quoted as saying by Rolling Stone. “We never used ANY other guitarists on any Kinks hits.”

Comparatively, the story also drew on previous quotes published in Sound on Sound from Ray Davies, which suggested that there may have been an unreleased, unheard demo of the track that featured Page’s contributions.

“The [version] of You Really Got Me that was actually released was the third [recording],” Davies is quoted as saying by Sound on Sound. “There was a demo thing with Dave playing lead, a second cut which may have had Jimmy Page on it (and which Pye Records still have in their vaults) and a third which definitely had Dave on it.”

This – paired with Eddie Kramer’s recent quotes that he remembers Page “doing an overdub” in the studio with The Kinks – suggested that Page may have been involved in overdubbing a version of the song that never got released.

At no point did the article claim that Page had recorded anything on the final version of You Really Got Me as we know it today.

In light of Kramer’s quotes and the story, Dave Davies refuted the claims that Page had played any part in the recording of You Really Got Me, writing on social media: “I played all the guitar parts on YRGM”.

A follow-up post responding to the interview excerpt saw Davies provide a screenshot of a text from Kramer. He captioned the image with: “Here is Ed’s complete statement he sent to me this week regarding the issue. He remembers my guitar sound clearly, end of story.”

The original article containing Kramer’s quotes did not claim that Jimmy Page had played on the final version of You Really Got Me that was eventually released.

Instead, it was posited that Kramer’s insight gave credence to Ray Davies’ recollection that there may still be an unreleased version of You Really Got Me featuring an overdub, however small, from Jimmy Page – something that could finally account for the myths that have surrounded the track over the decades, but crucially, does nothing to diminish Dave Davies’ riff and tonal legacy, which was never in doubt.

The Kinks’ You Really Got Me is one of the greatest rock songs ever committed to tape, but the history surrounding its actual recording is the subject of some intense debate.

One key issue surrounds the 1964 hit: namely, whether Jimmy Page – a budding session musician at the time – played on the song. 

While some suggest he was merely involved in the recording of the song, others argue he is responsible for the song’s guitar tone and solo. Some high-profile names – including Deep Purple’s Jon Lord – have supported these theories.

Most of these tales, though, have been refuted by individuals involved in the recording of the track, including Kinks guitarist Dave Davies, producer Shel Talmy, and even Page himself.

However, speaking in the latest issue of Guitar World, legendary rock producer Eddie Kramer – who was present during the session in question – reignited the debate by offering his own recollection of the event, in which he says he saw Page recording parts for You Really Got Me.

“I met Jimmy while he was working with the Kinks in the early ’60s when they were doing You Really Got Me,” he explains. “I recall seeing Jimmy coming in and doing an overdub on that song. There’s some contention about that, but that’s how I remember it.” 

Kramer’s recollections of the events surrounding the recording of You Really Got Me are bound to be met with some strong opposition, owing to the fact the Davies brothers themselves have gone on record to state that Page did not play on the track.

Back in 2014, Dave Davies posted to social media to call out “lies” told by the BBC, which, in a Radio 2 documentary, alleged Page had indeed played on You Really Got Me.

In a statement (via Rolling Stone), Davies sought to set the record straight, categorically denying Page’s involvement and saying he “invented the distorted guitar sound and played the solo on You Really Got Me and Ray Davies played rhythm guitar”.

Davies isn’t the only one involved in the track to debunk the Page debate. You Really Got Me producer Talmy, likewise, once told The Guardian, “We used Jimmy Page on some Kinks stuff so Ray didn't have to play rhythm guitar as well as sing – but, contrary to myth, Jimmy didn't play on You Really Got Me.”

And, just to really hammer home the point, Page himself told SiriusXM (via Rolling Stone), “This is a result of internet meddling and muddling. I wasn’t on You Really Got Me, but I did play on the Kinks’ records. 

“That’s all I’m going to say about it. But every time I do an interview, people ask me about You Really Got Me. So maybe somebody can correct Wikipedia so people won’t keep asking me.”

It’s important to note that Kramer says this is only how he ‘remembers’ the recording of the track – and it’s not the first time he’s offered a similarly worded response to the You Really Got Me myth, either.

Back in 2021, he told The French Connection (via Ultimate Guitar), “I was on the session, I think it was him, I thought it was Jimmy. Jimmy Page says no, so maybe it was Dave [Davies]. In my head, it was him [Jimmy], but you know, it's a long time ago.” 

It’s also worth noting that Kramer recalls Page recording an overdub, rather than the rhythm part or the solos. What overdub this was, Kramer didn’t say, but it suggests Page’s role may have been minor, and perhaps as such subject to easy misinterpretation.

That makes for interesting reading, especially when Ray Davies’ own comments concerning the track are considered. Though he rejected reports that Page played a major rhythmic or lead role on the recording of the track, he did reveal there may have been a version of the song that did feature Page – just not the one that ended up getting released.

“The [version] of You Really Got Me that was actually released was the third [recording],” Davies said in Ritchie Yorke’s book, Led Zeppelin: The Definitive Biography (via Sound on Sound). “There was a demo thing with Dave playing lead, a second cut which may have had Jimmy Page on it (and which Pye Records still have in their vaults) and a third which definitely had Dave on it. 

“I know because I was standing right next to him when he played on it. And that's the one which was released.”

So, did Kramer see Page while he was tracking for an unreleased demo of You Really Got Me that was shelved in favor of one that didn’t include his contributions? We may never know. As we say, the history surrounding the track is pretty murky.

The theory of The Other You Really Got Me, though, looks to have legs, and could go a long way to clearing up the confusion that clouds the history of the song.

Head over to Magazines Direct to pick up the latest issue of Guitar World, which features the full interview with Eddie Kramer and a cover feature with Mick Mars.

In other Jimmy Page-related news, it was recently announced that the Led Zeppelin legend had partnered with Gibson for a multi-guitar signature series, which will kick off with a recreation of his EDS-1275 double-neck.

The AI-assisted final Beatles song may have divided the music industry earlier this year, but legendary producer Eddie Kramer has said he isn’t opposed to opting for a similar approach with Hendrix tapes.

Talking on The Vinyl Guide podcast, Kramer waxed lyrical on the advancement of new technologies like those recently utilised by the two living Beatles. It’s lined up the possibility for similar projects with both studio and live Hendrix recordings.

“I’m sure if we found another tape where Jimi’s voice is buried, I know I could use something similar,” he says (nice spot, MusicRadar). “I have used [the technology] before but now it’s going to be on a much higher-level.

“There are tapes that I would love to get my hands on with John [McDermott] and Janie [Hendrix] and say, ‘Hey, maybe we can do X, or Y.’”

Pressed if a new release was around the corner, Kramer responded: “I would hesitate to use ‘around the corner’ because that corner could be quite lengthy, [but] hopefully, yes.”

By pushing the limits of what technology can do with cassette demos, the final Beatles song could start something of a snowball effect across the industry. Entitled Now and Then, the lost Fab Four track was released back in November after new technologies allowed for precise instrument and vocal isolation.

The technology allowed Paul McCartney and Ringo Star to separate the vocals and instrumentation John Lennon had demoed in the '70s, pairing them with guitar parts George Harrison had recorded in 1995. It’s important to note, however, that Kramer is wary of using the term ‘AI’ in this context.

He says: “When one uses the phrase ‘AI’, it is really advanced digital manipulation, and now the technology has become so evolved that here is a cassette tape of John [Lennon] playing piano, and now they are able to isolate the voice.

“We have always had something similar, but now as the technology has expanded [that] we are able to become quite clever about the quality that remains thereafter. If it requires some kind of AI manipulation, okay, that’s fine.”

Jimi Hendrix only released four studio albums in his lifetime, including three with The Jimi Hendrix Experience and one with Band of Gypsys in 1970. His posthumous discography, meanwhile, has been steadily growing since 1971’s The Cry of Love.

The latest, 2018's Valleys of Neptune, features 12 previously unreleased, albeit unfinished studio recordings. They were captured around 1969 as Hendrix began experimenting at his newly built Electric Ladyland Studios in Greenwich Village, New York. Many of these tracks had been released in some form or another previously, but improving technologies had inspired Kramer and co-producer Chas Chandler to revisit the tapes.

Kramer’s latest Hendrix project saw the South African producer tidying up a previously unheard recording of the guitarist performing at the Hollywood Bowl in August ’67. Whilst that project didn’t need AI, he’s hinted that a rumoured recording of Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin captured at a New York venue might need such treatment.

“Originally it was called the Village Barn and then it became The Generation nightclub that Jimi used to go down and jam a lot in,” Kramer says of the recording’s back-story. “Then it became the Electric Lady. But who knows?! Somebody has got a cassette somewhere! Tell them to contact me and we’ll fix it!”

It’s live recordings like that much-whispered-about jam session that Kramer feels are more likely to surface in future. Abe Jacob, Hendrix’s front-of-house engineer, was known to record his sets, which was the case for the Hollywood Bowl show.    

“Some guy had a tape machine and was running it off the console and whoever was doing the front-of-house put it together and the stereo out of the board fed into the machine.”

Head to Spotify to listen to the full podcast, which includes further discussions about Hendrix, as well as Led Zeppelin II.

When Jimi Hendrix passed away nearly 50 years ago at 27, he left in his wake only three studio albums with The Jimi Hendrix Experience, live recordings capturing his set at the Monterey Pop Festival and his earth-shifting Woodstock performance, and a live album from his post-Experience trio, Band of Gypsys - recorded at the Fillmore East on New Year’s Eve of 1969 and New Year’s Day of 1970. 

It’s hard to overstate how Hendrix’s scant discography fundamentally changed the way we approach the electric guitar - which is why it’s a truly monumental thing when unheard Hendrix music is released. 

With the new box set Songs for Groovy Children: The Fillmore East Concerts, Hendrix fans will enjoy just such a gift in the form of all four complete sets from Band of Gypsys’ two debut gigs. That’s 43 tracks in their original set sequences and without edits crammed onto five CDs or eight vinyl LPs. This includes more than two dozen tracks that have never enjoyed a commercial release or have been remixed.

According to Band of Gypsys bassist and Hendrix’s former 101st Airborne Division peer Billy Cox, “These were very unique concerts. The audience felt what we were projecting to them. We felt that everything was cool and we were together with friends. It was just magical.” 

Musically, those debut gigs marked a turning point for Hendrix’s music and offered a window into where the maverick musician was headed before his life was cut short. Band of Gypsys’ sole eponymous release boasted only six tunes but is a wildly influential record - particularly for the funk movement that flourished in the '70s.

Eddie Kramer - legendary producer, Hendrix’s sonic confidant and the man behind the intricate work of Songs for Groovy Children’s beautiful remix and remaster - spoke with Guitar World about the new box set and remembers Band of Gypsys.

What was it like revisiting those tapes all these years later?

"I had the first go at mixing it alongside Jimi himself in 1970 at Juggy Sound in New York. I recall Jimi had a particularly clear vision of what he wanted to hear from that project. 

"The one thing that stands out in my mind is that we got to one of Buddy Miles’ [Band of Gypsys drums/vocals] improv episodes where he’s going off - yakking and improvising his vocals - and Buddy could be a bit much with that. I remember Jimi put his head down on the console goes, 'I wish Buddy would shut the fuck up, man!'

"There was only one Jimi Hendrix and I think one of the reasons why Jimi decided very soon after that mixing session that Band of Gypsys was not going to be a thing any more was that it was his band and he didn’t want anyone stealing his thunder."

"Buddy really was the right man for the job, though; his backbeat was so solid, it allowed Jimi a lot more freedom to do his thing. What Buddy brought to the table with a heavy backbeat and a great snare as a solid support mechanism was perfect. And when it was fitting, Buddy’s vocals were fabulous, necessary and really kept that mood going. 

"When you jump forward to the end of Band of Gypsys and the Experience getting back together with Billy Cox on bass and Mitch Mitchell in the fold again, Mitch had obviously been studying and taking influence from Buddy Miles. 

"There’s a famous quote of Mitch’s where he said, 'Buddy Miles, mate! He’s like a bloody cement mixer, isn’t he?!' And it’s true. Buddy was like a machine and that machine-like funk was such a big part of Band of Gypsys’ vibe."

Of all the unheard material from the debut Band of Gypsys gigs, what do you think will floor people the most?

"As you go through each show, it ebbs and flows. I’m not even going to try and pick out the best things from them as the listener has never heard all four shows remastered in the best way possible, which is an enjoyable proposition, but it can be a bit heavy at times! Think of all the wonderfully nuanced takes of Machine Gun you’ll have to listen to!"

What was the biggest challenge of getting these recordings up to your exacting standards?

"My workflow is a hybrid of the very best of the analog world - which keeps the vintage quality and warmth - and the best of the digital world. Modern technology has afforded me many more tools to extract the very best out of Jimi’s guitar or the ambience of the room, and that’s really critical. 

"I’ve been using a device called a Burl Mothership for the last eight years when I transfer from tape to digital and it retains as much of the sound of the original tape as I can possibly get. So when I work on it in Pro Tools, I’m starting with a transfer that’s fairly difficult to hear the difference in compared to the original tape its pulled from.

"Once I’ve got it in the digital world, I can really hone in on things. Even after that, it goes through an analog console and it still gets printed back to tape, so it’s a lovely way of melding the best of the analog and the best of the digital world. It’s tricky, but the final result is something I’m very proud of."

What stands out most about Jimi Hendrix’s playing at that stage in his career to you?

"There’s a sense of spontaneity, and when things went wrong - especially a guy like Jimi - you’d play a wrong chord or something and laugh it off. He was tough on himself, but when Jimi made a mistake, he’d turn it into something cool! That’s the true test of a great artist."

Fourteen-year-old guitarist Ray Goren describes LA Sessions, his new EP, as a unique mixture of everything from Jimi Hendrix to Stevie Wonder. Considering the fact that Hendrix’s producer, Eddie Kramer, worked on the EP, it’s hard to argue.

Goren’s guitar journey is slightly different from that of most players. He started out on keyboards, playing songs by Thelonious Monk, J.J. Johnson and Miles Davis as early as age 5.

But it wasn’t until a few years later while searching YouTube that he stumbled upon a video clip of B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Buddy Guy and Albert Collins performing together. That’s when the fuse was lit, and Goren has never looked back.

Kramer, who "discovered" Goren, has a resume that includes such giants as Led Zeppelin and Kiss. The legendary producer/engineer was so impressed with Goren that he produced LA Sessions himself and even enlisted some other musical heavyweights, including drummer Able Laboriel, Jr. (Paul McCartney) and bassist Paul Bushnell (Tim McGraw) to lend a hand.

With guitar prowess that extends well beyond his 14 years, Goren is an explosive live performer. I recently got the chance to speak with Goren about his new album.

GUITAR WORLD: How exciting was it for you to get to work with Eddie Kramer?

Oh man, where do I even begin? [laughs]. Eddie is just unbelievable at what he does. He’s truly a master of sound and a very down-to-earth, humble guy.

How did you meet Eddie?

I was playing at a club and Eddie just happened to be there. I remember when I got off the stage he came up to me and we started to talk. At first, I didn’t even realize who I was talking to. Turns out, he was Eddie Kramer and I was like, “Oh, wow!” [laughs]. We ended up talking about music for a while and things just blew up from there.

Did he let you in on any Jimi Hendrix secrets?

He told me a few Jimi stories but nothing I can tell out loud [laughs]. It’s all kind of secretive. He did show me some pictures he had of Jimi, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Kiss, and for each picture he had a little story to go along with it. It was a really cool music history lesson.

What’s your songwriting method?

I don’t write by riffs at all. Usually I’ll write on piano. When I write, I’ll write chords first and then a melody and then the lyrics come last. For the song “Memories,” I had these chords I had worked out on the keyboard. As I was sitting there writing the melody, the lyrics just sort of flowed out of my mouth, and that’s what I ended up singing. It just kind of happened. Most of my songs just come spontaneously.

Can you tell me a little about the message behind your video for “Stop Waiting”?

I normally don’t like to talk about what my songs are about, but there was a teen who was shot and killed and I just remember thinking to myself, “Dang, what’s his mom going to think when she finds out that her son got killed by a gun?” I wondered if there was something I could do about it, other than just sitting down and shaking my head.

What was the moment you realized you wanted to be a guitarist?

I grew up playing piano and a few other instruments. But then I saw a video of B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Albert Collins and Eric Clapton — all playing together on the same stage! Man, from that point on I just remember thinking, “OK, forget about all of these other instruments. I’m a guitar player now!” [laughs].

James Wood is a writer, musician and self-proclaimed metalhead who maintains his own website, GoJimmyGo.net. His articles and interviews are written on a variety of topics with passion and humor. You can follow him on Twitter @JimEWood.

This Wednesday, October 30, Jimi Hendrix's longtime sound engineer, Eddie Kramer; Jimi's sister Janie Hendrix; and American Masters: Jimi Hendrix — Hear My Train A Comin' director Bob Smeaton and producer John McDermott will take part in a live Twitter Q&A.

The Q&A, which will take place 9 p.m. EST/6 p.m. PST, will be hosted by @PBSAmerMasters and @JimiHendrix, live from the Grammy Museum.

Fans can submit questions NOW in the comments section of the American Masters website HERE.

Follow the discussion on Twitter under #HendrixPBS.

The Beatles made EMI’s Abbey Road Studios a household name after they titled their 1969 album for the facility.

It was there that they recorded nearly all of their songs, beginning with their first release, 1962’s “Love Me Do.”

But as their need for studio time grew in 1967 during the making of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Magical Mystery Tour, the Beatles occasionally found Abbey Road’s three studios booked for sessions by other EMI artists. On such occasions, they turned to the growing number of independent recording establishments sprouting up in London at the time, among them Olympic Studios.

Though a relatively new facility in 1967, Olympic had already made a name for itself with clients that included Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones. Now it would add the Beatles to its list of artists when the group came in to record two new John Lennon songs during the making of Magical Mystery Tour: “Baby, You’re a Rich Man,” on May 11, and “All You Need Is Love,” on June 14. Together, the songs would provide the two sides for the Beatles’ hit single of the summer.

Present for both sessions was celebrated producer and engineer Eddie Kramer. Now famous for his production and engineering work with groups like Led Zeppelin and Kiss, Kramer was in 1967 still earning his stripes at Olympic Studios, where he engineered albums such as Their Satanic Majesty’s Request by the Rolling Stones and Are You Experienced by the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

“If you can imagine Olympic Studios in 1967, we were at the cutting edge of virtually every studio in London,” Kramer says. “We were very innovative, and of course we had, I think, the best console in England and possibly the world at the time.”

For a young studio like Olympic, recording the biggest group in the world was the stuff of dreams. When Kramer and his boss, Keith Grant, learned the Beatles had booked Olympic for a May 11 session, they knew it was a golden opportunity. “Keith said to me, ‘Look, we’ve got to really prove it to these guys that we are not only as good as but probably better than EMI Abbey Road.’ And that was the mantra for the night.”

The Beatles’ session began at 9 p.m. Present in the control room were producer George Martin, Grant as engineer and Kramer as second engineer. Says Kramer, “It was an honor for me to be on the session and do more than just operate the tape machine, move mics and get them situated. Making sure that everybody was happy—that was the goal.”

For the Beatles, working at Olympic had an unexpected benefit. “Olympic was this marvelous repository of musical instruments that were usually leftover from previous sessions,” Kramer says. “We did a lot of music-to-picture: jingles, movies. More often than not, the stuff from the day’s film work was not picked up till the next day.”

On the night of the “Baby, You’re a Rich Man” sessions, an electronic keyboard known as the Clavioline had been left behind in the studio. A forerunner to the analog synthesizer, the Clavioline was an early attempt to mimic the sound of orchestral instruments electronically. It had previously been used as a lead instrument on tracks like Del Shannon’s 1961 hit “Runaway” and the Tornados’ 1962 smash “Telstar.” In John Lennon’s hands, it would contribute a snaking, Indian-style drone to “Baby, You’re a Rich Man.”

“If you can imagine, we’ve cut the track and it’s coming along really nicely,” Kramer says. “I think John wandered into the studio and said, ‘Oy, what’s this?’ And there on a table is the Clavioline. So we hooked it up and he started fooling around with it. And he says, ‘Okay, that’s what I want.’ So we stuck a mic in front of the amp, and he was done in a couple of takes.”

By the time the session ended at 3 a.m., “Baby, You’re a Rich Man” was recorded and mixed, making it one of the shortest and most productive sessions from this period of the Beatles’ studio work. “We were duty bound to make this thing really explode, and we did,” Kramer says. “It was an amazing track.”

The Beatles were clearly happy, as they returned to Olympic on June 14 to record the basic tracks for “All You Need Is Love,” the song they would perform on the global television special Our World on June 25.

Though the Beatles were scheduled to perform live on the program, George Martin wanted to record a basic track of the song, with instruments and vocals, as insurance in case technical problems, or nerves, sabotaged the live performance. Kramer says, “I got the call: ‘Eddie, the Beatles are coming back. You wanna do it?’ I said, ‘Yeah, lovely.’”

Once again, Martin served as producer for the session; this time, though, Eddie Kramer had been bumped up to the engineer’s seat, with George Chkiantz as second engineer.

“So they come in,” Kramer says, “and John plops down next to me at the producer’s desk and says, [mimicking Lennon’s Liverpudlian drawl] ‘Well, I guess we’ve got to do this song for TV then. And it goes like this: ‘All you need is love…’. And he’s playing the guitar and showing the lads how to do it. And then they all filed out into the studio, except for John, who stayed behind and sat next to me.”

Lennon asked Kramer to provide him with a microphone so that the others could hear him in the studio. “So I hooked up the talkback mic”—the microphone through which personnel in the control room speak with artists in the studio—“and patched it in such a way that it went directly to everybody’s headphones so he could sit in the control room and sing it,” Kramer says. “And so he basically sat next to me for the whole session, singing this song.”

Following overdubs at Abbey Road and additional parts recorded on the day of the Our World performance, “All You Need Is Love” was completed. The song was released as a single on July 7, 1967, with “Baby, You’re a Rich Man” on its flipside. In the U.S., the songs were released as a single and included on the album-length version of Magical Mystery Tour.

For Kramer, the sessions were exceptional moments in a memorable year during which he worked with some of the greatest stars in rock and roll. “They were so disarming and so great in the studio,” he says of the Beatles. “They were very targeted about what they’d come in to achieve. They were wonderful.”

On the morning of August 18, 1969, Jimi Hendrix stepped onto the stage at the Woodstock Music & Art Fair (better known as the Woodstock Festival) for what was to become a defining moment in rock history.

Hendrix, who was debuting a new band that weekend, ripped through powerful renditions of “Voodoo Child (Slight Return),” “Fire,” “Purple Haze” and “Foxey Lady,” not to mention his dramatic interpretation of “The Star Spangled Banner."

In celebration of what would have been Hendrix's 70th birthday (November 27), Hendrix 70: Live at Woodstock, a 2005 film originally released on DVD, is hitting movie theaters across the country on two specific dates: November 29 and December 4.

This theatrical presentation of the film features Hendrix's entire Woodstock performance plus a documentary featuring never-before-seen footage and interviews with bassist Billy Cox and drummer Mitch Mitchell, plus engineer Eddie Kramer and Woodstock Festival promoter Michael Lang.

The concert portion of the film features the original 16mm concert footage digitally restored with a new 5.1 audio surround mix by Kramer, who recorded the original Woodstock Festival.

Check out a trailer of the film below (plus a photo gallery), followed by a widget you can use to find out where and when the film is playing near you.

For more information and links to buy tickets to Hendrix 70: Live at Woodstock, visit jimihendrix.com or click here.

[[ Enter now to win a Fender Custom Shop 1969 Stratocaster in celebration of the theatrical release of 'Hendrix 70: Live at Woodstock'! ]]