1967 Studio Recordings
On the 17th of July and 8th of August 1967, for reasons never satisfactorily explained, Jimi returned to Studio "76". He did this despite of an ongoing breach of contract law suit that had been initiated by Ed Chalpin / PPX against both Jimi's US record label Reprise and his UK label Polydor / Track Records. Ed Chalpin insisted that he had Jimi under exclusive contract until 15 October 1968 and the court eventually ruled in his favor resulting in a settlement which allowed Chalpin to release the Curtis Knight studio recordings featuring Jimi Hendrix from 1965 - 1967. Additionally Jimi also had to deliver an album's worth of new recordings - which ended up being the Band of Gypsys LP released in 1970.
NO BUSINESS
On this page I refer a lot to the Dagger Records album No Business - The PPX Sessions Volume 2.
"NO BUSINESS" 2020 CD ISSUE
Originally a mail order only release on CD it has since been released (with fewer tracks) as a vinyl LP in connection with Record Store Day and it's also available for streaming on YouTube Music.
CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE
In this section I'll try to make sense of what was going on at the time of the two 1967 PPX sessions and how and why Jimi ended up at Studio "76".
Jimi gave a very detailed account of his side of the story in his "Examination Before Trial" given on the 7th of March 1968 in New York City. Unfortunately the available version of his statement has several pages missing and Curtis Knight gives a rather different account of the same events in his book Jimi, published in 1974. I think Curtis' book is highly unreliable as a lot of things in it are clearly untrue and he tries to present himself in the best possible light at the expense of accuracy. But some parts also do add to the story so I'll quote from both accounts here. Note that both original texts are much longer - I'm just picking out the parts that are most relevant to the 1967 PPX sessions.
Curtis and Jimi also both have problems with the sequence of events and both seem to mix the two sessions and different days up with each other (and Jimi indeed keeps repeating that he can't precisely remember what happened on which date). Curtis' book came out in 1974 and Jimi made his statements in 1968, much closer to the time of the sessions, so I consider Jimi's recollections to be more reliable for that reason as well.
Jimi did try to downplay some parts of the story and has occasionally (perhaps after he had been given advice by lawyers) forgotten some parts of it. But even with 50+ years of hindsight it seems that he answered the questions truthfully - to the best of his ability.
I have arranged Curtis' and Jimi's recollections in the sequence that I think the story actually unfolded. The Jimi Hendrix Experience had been playing gigs in New York City since 3 July 1967 and we can't be completely sure when Jimi and Curtis Knight were re-united for the first time as the available evidence doesn't quite fit together. But the story seems to start on 17th of July 1967, the Experience had played their last date with the Monkees at the Forest Hills Stadium in NYC the day before.
17 July 1967
Curtis Knight:
[...] Hendrix and his entourage checked into the more hospitable Gorham Hotel on West 55th Street between Avenue of the Americas and 7th Avenue.[...] Once ensconced in his Gorham suite, Jimi got in touch with me and asked me to come over to meet Noel and Mitch and have a long rap. [...] I was very sensitive, I admit, to the signs of prosperity—the atmosphere of prosperity—in Jimi's room. He had this dynamite portable record-player, which was unbelievably good and reeked of money, and he showed me all the far-out clothes he had brought over from England—great piles of silks and velvets, the likes of which had personally never seen. [...] 'Hey, Bro'' he said to me, putting his hand over his mouth —an old habit he hadn't lost in England, 'I want you to listen to these demos of songs I'm going to record. I'm really getting into something now.' [...] He put one of the demos on the record-player and as ever it was incredible music. I told him how much I liked it, commented on the marriage between the drums and the guitar, and said how amazing I thought it was to get such a full sound from just three pieces.
Curtis' account of the events continues with a long story about Jimi wanting to go and buy some records. According to Curtis Jimi realized that he didn't have any money and tried to get some from Michael Jeffery who said he couldn't give him any. Curtis continues:
[...] Jimi and I had to find him some spending money from somewhere. Ironically enough, I suggested that we should go round and see the man who was later to bring that court case—the man who had signed Jimi to a management and recording contract back in 1965; a contract which was still valid and which had been violated Jimi's secret departure to England— Ed Chalpin. It was a crazy situation. There was Jimi, angry and humiliated because his new management wouldn't give him any money, and we decided that the best place to go get some money was from the manager Jimi had deserted when he had quit New York City without a word the year before.
I called Ed Chalpin and Jimi spoke to him on the phone and Ed told him we should come right over. We went over to Ed's studio and Ed gave Jimi some money, and all he said was that the three of us should have dinner together later that evening.
'After all,' said Ed quietly, 'there are some things we have to discuss.' He was pretty good about the whole thing.
So we agreed to have dinner with Ed Chalpin that night, and in the meantime Jimi and I went to Colony Record Store, which was then located on the corner of 53rd Street and Broadway. [...] We went on into the record store, where Jimi proceeded to buy what seemed like every album in sight. We hung around there for a long time, listening to albums and talking about music. The vibe was great, it seemed to me. [...] We returned from the Colony Record Store, had dinner with Ed Chalpin, and then went into his studio for the recording session which produced, among many other tracks, Get that Feeling, which was the titled track of the Capitol album released in early 1968. The dinner was at a place called The Diner, which was open twenty-four hours a day and was located at the corner of 43rd Street and 11th Avenue in Manhattan.
Univibes #18 states that the Jimi Hendrix Experience moved from the Warwick to Hotel Gorham on the 22nd or 23rd of July 9 which contradicts Curtis' claim of meeting Jimi at Hotel Gorham on the 17th of July. We do know that Curtis indeed did meet Jimi at Hotel Gorham as they were photographed together standing at the entrance but this seems to have been a few days later on or around the 22nd of July. 10 So as Curtis mentions both the Warwick and Hotel Gorham he may just have incorrectly remembered meeting Jimi at Hotel Gorham on the 17th when in fact the band were still staying at the Warwick
The "atmosphere of prosperity" is questionable as at this point the Jimi Hendrix Experience had released two singles in the USA (and Curtis immediately contradicts himself with the story of Jimi not having any money).
If Jimi really did play a "demo" disc for Curtis then this may well have been the acetate record of an instrumental version of "The Stars That Play With Laughing Sam's Dice" which circulates among collectors. There are very few demo versions of any Hendrix songs from 1967 known to exist and Jimi was working on this track at the time and even used the riff from the song at the PPX sessions. Again, impossible to know what Jimi really played to Curtis at the / a hotel (if anything) but as food for though here's an acetate of "Burning Of The Midnight Lamp" and another of "Stars That Play With Laughing Sam's Dice", both cut by Regent Sound Studios, Inc. in New York City - and in the summer of 1967 one presumes.
The full name of the place that Curtis' mentions that they had dinner at, "The Diner", was the Market Diner in New York City and this indeed was located at the corner of 43rd Street and 11th Avenue (at 572 11th Avenue).
Comparing Curtis' memories of the day to Jimi's recollections shows that they roughly agree on what happened but not quite on where and exactly how it happened...
Jimi Hendrix:
[preceding page missing]
Q All right. You went up to the PPX studios?
A Yes.
Q At 1650 Broadway?
A Yes. So we stopped off to pick up Ed Gregory -- who is known as Bugs, sometimes -- so if I say Bugs -- we went over to their house, and we sat around and listened to records, and we had light conversat and discussed different equipments that we were using.
Q And then, what happened when you got up to the PPX studio?
A We banged on the door. There was like playing So we waited until it softened down before somebody let us in.
Q You were outside the door at the time?
A Yes, in the hallway.
Q What time of day was it?
A It must have been around -- oh, I don't know. I think it was in the evening; yes, it was in the evening.
About his and Jimi's visit at Colony Records Curtis writes, "We hung around there for a long time, listening to albums and talking about music". This seems to be partially correct, the hanging around and listening to music probably did happen but not at Colony Records. Jimi says about their visit to Ed "Bugs" Gregory's home on the way to the studio that they "sat around and listened to records" - I believe Curtis just remembers that this happened at the record store instead (which seems far less likely).
Curtis' story about meeting Jimi at the hotel and taking him to the studio probably is true, Jimi does state that it was Curtis who took him to the session. Jimi also gives his account of how the first sessions came about but unfortunately a page of his statement is missing so when the story picks up again we are already on the way to the studio. What is significant here however is that Jimi says "we stopped off to pick Ed Gregory". First off he says "we" and he says that "we" picked Ed Gregory up. Curtis says about the 8 August session that "Jimi got into my car" so it may well have been that Curtis drove to meet Jimi at Hotel Gorham on the 17th with his car, the two then picked up Ed Gregory along the way and drove to Studio "76".
Neither Jimi nor Curtis offer any explanation for the presence of Roselyn Morris and Toni Gregory (who both can be seen in the pictures taken at the session) but the logical explanation would be that Roselyn Morris came to the session together with Jimi and Toni Gregory with Ed "Bugs" Gregory.
Jimi Hendrix:
Q Rosalind might have been with you at the second session?
A No, I think at the first session.
David Sygall photographed Jimi at the Warwick in July 1967 11, unfortunately the available versions of the shots are small and fuzzy but we can see that Roselyn Morris is in the room, there is a pile of (freshly bought one presumes) LPs on the bed and a "dynamite portable record-player" on the table.
Curtis did meet Jimi at Colony Records but the circumstances seem to have been quite different to how Curtis describes them in his book. According to Jimi he visited Colony Records either after the 17 July or the 8 August session and that's when Curtis showed up. The following excerpt starts with the interviewer asking about the 8th of August.
Jimi Hendrix:
Q Did Ed Chalpin give you any money that night?
A No; they tried. I don't know if it was that night or the other night, you know.
Q They tried, but you refused?
A They tried to pay me $200.
Q But you refused?
A Right. They even had a check, and everything, and they tried.
As a matter of fact, the next day or soon after that, I was across the street, you know, buying some records in a store. And like Curtis and Ed was there and they was trying to give me a check.
And I said, "Man, I don't want it."
Q Why didn't you want the check?
A Because I had fun in doing what I did, like playing and all that.
Like I said before, The Beatles -- like for instance The Beatles don't ask The Stones for money when they're jamming around like that.
Colony Records was located at 1619 Broadway and Studio "76" at 1650 Broadway. From Jimi's account it doesn't seem like he actually went to Colony Records with Curtis and his story doesn't take place on the 17th of July like Curtis' version of events does - so exactly when Jimi & Curtis were at Colony Records remains unclear - it may not have happened before the studio session on the 17th of July like Curtis claims. It seems unlikely that Jimi would have wanted to stop off at a record shop along the way if he was on his way to meet an old friend and to jam at a studio - which he probably was planning to do as he took at least a bass guitar and a wah-wah pedal with him. In Jimi's version of events it seems that he and Curtis left the hotel, drove to see Ed Gregory and then the whole entourage drove to Studio "76".
I believe the Colony Records episode took place sometime after the first session on the 17th of July as the JHE went on tour immediately after the second PPX session on the 8th of August, literally the next day. So it's much less likely that Curtis & Ed would have caught Jimi shopping in August than a few days after the 17 July session.
8 August 1967
The events leading to the second 8th of August Studio "76" ´session are much more straightforward. Curtis seems to just have talked Jimi into coming to the studio again after a JHE gig and Jimi realizing very soon this time around that he should be somewhere else instead.
Jimi Hendrix:
Q After that July session at PPX did you go back to PPX in August of 1967?
A I believe so, yes.
Q Do you recall the date?
A (No response)
Q Was it August 8, 1967?
A I don't recall the exact date, you know; but I went back there.
Q Who was there when you got there?
A I can't remember.
Q Do you recall who you went there with?
A I went up there with Curtis.
Q About what time?
A (Continuing) With Curtis and somebody else.
Q Do you recall what time of the day it was?
A It was very late, because we played at this club. And as soon as we got out of the cab to go to the place that we was playing at, you know, Curtis -- I think it was Curtis or somebody -- approached me, kept asking me, you know, to come up to this session and, "We'll give $200."
He said something about making $200.
"Would you like to make $200?"
I said, "Doing what?"
He said, "Like recording."
So I didn't want no $200 to get paid $200 for no reason at all; plus I had other things to do. I was very busy, and I wanted to do other things, because we was going to leave the next morning, and I would be very tired.
So finally, at the end of the job that we [next page missing]
Curtis also describes the meeting at the club but again his recollections are very different.
Curtis Knight:
The night I remember in particular was the night of Jimi's press party where all the critics finally got to see The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
It was ironic that the owner of the club where the Experience played its début engagement in the US was the same man who had owned Ondines, where the Jimi Hendrix Curtis Knight Band had been booked and had played that first time Chas Chandler had heard Jimi play. Bradley, his name was.
8th of August when the Jimi Hendrix Experience played the Salvation was the official opening night of the new club (and not a press party for the JHE nor the bands US debut). The club was indeed owned by Bradley Pierce and Jerry Schatzberg (a photographer who also photographed the JHE).8 Curtis' book continues with a description of the concert. He says that he could see already during the gig the Jimi was not satisfied with Noel and Mitch and goes on to describe how Jimi tells them off backstage after the concert. Then the story picks up with them going to Studio "76".
Curtis Knight:
Anyway, by the time the group's début that night was over, and they had finished in the dressing-room, it was about 2.30 in the morning—and that was when Jimi decided we should do another recording session. He wanted to wake up Ed Chalpin and go back into the studio. He said there were some musical ideas that had come to him that day which he wanted to record with me.
So, still running at high-energy level after two dynamite sets played for all the writers and music businessmen, Jimi got into my car and we went to Ed Chalpin's apartment and got him out of bed. He opened up the studio and with him acting as engineer, Jimi and I spent the rest of the night recording.
After we finished, we went onto the Scene, which at that time was one of the favourite places where Jimi and I liked to go and jam, and saw the morning in from the club's basement, where you were always likely to see any pop star who was visiting the city
Jimi Hendrix:
Q Do you remember the names of any of the tunes that you recorded that night, the second time?
A The second time?
Q Yes, the August session.
A No.
Q Do you remember how many sides you recorded that night?
A Let's see; let me think.
If I can remember, I think we attempted to record one song that Curtis brought up, you know, and old song.
Q Do you know what it was called in its old version?
A No. I'm not sure. And it was so funny and diabolical in my own mind, that I just laughed. And I said, "What am I doing here anyway?"
Q What do you mean "funny and diabolical"?
A In my opinion. I mean everybody has different tasts in music, right? So in my opinion it was very funny. And we started laughing as we was playing along with it.
And then I said to myself, I mean, "What am I doing here?"
I just realized that I got to make it home, I got things to do.
GETTING THAT FEELING
The LP Get That Feeling, the first of many compilations of Curtis Knight material to come, was released by Capitol Records in December 1967. The album was assembled from recordings made in 1965 & 1967 for PPX and in 1966 for RSVP.
Jimi didn't mention Curtis Knight very often after the first Capitol LP came out but he did make a few comments which are quite revealing. The Get That Feeling LP was mentioned during an interview published in the 9 March 1968 issue of Rolling Stone:
"Curtis Knight album was from bits of tape they used from a jam session, bits of tape, tiny little confetti bits of tapes . . . it was done. Capitol never told us that they were going to release that crap. That’s the real drag about it. It shows exactly how some people in America are still not where it’s at, regardless. You don’t have no friend scenes, sometimes makes you wonder. That cat and I used to really be friends. Plus I was just at a jam session and here they just try to connive and cheat and use. It was really a bad scene. I knew Curtis Knight was recording, but listen, that was at a jam session."
So Jimi's main motivation for participating in the two 1967 PPX recording sessions seems to have been that he thought that he, Ed Chalpin and Curtis Knight were friends. Jimi may have thought that he'd pop in, have a jam, help out with a few studio tracks - the whole legal side of things could be taken care of by him lending Chalpin a hand on a few recordings. He clearly also thought that none of the jam session recordings would be issued in any form, in his mind jamming with his old friends was completely separate from any legal matters or "proper" recording sessions.
It's interesting that he told the Rolling Stone that he "knew Curtis Knight was recording". Listening to the recordings it's clear that Jimi was aware that in addition to the tracks that he recorded actual proper takes of he was indeed aware that the jam sessions were recorded as well. But in his mind the purpose of the jams and session recordings was quite different to what Ed Chalpin and Curtis Knight had in mind. As Jimi was in the habit (or later would be when he could afford it) of recording everything that he played on it may not have raised his suspicions at all that the jams were recorded - he would have done the same himself.
He did however have a different attitude towards the actual session takes of songs which also shows that he was well aware that he was being recorded and he knew in advance that the actual formal studio recordings were likely to be released. His cautious approach resulted in the infamous discussion recorded during the 8th of August 1967 session:
Curtis?:Jimi, have your solo...
Ed: Ready when you are [talks over Curtis].
Curtis?: ...one more verse.
[cut]
Ed: Ready to go.
Ed: Take one - "Gloomy Monday".
Jimi: [Hey?] dig, well eh, look you can't just you know like, if you use this [record sleeve?] well you can't try to put my name on the, err, thing like I'm ???
Curtis: No, no, no, hell no.
Jimi: No listen [??? no he can't do it though I ???]
Jimi: Okay?
Ed: You got ???
Jimi: Edward can you hear me?
Ed: I hear you.
Jimi: In other words you can't you know like, you can't use my name for none of this stuff alright?
Curtis [with his mic off]: Gloomy Monday.
Ed: I can't hear you loud enough ???
Curtis: ??? you can't use his name for any of this.
Ed: Oh, don't worry about it.
Jimi: No but can you... [laughs]
Ed: [laughs]
Jimi: No serious though, serious though, you know...
Ed: It's all ok, don't worry about it.
Jimi: Huh?
Ed: I won't use it, don't worry.
Jimi: ???, you know but, you know...
Ed: Yeah.
Jimi talked about Curtis Knight again during a taped interview with Gus Gossert recorded between 10-12 October 1968 at the Winterland Arena in San Francisco:
Gus :You [?] run with Curtis Knight for a while?
Jimi: Yeah yeah, you know, it's a scene. He's one of the cats that I used to play with. It's like there's millions of Curtis Knights around, you know. It's just that - they, you know they try to capitalize off our name which is very embarrassing because we don't think about in a [cut] that, you know, who wants to try to keep that up? Ah, you know because you waste so much time doing that you won't have time to really get your music together and that's what we's trying to do and then he comes around with this big, you know, scene, you know. And eh, half those manufac... hardly any of those tapes... that's why... that's why it's all settled now over here. Hardly any of those tapes I was playing on. There's one tape that I was playing about three seconds on, you know and they edit it, you know, and did this and did that and threw in the words here and there and then threw in my name [laughs] [?] so embarrassing.
Gus: Yeah the albums have you plastered all cross the front.
Jimi: Yeah well you know, that shows what happening right there, even our LP's don't go through all that scene.
Interestingly I don't think there are any quotes at all from Jimi that would mention Ed Chalpin? In the two interviews quoted above he only mentions Curtis Knight by name. It may be that he was hurt much more by the actions of Curtis Knight than by those of Ed Chalpin. Or could of course also be that he had been given legal advice to make absolutely no references to Chalpin whatsoever...
INSTRUMENTS PLAYED ON THE RECORDINGS
Practically all of the reliable date & personnel information about these 1967 sessions comes from Jimi's 7 March 1968 PPX court case examination. Unfortunately Jimi seems to occasionally (or most of the time) mix the two 1967 sessions up and several pages of the available transcript are missing so it's not always clear which one of the sessions he's talking about at any given moment. He says there was a guitar player, whose last name possibly was "Shears", present in at least one of the sessions and that he himself also played 12-string acoustic on occasion (though none of the available recordings seem to have any 12-string acoustic parts that would be recognizable as being played by Jimi).
Jimi maintains that he played bass and didn't do any overdubs during the 17 July 1967 session, though it seems that this is not entirely correct (and dependent on how one defines an overdub). The booklet of the CD issue of No Business on Dagger Records reproduced a tape box from a vocal overdub / mixing session for "Hush Now" and "Love Love". The reel is dated 31 July 1967 and the notes on it indicate that it`s a two track reel with the original instrumental jam session mixed in mono on one track and overdubbed vocals by Curtis Knight on the other track. You can't overdub tracks that haven't been recorded yet so assuming the date written on the reel box is correct then the two jams (both of which feature Jimi on guitar) must have been recorded 17 July 1967. 4 Also supporting the 17th of July recording date for "Hush Now" and "Love Love" is the fact that "Hush Now" is basically a jam around the riff of "The Stars That Play With Laughing Sam's Dice", recorded by the Jimi Hendrix Experience in New York City two days later during sessions on the 19th & 20th of July 1967.
And finally, the copyright registration for "Hush Now" is dated 9 August 1967. It would have been impossible for Chalpin & Knight in 1967 to first record the track with Jimi during the 8th of August session, compose lyrics, overdub a vocal and get the track registered on the 9th, just one day later. So "Hush Now" must have been recorded during the 17 July session, proving that Jimi did play guitar during both of the recording sessions, the 17th of July AND the 8th of August.
In the pictures from 1967 we however mainly see Jimi playing bass. There is just one shot of Jimi playing a guitar, a Gretch Corvette 6, taken on the 17th of July like all of the pictures from these sessions. In the photo Jimi is standing next to Curtis and holding the guitar but the picture is obviously posed: the guitar strap is not on Jimi's shoulder even though he is standing up and Curtis is clearly in the frame just so that he can have a photo taken of himself and Jimi together. The situation seems to have amused Jimi greatly - the guitar is plugged in though so Jimi may have actually been playing it just before the picture was taken.
So the Gretch Corvette might be the guitar that is heard on "Hush Now" and "Love, Love". Since Jimi brought a wah-wah pedal and a Hagstrom Hb-8 eight string bass to the session he may not have brought his own guitar. There is just one "regular" guitar to be seen in the pictures taken at the session - the Gretch Corvette. As far as I know there are no other known pictures of Jimi playing a Gretch Corvette so the guitar probably did not belong to Jimi. Then again Jimi may of course just as well have played another guitar on the recordings that simply wasn't photographed. But since there is no evidence to prove otherwise I'll assume that he plays the Gretch Corvette on "Hush Now" and "Love, Love" - unless of course someone out there has definite proof that he doesn't?
Curtis states in his book Jimi that Ed Chalpin engineered both of the 1967 PPX sessions. Mickey Lane is credited as the engineer in John McDermott's book Ultimate Hendrix, and while none of the original logs have been published for any of the multitrack tapes for either of the two 1967 recording sessions the 31 July 1967 mixing session tape log lists "M.L." as the engineer. Mickey Lane's brother Zal has stated that the Gretch Corvette belonged to Mickey and that Mickey "" - which of course doesn't mean that he necessarily engineered the original sessions but he was involved in some way with the 1967 sessions. 12
One also has to remember that Jimi was just having a bit of fun - "Hush Now" and "Love, Love" were just jams to him and Jimi didn't think that he was participating in a "serious" recording session. So he may just have played whichever instrument was handed to him. It's 100% certain that Chalpin and Knight would have wanted to record Jimi playing guitar so they may have just given him whatever guitar to play that was laying around if he had only brought a bass with him. If Mickey Lane indeed was the engineer for the sessions and the Gretch Corvette belonged to him then it's of course most likely that he lend the guitar to Jimi for use at the 17 July session.
The tape log also tells us that Ed & Curtis started work on overdubbing vocals on the jam tracks and preparing them for release right away, even before Jimi popped in at the studio for a second time. So when Jimi had his "you can't use my name" -discussion on the 8th of August both Ed Chalpin and Curtis Knight had already started to work on the recordings from the first session so that they could be released as Jimi Hendrix -songs...
The people present at the 17th of July session, as seen in the pictures, mostly match the instruments audible on the various tracks recorded. It is likely that the unknown person visible in the pictures is the guitar player that Jimi recalled was called "Shears" but this is unconfirmed as the full name or identity of "Shears" is not known.
Ad Tingle ID'd the odd looking instrument that "Shears" can be seen playing in the pictures from the 17th of July session. It's a Danelectro Bellzouki 12-string semi-hollow body electric guitar (model 7020). This is very likely the instrument that can be heard on the recordings and which Jimi referred to as a 12-string and said he also played during the course of the 1967 sessions. You can hear and see this model being played on YouTube:
About the 8 August 1967 session Jimi said that he repeatedly told Ed Chalpin that he can't use Jimi's name, again this is confirmed by available recordings. During this second session Jimi played guitar, "sometimes lead and I played sometimes melody and twelve string, I think, sometimes" 1. Although Jimi said that he also played the 12 string ie the Bellzouki himself it's hard to find a trace of this on the available recordings. It's always possible that his playing wasn't recorded or that he just remembered doing something that he didn't do. If someone can spot Jimi playing a Bellzouki on any of these recordings please do let me know.
And finally, during the original sessions based on Jimi's testimony and the available pictures Ed "Bugs" Gregory played bass and Ray Lucas played drums. Some parts were however later redone and overdubs added so a lot of the instrumentation on these recordings is open to discussion.
That Dick Rowe from Decca was present at the 17th of July session is unlikely to be a complete coincidence - the original purpose of the session on that day may have been to play the Curtis Knight recordings to Rowe as Chalpin was negotiating with Decca to get his tapes released. Unfortunately we do not know why "Shears" and Ray Lucas were at the studio. Were they summoned to jam or was there a session that they were participating in with Dick Rowe present - and if so then for what purpose?
CHOICE OF SONGS
We don't really know exactly what happened during the sessions at Studio "76" in July and August 1967 - and why. What follows is my attempt at piecing the story together and since there are huge gaps in the available information this includes a lot of speculation on my part. Perhaps someone can offer better explanations or point out errors in my reasoning - if you can then please do, it's all open to discussion.
Prior to the 17 July session Ed Chalpin and Curtis Knight probably had been assessing the 1965 Studio "76" -recordings already for some time. I don't believe that the recording of "No Business" just spontaneously happened during the 17 July session. "I Ain't Taking Care of No Business" was one of the songs that Curtis & Jimi had demoed in 1965 and which Jimi had actually written himself and signed a publishing contract for in 1966 - but it had never been properly recorded at the studio.
So it seems to me that the song would have been a very valuable track to have, an unreleased Hendrix composition - but there was no usable recording of it. One would think that was the motivation behind Chalpin & Knight getting Jimi to record a proper studio version of the song in 1967. One would apparently however be wrong it seems as once the song came out on the Get That Feeling LP a new copyright registration had been made for the song under the title "No Business" and sole writing credit had been given to Curtis Knight. I find this quite odd - of course Curtis benefited financially from being credited as the composer of the song but I would have expected that having a song actually composed by Hendrix on your LP would have been an even greater benefit PR wise.
When the next LP Flashing was released "Hornet's Nest" (a 1966 RSVP recording) was again credited solely to Curtis Knight even though the registered composers of the track were Jimmy Hendrix and Jerry Simon.
One explanation could be that "I Ain't Taking Care of No Business" had never previously been released on a record. If I understand correctly how US copyright laws would have worked in 1967 anyone could have released their own version of a song - provided the copyright holder had authorized an initial mechanical license for the song to be released in some form - ie it had already had its first release on record and wasn't an unreleased composition.
That's not the case with "I Ain't Taking Care of No Business", it had never been released on any kind of a record. The same may have applied to "Hornet's Nest" - it was released on a single but that single seems to have been released solely as a promo. So I am not sure the single would have been considered a "proper" release of the song authorized by the copyright holder. In which case Chalpin & Knight may just have solved the problem by registering these two titles as new songs written by Curtis Knight that they didn't need to ask for anybody's permission to use.
What I find even stranger than Ed Chalpin & Curtis Knight changing the composer credits is the fact that they were apparently never challenged over the credits. To my knowledge no-one ever demanded that the credits should be corrected - which I find very strange. I would have thought Jimi's management would have been able to force Capitol to take the LPs off the market when they contained Hendrix compositions that the label was not authorized to release and did not preperly credit to Jimi. It could of course be that they didn't know the songs had been composed by Jimi and Jimi didn't tell them...
"No Business" seems to have been recorded in just two takes, the master was announced as take two and no other takes have been released - take one may have been just a false start. So all of the musicians seem to already have been familiar with the song - otherwise it's hard to imagine a drummer and bass player who would have never heard the song and Jimi who had never played it together with them or even played the tune himself with anybody for two years to all get their parts right and the master take recorded on their second attempt? Compare that to "Gloomy Monday" from the 8 August session, a song that we have no record of prior to this session - we currently have four known takes "Gloomy Monday" with the early ones being quite shaky. So this suggest that either the band were already familiar with "I Ain't Taking Care of No Business" or that they listened to the 1965 demo and rehearsed the song before recording the 1967 studio version.
After the 17 July session Chalpin seems to have tried to get more out of the demo recordings, John McDermott of Experience Hendrix:
"[...] the 1965 demo was cut at the studio. It was done quickly and simply but it was among Ed's tapes. It was not a multi-track recording. In typical Chalpin fashion, he pulled it out in July 1967 (after the first JH return to Studio 76) and attempted to overdub studio instrumentation over it. The second session in August removed the need for such an attempt and he abandoned the idea. He now had sufficient material to compile at least two albums (by his standards)."]
So there seems to have been a clear logic behind recording "I Ain't Taking Care of No Business", what however complicates matters is the question of why "Ballad Of Jimmy" was re-recorded? The Squires had already recorded a studio version of the song with Jimi in 1966.
I believe that the reason behind the new version was that in July 1967 Chalpin didn't have the studio recording of the song in his possession, just the demo. "Ballad Of Jimmy" was among the batch of songs the Squires had in 1966 recorded for RSVP, not PPX, and on 17 July 1967 the master tapes for those RSVP-tracks still belonged to Jerry Simon. Ed Chalpin bought the 1966 RSVP masters (apart from "No Such Animal" and "Station Break" which seem to have been held back, either on purpose or by accident) from Jerry Simon circa 27 July 1967.
The timing here is interesting - why hadn't Chalpin bought the tapes earlier? It's of course possible that the negotiations may have taken a long time to complete. But I think it may also be possible that Chalpin didn't know (or remember) that Jerry Simon still had the tapes before Jimi visited Studio "76" on 17 July. He was probably aware that Jimi's contract with RSVP had been bought out by Michael Jeffery and Chas Chandler but he may not have been aware that Jerry Simon still had the master tapes? It's an interesting coincidence that just 10 days after Jimi dropped by his studio Chalpin had the 1966 tapes in his possession.
If he had known he was going to get the tapes all along why would Chalpin and Curtis have re-recorded "Ballad Of Jimmy" with Jimi instead of a different and new song to add to the catalog? There were several completely unrecorded tracks on the 1965 demo tape that they could have chosen.
Chalpin actually filed copyright registrations for several of the songs on the demo tape that hadn't been previously registered in around July / August 1967, a batch of three demo songs were registered on the 18th of August. Unfortunately the registration date doesn't tell use when Chalpin had filed the applications:
SUDDENLY; w & m Curtis Knight. 2 p.
© PPX Pub. Co., a div. of PPX
Enterprises, Inc.; 18Aug67; EU10728.
IN MY DREAMS; w & m Curtis Knight.
1 p. © PPX Pub. Co., a div. of
PPX Enterprises, Inc.; 18Aug67;
EU10729.
OOH-AH; w & m Jimi Hendrix & Curtis
Knight. 2 p. © PPX Pub. Co., a div .
of PPX Enterprises, Inc.; 18Aug67 ;
EU10730.
So with this in mind a very interesting question is when and why was the 1967 version of "Ballad Of Jimmy" actually recorded?
According to John McDermott at the time of the first 17 July 1967 session at Studio "76" Chalpin had not yet attempted to overdub the demo recordings. I believe what he might instead have decided to do was to record new versions of at least two of the songs on the demo tape, "Ballad Of Jimmy" and "I Ain't Taking Care of No Business".
If he didn't know that the 196 RSVP tapes were still in the possession of Jerry Simon then "Ballad Of Jimmy" and "I Ain't Taking Care of No Business" would probably have been the best two songs on the demo tape (for his purposes) to start with. "Ballad Of Jimmy" was a song ABOUT Jimi and "I Ain't Taking Care of No Business" was a song WRITTEN BY Jimi - and Chalpin didn't (at the time) have studio recordings of either.
The demo tape of course also had another Hendrix original (or co-composition) on it, "Ooh-Ah" (aka "Working All Day") but at least in my opinion "I Ain't Taking Care of No Business" is the better one of the two Hendrix-composed tracks and also the one with more commercial potential. Even though Chalpin did a lot of overdubbing and heavy editing everything that he released as Curtis Knight & Jimi Hendrix -recordings seems to have had some genuine involvement by Jimi. Chalpin didn't produce complete fakes, he just took A LOT of liberties as a producer. So he may have considered the origins and subject matter of the songs to be a good enough reason to record and release them even without any direct participation from Jimi?
Perhaps the fact that Jimi had already signed a publishing contract for "I Ain't Taking Care of No Business" was also significant - "Ooh-Ah" was an unpublished song so I'm not sure what Chalpin would legally have been entitled to do with it in 1967? In the end he didn't release any of the 1965 demo recordings until 1996 so there may have been some other obstacles to overcome apart from the poor sound quality. The rest of the original songs on the demo tape, "In My Dreams" (aka "Two Little Birds"), "Suddenly", "Better Times Ahead" and "Everybody Knew But Me" were probably all written by Curtis Knight and had stylistically very very little to do with anything that Jimi was doing in 1967. "Ballad Of Jimmy" also was a Curtis Knight composition, so they could re-record and release it without any legal problems.
But I am just speculating here. We don't know why Chalpin did what he did but it seems clear to me that there was some specific reason for him to get Curtis & Jimi to record these two particular tracks in 1967: "I Ain't Taking Care of No Business" and "Ballad Of Jimmy".
Chalpin may of course also have considered re-recording any number of the demo tracks but when Jimi participated in two new recording sessions for PPX and he got hold of the 196 RSVP masters there was plenty of material to recycle for years to come without the need to resort to age old unrecorded Curtis Knight -compositions.
But back to the 1967 version of "Ballad Of Jimmy". Jimi's wah-wah -guitar part on the 1967 "Ballad Of Jimmy" is very simple, Jimi is basically just filling empty space with his guitar playing. To my ears it does not sound like he would have been playing "live" with the rest of the band, his guitar part sounds like an overdub. So exactly what was his involvement in the recording of the "Ballad Of Jimmy" remake?
All through the "Examination Before Trial" Jimi seems to be very confused about basically everything. Some of it may have been him deliberately avoiding giving straight answers but some of his replies are probably quite truthful - more than six months later he just doesn't remember all of the detail that was of no importance to him at the time of these sessions.To quote Jimi himself "I think -- you know, I'm getting these two mixed up."
Whatever the reason one has to try hard to understand what he's actually trying to say most of the time and this especially applies to making overdubs.
Jimi Hendrix:
Q Did Mr Chalpin or any other person in the studio ever play back any of the tapes of that recording that was being made that day in July?
A Yes.
Q Did you over-dub on them?
A Over-dub on the tapes we made that day?
Q Yes.
A Not that I know of, no.
Q Did you play along with the tapes as they were being played back to you?
A Maybe in the thing of jamming. But as far as, you know, actually playing them back, playing over on top of them, no. I don't remember doing that intentionally, no.
Q Did you ever hear any playbacks of any overdub on that tape? In other words, while you were there on that day --
A Yes.
Q -- you might have played along with the tapes that were being played back to you, right?
A No, I don't remember doing that at all. I don't think I did.
Q Do you remember that after having it played back to you, hearing yourself rerecorded over the original tape?
A No.
Q You don't remember that?
A In other words, you're trying to say I over-dubbed something that I did?
Q Yes.
A You mean like I played something, and say fifteen minutes later I came back and over-dubbed on that same tape?
Q Yes.
A No, not that I know of. There was one time that Curtis started playing this song -- I think it was No Business --- and like he was playing an old version of it, some demo version or something, I don't know. And we were playing with it. But that old version was made like, you know, a while back.
Q So that you over-dubbed on the old version of No Business?
A Well, I mean we were sitting up there and laughing, you know, and playing and laughing and joking; but we were playing.
The interviewer is clearly trying to get Jimi to admit that he did in fact do an overdub or overdubs, and Jimi is trying to avoid admitting that he did an overdub by insisting that he didn't overdub any of the recording made that night but instead says that he overdubbed a pre-existing recording: "There was one time that Curtis started playing this song -- I think it was No Business --- and like he was playing an old version of it, some demo version or something, I don't know. And we were playing with it".
The problem with Jimi's answers is that they don't make much sense at all. We don't have a recording of him playing "with" an old studio version of "No Business" as such a thing doesn't exist. He didn't overdub the 1965 demo version either and the 1967 studio version doesn't sync up with the 1965 demo so it wasn't recorded on top of the old demo.
"Ballad Of Jimmy" sticks out from the other tracks, it's not just a jam but nor does it sound like a track that Jimi would have recorded "live" with other musicians either. "No Business" is most likely a "live" track recorded in one take, especially clear if you listen to the mix released on the Dagger Records No Business album, "Ballad Of Jimmy" sounds very different.
I believe all of this makes sense if Jimi when answering questions actually misremembered the song that he's referring to. He says "I think it was No Business" - I believe that the song he probably actually was talking about is "Ballad Of Jimmy".
First of all he would have recognized the 1965 demo version of "No Business" aka "I Ain't Taking Care of No Business" as he wrote the song himself and recorded it with Curtis. He wouldn't refer to it as "some demo version or something, I don't know". BUT if what Curtis actually played to him instead was a new version / backing track for "Ballad Of Jimmy", the recording of which Jimi had not participated in - in that case he would recognize the song but NOT the version of it that was played back to him.
His description of playing "along" (or in other words overdubbing) "Maybe in the thing of jamming" fits the 1967 recording of "Ballad Of Jimmy" perfectly. Jimi doesn't seem to play anything else on the track apart from the wah-wah guitar part - and that is clearly an overdub. And it isn't his usual careful overdub work either, it indeed sounds like him just playing along. So I believe that Curtis either had an old recording or "Ballad Of Jimmy", recorded without Jimi, or the band had just recently around July 1967 cut a new version of it - whatever it's origin this is the version that Jimi overdubbed a wah-wah part on. That's why he didn't recognize the version of the song and that's why he continuously denied overdubbing any of the 1967 recordings that he himself had recorded - because he didn't. Like he said he jammed along "some demo version or something" and the way that Jimi understood overdubbing (at least during this court case...) was that he would have first recorded a part himself and then dubbed another part on top of it.
Also, if one believes the theory that when Jimi said "No Business" when he actually meant "Ballad Of Jimmy" his reply here fits perfectly (the total amount of tracks recorded that is, not the way they were split over the two sessions...):
Q Do you know how many sides you recorded that day?
A I recorded, counting the over-dub, like it was three sides
So the songs proper that Jimi actually recorded in 1967 (as opposed to jams that were later turned into songs by Chalpin) included "No Business", "Gloomy Monday" and a wah-wah overdub on an existing recording of "Ballad Of Jimmy" = three sides.
Though of course Jimi claims he recorded the three sides on 17 July but he seems to have been completely incapable of remembering what he did on which day.
Jimi also describes in his court deposition a track that was recorded on the 8th of August 1967, referring to it as "an old song" and "so funny and so diabolical" 1. This can really only mean "Ballad Of Jimmy" but again he probably is talking about the 17 July session and not the 8 August session as I don't think his description fits "Gloomy Monday" at all.
It's also hard for me to see any logic in Ed Chalpin & Curtis Knight insisting Jimi overdubbing wah-wah on "Ballad Of Jimmy" on 8th of August when Chalpin had already obtained the 1966 master recording of "Ballad Of Jimmy" on 27 July? Surely they (again) would have used the opportunity to get some new material instead of another version of the same existing song. So I think it's most likely that the wah-wah overdub on "Ballad Of Jimmy" was done at the 17 July session. This is also supported by the use of the wah-wah pedal, Jimi used it for the jams on the 17 July but does not seem to have used it for the recording of "Gloomy Monday" on 8 August.
I am well aware that I'm now ignoring a lot of things that Jimi said during his trial examination but his recollections are a contradictory and confusing mess - I do believe he recalls the actual events correctly, he just can't remember the sequence of events. His descriptions of what tracks he worked on during which session and which instruments be played at what date do not add up at all.
So by taking the gist of things that he actually said but not trusting his memory on the specific dates and songs that he talked about (which he himself said several times he can't remember correctly) Jimi's statements start to make much more sense.
So that was a long piece of text detailing what evidence there is and what I've been speculating myself based on that evidence. What follows next is a summary of what I currently believe was recorded during each one of the two sessions and info listings for all of the individual tracks.
FIRST Session 17 JuLY 1967
Jimi is invited / turns up at the session as a surprise guest. He's driven to the studio by Curtis Knight together with Roselyn Morris, Toni Gregory and Ed "Bugs" Gregory. That this indeed was a surprise visit is probably proven by one of the unpublished shots that was included in the booklet of the album No Business. It's a picture taken from the control room and in it we can see what probably is a box for a Kodak Instamatic camera. Most likely when Jimi dropped by Chalpin realized that he had to capture the moment, either for PR purposes or for use in the courtroom - or both. So he or someone else went out and bought a camera so that pictures could be taken - which is probably why we have photos of the 17 July 1967 session.
Dick Rowe of Decca was already at the studio as (apparently) were "Shears" and Ray Lucas. The session that Jimi dropped in may very well have been about working on the old Curtis Knight & Jimi recordings - or pitching them to Decca which would explain the presence of Dick Rowe. It may even have been that someone told Jimi about the purpose of the session and that's one reason that he turned up - but that's just my speculation. Be that as it may it seems that the band was immediately ready to cut "No Business" and the pictures from the session show Curtis with notepaper in his hands and recording a vocal.
The mix of "No Business" released on the album No Business also gives the impression that the song was done very fast, if I'm hearing the announcement from the control room correctly (and the introduction has not been edited in) then the master take was take two.
Either before or after recording "No Business" there were jam sessions with at least Jimi, possibly others as well, swapping instruments.
I believe the following songs were recorded at the 17th of July session. I've already explained my reasoning for "Hush Now", "Love, Love" and "Ballad Of Jimmy" (overdub only) originating from this date, on the rest of the tracks ie "No Business" and the jams Jimi is playing bass (as can be seen in the pictures from the session) and no jamming seems to have taken place during the 8 August session at all:
[Jam session starts with Jimi on guitar and without a vocal mic]
jam (aka "Hush Now" - incomplete take)
jam (aka "Hush Now")
jam (aka "Love, Love")
jam (aka "Happy Birthday" (in reality probably another take of "Love, Love"))
Ballad Of Jimmy (wah-wah overdub on an existing recording)
[Jimi switches to playing bass and by this point a vocal mic has been set up for him (as can be seen in the pictures from the session)]
jam (aka "Day Tripper / Future Trip / Flashing")
jam (aka "Get That Feeling")
jam (aka "Odd Ball")
No Business
It may seem like a lot of songs were recorded during the 17 July session but most of the "songs" that have been issued were originally just instrumental jams. The only "proper" song that Jimi recorded from scratch during this session seems to have been "No Business"."Ballad Of Jimmy" was probably an existing recording that Jimi overdubbed a wah-wah guitar part on.
A few weeks after the session Ed Chalpin by editing, overdubbing and adding vocals created "Get That Feeling", "Hush Now", "Love, Love" and "Happy Birthday" from the tapes of the instrumental jams. Some of the jams were not overdubbed but were instead edited and mixed into the instrumentals "Day Tripper", "Future Trip", "Flashing" and "Odd Ball".
So instead of one new track and an overdub on another - which was what Jimi thought he had recorded, a total of two tracks - this session produced around 10 new Jimi Hendrix & Curtis Knight -titles. Then add to that all of the different edits and mixes of these tracks and a few hours of jamming and recording resulted in 50+ years of releases and hundreds of albums that still keep coming out today.
Hush Now
(aka Level)
Composers: Jimi Hendrix, Curtis Knight
Producer: Ed Chalpin
Recorded at: Studio "76", New York City
Engineer: unknown
Date: 17 July 1967
Drums: Ray Lucas
Guitar (with wah-wah): Jimi Hendrix
Guitar: Unknown
Bass: Ed "Bugs" Gregory
Vocals: Curtis Knight (1967 overdub)
Originally just an untitled jam the track was titled "Hush Now" when Curtis wrote and recorded vocals for it sometime between 17th of July and 31st of July 1967.
Take 1 - aka "Level"
Incomplete, only available as an instrumental mix titled "Level". Ed Chalpin can be heard talking from the control room at the start of the track but it's impossible to hear what he is saying
Take 2
Available both in instrumental and a vocal mixes (with vocals overdubbed by Curtis). This take is preceded by some studio chat on the CD/LP No Business (although there is a clear cut after the chat so it may or may not have actually preceded this take during the original session). Jimi`s voice is clearly recognizable but it`s very hard to make out what is being said even though the chat has clearly been amplified in the mix. I think the chat goes roughly like this:
Jimi: "Ok, play hard"
Jimi: "Ok, ready?"
Ed Chalpin? (from the control booth): "[Go ahead go ahead?]"
The chat is in mono, probably picked up by Jimi`s guitar amp mic? It would seem that there was no vocal mic near Jimi or Bugs at this point in the session? The pictures where Jimi is playing bass clearly show a microphone so the jams with Jimi playing guitar probably were recorded first after which Jimi switched to bass and a vocal mix was set up? Jimi's voice is very clear during the chat preceding "I Ain't Taking Care of No Business" when he was playing fuzz bass. This theory is also supported by the fact that there are no pictures of Jimi playing guitar from this session apart from the one posed shot of him and Curtis. So when he arrived at the studios he started out playing guitar, Chalpin sent someone out to buy a camera and by the time the camera arrived Jimi had switched to playing bass and a vocal mic had been set up for him?
The 1967 copyright registration 2:
HUSH NOW; w & m Curtis Knight. 1 p.
© PPX Pub. Co., a division of PPX
Enterprises, Inc.; 9Aug67; EU8976.
LEVEL; m Ed Chalpin. 1 p. © PPX Pub.
Co., a division of PPX Enterprises,
Inc.; 15Sep67; EU14697.
Love Love / Happy Birthday
Composer: Jimi Hendrix?
Producer: Ed Chalpin
Recorded at: Studio "76", New York City
Engineer: unknown
Date: 17 July 1967
Drums: Ray Lucas
Guitar: Jimi Hendrix
Tambourine: Curtis Knight?
Bass: Ed "Bugs" Gregory
Vocals: Curtis Knight (1967 overdub)
"Happy Birthday" is a completely manufactured song and has been assembled from two segments of Jimi's guitar playing taken from an otherwise unavailable jam (or jams). The two bits of guitar playing are very similar to the playing on the jam that was later retitled "Love, Love" - therefore I'm listing "Happy Birthday" together with "Love, Love" as the best guess is that the track was constructed either from another unheard take of "Love, Love" or perhaps some rehearsals for the jam.
There WERE two takes of the "Hush Now" jam and on the mix of "Love, Love" released on the Dagger Records cd No Business we can hear Jimi scatting the melody / arrangement of "Love, Love" to the other musicians before the band starts to play. So neither of these jams was completely spontaneous: for "Hush Now" Jimi used a riff from "The Stars That Play With Laughing Sam's Dice" and for "Love, Love" he also gave the other musicians a melody to play. So there was a structure to follow and at least in the case of "Hush Now" at least two takes were recorded.
All of which means that I find a scenario in which Chalpin could have hacked an otherwise unusable alternate recording of "Love, Love" into bits and constructed "Happy Birthday" from it to be quite believable.
The Get That Feeling Capitol LP version of "Happy Birthday" was assembled by using a segment of what sounds like the start of a different take of "Love, Love" which has been joined with another segment that sounds like it could have been taken from the latter part of an unreleased / unavailable take of the jam - and the second segment has been looped three times. New bass & drum overdubs have been added on top of the composite guitar part and Curtis has overdubbed a vocal part. This could very well be one of the tracks or THE track that Jimi mentioned in the interview quoted earlier: "There's one tape that I was playing about three seconds on, you know and they edit it, you know, and did this and did that and threw in the words here and there".
Take 1? - aka "Happy Birthday"
There is an almost instrumental mix of the track which still has faintly audible vocals but which only uses the first & second segments of the composite once each. So it's the version closest to the original recording that was used to construct "Happy Birthday" - though it is of course still incomplete and still has the later bass & drum overdubs. This was released on the LP Second Time Around (Astan 201018) as "Got To Have It"
Take 2?
Originally just an instrumental jam (probably untitled), this was titled "Love, Love" when Curtis Knight wrote and recorded a vocal part for it. Available in both vocal & instrumental mixes.
Like "Hush Now" this take is preceded by some studio chat on the CD/LP No Business:
Jimi: ??? go, B to E [scats].
[cut]
Unknown: ??? you go.
Jimi: Wanna try it one more time?
Unknown: Yeah. [very faint]
Jimi: [scats the melody]
Unknown: ???
Unknown: ???
Jimi: ??? no. Yeah ok here you go.
As with "Hush Now" the chat is quite faint and has been amplified in the mix so a vocal mic for Jimi probably hadn't been set up yet. The impression that this chat gives is that the version of the "Love, Love" jam that we have is a second run through as before the jam starts Jimi asks "wanna try it one more time?" It isn't absolute proof that there was an earlier take recorded but it does support the theory that there may have been another (possibly incomplete or inferior) take of "Love, Love" which was used to assemble "Happy Birthday".
The 1967 copyright registrations 2:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY; m Curtis Knight 2 p.
© PPX Pub. Co., a division of PPX
Enterprises, Inc.; 14Aug67; EU9709.
LOVE, LOVE; w & m Curtis Knight 1 p.
© PPX Pub. Co., a division of PPX
Enterprises, Inc.; 14Aug67;
EU10134.
Ballad Of Jimmy
(aka My Best Friend)
Composer: Curtis Knight?
Producer: Ed Chalpin
Recorded at: Studio "76", New York City
Engineer: unknown
Date (basic track): July 1967 or earlier?
Drums: Ray Lucas?
Acoustic guitar: Unknown
Guitar (with wah-wah): Jimi Hendrix (17 July 1967 overdub)
Danelectro Bellzouki: Shears?
Bass: Ed "Bugs" Gregory?
Fuzz bass: Unknown
Tambourine: Curtis Knight?
A 1967 re-recording of the song, first done by the Squires during the 1966 RSVP sessions. I believe that Jimi's wah-wah guitar part is an overdub done at the 17 July session. If you listen closely to Jimi's wah-wah part it's purely decorative, he's basically just strumming along, not playing together with the band in any way. So I don't think this guitar part was cut live, it sounds exactly like a quick overdub done on top of an existing backing track. I believe there was an existing backing track or finished new recording of "Ballad Of Jimmy" done without any participation from Jimi. Jimi was asked to add an overdub on it which seems to be his only audible contribution to this recording?
The 1966 recording session out-takes (as released on No Business) confirm that the track was originally recorded under the title "Ballad Of Jimmy". Two sets of lyrics / vocals for the 1967 version of the song exist - the original 1965 lyrics recorded in 1967 about Jimi stealing Curtis's girlfriend and dying in a car accident and the 1970 version with re-done lyrics cashing in on Jimi's death where Curtis tells us how Jimi supposedly foresaw his own demise.
The version with the new lyrics was released as a single all over the world in late 1970. A single released in Germany even included a "reproduction" Studio "76" tape log supposedly of the master tape of the original "Ballad Of Jimmy" recording session. It was offered as proof that Jimi foresaw his own death as the session date on the sheet was "9/18 1965" and the new lyrics included the line "five years this he said, he's not gone, he's just dead". 3
This claim is complete nonsense:
- Curtis Knight and Ed Chalpin stated on many many occasions that the first song Jimi recorded with Curtis Knight was "How Would You Feel" and the recording session took place on the 6th of October 1965, a day after Curtis and Jimi first met. So how would they have managed to record "Ballad Of Jimmy" on 18th of September 1965?
- the same tape log includes tracks recorded in 1967 such as "Hush Now" and "Happy Birthday" - so the 1965 date is clearly wrong
- the version with the original "car crash" -lyrics had already been released in 1968
The 1967 copyright registration 2:
THE BALLAD OF JIMI; w & m Curtis
Knight. 2 p. © PPX Pub. Co., a
division of PPX Enterprises, Inc.;
14Aug67; EU9708.
Day Tripper / Future Trip / Flashing
Composer ("Day Tripper"): John Lennon, Paul McCartney
Composer ("Future Trip / Flashing"): unknown
Producer: Ed Chalpin
Recorded at: Studio "76", New York City
Engineer: unknown
Date: 17 July 1967
Drums: Ray Lucas
Fuzz bass: Jimi Hendrix
Danelectro Bellzouki: "Shears"
Bass: Ed "Bugs" Gregory
Tambourine: Curtis Knight?
Vocals: Curtis Knight (1967 overdub)
A long jam mainly based on the "Day Tripper" -riff, cut in three pieces for the various LP releases, hence the three different titles. Available in both vocal & instrumental mixes. The longest available recording seems to be complete, the end fades out but it sounds like the band stopped playing at that point.
Here are the 1967 copyright registrations 2, there of course is no registration available for "Day Tripper" as it was an already existing Beatles song. The Ed Chalpin writing credits for the music of the two other tracks are "questionable":
FUTURE TRIP; w & m Ed Chalpin. 2 p.
© PPX Pub. Co., a division of PPX
Enterprises, Inc.; 12Sep67; EU14244
FLASHING; m Ed Chalpin. 1 p. © PPX
Pub. Co., a division of PPX Enter-
prises, Inc.; 12Sep67 ; EU14245.
I'm guessing that the title "Future Trip" refers to Curtis' lyrics / vocals as he starts the track by declaring "nineteensixtyeight" even though the track was recorded and copyrighted in 1967?
GET THAT FEELING
Composers: Curtis Knight, Edward Gregory
Producer: Ed Chalpin
Recorded at: Studio "76", New York City
Engineer: unknown
Date: 17 July 1967
Drums: Ray Lucas
Danelectro Bellzouki: "Shears"
Fuzz bass: Jimi Hendrix
Bass: Ed "Bugs" Gregory
Vocals: Curtis Knight (1967 overdub)
Available in various mixes, both vocal & instrumental. A complete mix of the whole jam has however never been released. The most complete version that can be edited together from different edits and mixes runs for 10.44 and it still has an edit at 10.32 and fades out.
The 1967 copyright registration 2:
GET THAT FEELING; w Curtis Knight, m
Edward Gregory. 2p . © PPX Pub .
Co., a division of PPX Enterprises,
Inc.; 14Aug67; EU9706.
Ed Gregory's writing credit here may have been a way of giving him compensation for playing on the album as it's mainly Jimi's fuzz bass that's driving the jam. The writing credits for most of the 1967 recordings are questionable as most of the recordings were just jams that Chalpin & Knight later reworked into songs, "Get That Feeling" being a very good example of that approach. However, there is a segment in Jimi's statement that may refer to this track and Ed Gregory's writing credit - unfortunately the preceding page is missing so it 's not possible to tell for sure what is being discussed. The conversation may however have been about "Get That Feeling":
[preceding page missing] the writer's credit on this record"?
A Yes, you know; yes, he can take the writer's credit on it because he was there. Actually, he was the one that gave me the idea of playing a certain line.
The reason that I think that this conversation may have been about the song "Get That Feeling" is that it's the only track on the Get That Feeling LP that hasn't been credited solely to Curtis Knight. But since the start of the conversation is missing it's impossible to say for sure..
Odd Ball
Composer: Unknown
Producer: Ed Chalpin
Recorded at: Studio "76", New York City
Engineer: unknown
Date: 17 July 1967
Drums: Ray Lucas
Danelectro Bellzouki: "Shears"
Fuzz bass: Jimi Hendrix
Bass: Ed "Bugs" Gregory
Only available as an instrumental mix. The last part of the jam, led by "Shears", sounds like an existing song but I can't recognize the tune that the band is playing. The available recording sounds like an incomplete / end segment of a longer jam as it cuts in with the band already playing.
The 1967 copyright registration 2:
ODD BALL; m Ed Chalpin. 1 p. © PPX
Pub. Co., a division of PPX Enter-
prises, Inc.; 15Sep67; EU14698.
I Ain't Taking Care of No Business
(aka No Business)
Composer: Jimi Hendrix
Producer: Ed Chalpin
Recorded at: Studio "76", New York City
Engineer: unknown
Date: 17 July 1967
Drums: Ray Lucas
Danelectro Bellzouki: "Shears"
Fuzz bass: Jimi Hendrix
Bass: Ed "Bugs" Gregory
Vocals: Curtis Knight
A demo recording of the song had been made in 1965 (see Demo Recordings) and Jimi had signed a publishing contract with R.S.V.P. MUSIC, INC for the track "I Ain't Taking Care of No Business" on 30 March 1966. He's credited as the sole composer for the song. It however seems that Jimi & Curtis never cut a "proper" studio recording of the song in 1965 / 1966. This may be the reason why it was recorded in 1967.
The song is preceded by some talking (only available on the album No Business) with Ed in the booth and Jimi on the studio floor:
Ed: ??? Here we go. Take...
Jimi: What are you doing?
Ed: ...two. Jimi Hendrix.
Jimi can be heard talking quietly but very clearly. So at this point a proper vocal mic seems to have been set up. Curtis can be seen behind his own vocal mic in the pictures from the session and he can also be seen holding what looks like a writing pad (with lyrics?) so the shot may have been taken during the recording of "No Business", the only track that originally had vocals cut at this session. Experience Hendrix also included his vocals on the mix released on the album No Business so they seem to actually have been recorded during the session instead of being a later overdub
The 1967 copyright registration 2:
NO BUSINESS; m Curtis Knight. 1 p.
© PPX Pub. Co., a division of PPX
Enterprises, Inc.; 14Aug67; EU9707.
Available both in vocal & instrumental mixes.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience had recorded a song titled "Taking Care Of No Business" in London on 4 & 5 May 1967 but this was a complete rewrite by Jimi. He kept the track title and the theme of the song is exactly the same but the lyrics and music have been entirely re-written. 5
SECOND Session 8 AUGUST 1967
The personnel for this session seems a bit fuzzy. Jimi did state that Ed "Bugs" Gregory and Ray Lucas played at the session but he doesn't seem too sure about it. There also seems to have been an unnamed person singing harmony vocals at the session.
Gloomy Monday
Gloomy Monday
Gloomy Monday
Gloomy Monday (master take)
The track list for the second session is much shorter than the one for the first one and it seems that no jamming took place on the 8th of August. At the time of the 17th of July session Jimi was staying in New York City so he probably had plenty of time to hang around with old friends but the day following the second session, 9th of August, the Experience had a gig in Washington DC. Jimi seems to have lost interest in the session pretty fast after arriving at the studio.
Jimi Hendrix:
And then I said to myself, I mean, "What am I doing here?"
I just realized that I got to make it home, I got things to do.
Gloomy Monday
Composer: Curtis Knight?
Producer: Ed Chalpin
Recorded at: Studio "76", New York City
Engineer: unknown
Date: 8 August 1967
Drums: Ray Lucas?
Guitar: Jimi Hendrix
Bass: Ed "Bugs" Gregory?
Vocals: Curtis Knight
Harmony vocals: unknown
The band recorded multiple takes of the "Gloomy Monday" backing track. The take numbers are unconfirmed. We have a recording of Ed Chalpin announcing take 1 of "Gloomy Monday" on the studio talk back before the "you can't use my name" -conversation starts but whether the two takes that follow on the tape that we have really are takes 1 & 2 is unconfirmed. The vocals are clearly being cut live along with the basic track (guitar, bass & drums) but Curtis may of course have replaced some or all of these with new overdubs on the finished master.
You can listen to the conversation on YouTube, a transcript of the conversation follows but it's hard to hear everything that is being said - the studio talkback is very muffled and Curtis' mic is switched off during some of his comments. Also, the mix on the bootleg LP You Can't Use My Name (Rock Folders 2) is much clearer (and in wide stereo) than the near mono mix on the Experience Hendrix CD but it's incomplete:
Curtis?:Jimi, have your solo...
Ed: Ready when you are [talks over Curtis].
Curtis?: ...one more verse.
[cut]
Ed: Ready to go.
Ed: Take one - "Gloomy Monday".
Jimi: [Hey?] dig, well eh, look you can't just you know like, if you use this [record sleeve?] well you can't try to put my name on the, err, thing like I'm ???
Curtis: No, no, no, hell no.
Jimi: No listen [??? no he can't do it though I ???]
Jimi: Okay?
Ed: You got ???
Jimi: Edward can you hear me?
Ed: I hear you.
Jimi: In other words you can't you know like, you can't use my name for none of this stuff alright?
Curtis [with his mic off]: Gloomy Monday.
Ed: I can't hear you loud enough ???
Curtis: ??? you can't use his name for any of this.
Ed: Oh, don't worry about it.
Jimi: No but can you... [laughs]
Ed: [laughs]
Jimi: No serious though, serious though, you know...
Ed: It's all ok, don't worry about it.
Jimi: Huh?
Ed: I won't use it, don't worry.
Jimi: ???, you know but, you know...
Ed: Yeah.
Take 1?
This incomplete first take (?) was released on the bootleg LP You Can't Use My Name (Rock Folders 2). The take breaks down right after the "We'll go out" -middle section starts.
Take 2?
The second take (?) released on the bootleg LP You Can't Use My Name (Rock Folders 2).
Take (number ?)
This take was released on the Experience Hendrix CD/LP You Can't Use My Name. The take is just a basic track but interestingly it features harmony vocals which the previous two takes do not. It's unlikely that Curtis would have added a harmony vocal to a discarded take and the harmony singing does not sound like him either. So it seems that there was a second vocalist at the session as this take and the master take both feature harmony vocals.
Take (number ?)
This is the master take, several mixes exist, an "official" mix was included on the Experience Hendrix CD/LP No Business.
The 1967 copyright registration 2:
GLOOMY MONDAY; w & m Curtis Knight.
2 p. © PPX Pub. Co., a division of
PPX Enterprises, Inc.; 16Aug67 ;
EU10283.
Note that "Gloomy Monday" was the last 1967 track to be registered after the sessions and the only track with a 16 August 1967 registration date; several songs had been registered previously on 14 August 1967. Not definite proof by any stretch but does suggest that "Gloomy Monday" was a single track registered later and separately from the others.
And finally, though the two songs have basically nothing to do with each other musically or lyrically apart from a gloomy atmosphere the title "Gloomy Monday" may have been inspired by (probably the Billie Holiday version of) the song "Gloomy Sunday".
THE CAPITOL ALBUMS
The first LP of Curtis Knight recordings, compiled both from the old 1965-1966 and the new 1967 recordings, was Get That Feeling released by Capitol in December 1967. This was followed by a second LP, Flashing, released in 1968. Speed seems to have been the most important thing for Ed Chalpin. Instead of spending time working on the recordings for the best possible result Chalpin & Curtis seem to have thrown the songs together extremely quickly. The new "songs" were copyrighted just a few weeks after the sessions and the first releases came out in the UK in October 1967. So no time was wasted, very likely Chalpin's background and previous experience was his reason for doing this: he was in the business of doing cover songs of hits, not making artistic statements. He wanted to get the product out fast while the artists was hot, Jimi was a hit at the moment but from Chalpin's perspective there was no telling whether anyone would care anymore two months later. So he acted fast to make a profit when there was profit to be made. He also seems to have had a clear plan right from the start to quickly overdub and edit together two albums worth of songs and then negotiate licensing deals these albums and singles for the domestic market as well as internationally.
Get That Feeling was released both in mono and stereo, and all of the 1965-1966 recordings were remixed in true stereo.
The first release anywhere of any of the 1967 recordings would seem to be the UK single "Hush Now / Flashing" (London HL 10160) released on 20 October 1967.7 What's interesting to note is that at the time "Hush Now" seems to have been received very well by the UK press. 50+ years later with the background of these recordings known to pretty much everybody the general opinion may be very different but all the UK newspaper reviewes that I could find on newspapers.com were positive. Which gives an interesting insight into how "Hush Now" sounded to Capitol & Decca executives as well as the general public in 1967 who were listening to it for the first time without any idea about how the tracks had come to exist.
The Runcorn Guardian in Cheshire, England reviewed the "Hush Now" UK single in the 19 October 1967 issue:
"Jimi Hendrix and Curtis Knight:
"Hush Now"/"Flashing" (HL 10160).
This is a pounding mid-tempo beater. With a way-out guitar riff paving the way for a fiery vocal, the driving beat never lets up."
The Guardian Journal 21 October 1967:
Jimi Hendrix and Curtis Knight:
"Hush Now" (London). The origins of this track, and the earlier "How Would You Feel" are obscure, but I'm pretty sure they were recorded in America. Several further considerations confuse the issue: Knight sings like a cross between Hendrix and Dylan; Hendrix's guitar is very much in his recent style, with bags of footpedal flutter and wow. And I think Jimi's not on the flipside instrumental, "Flashback," at all. The songs is not particularly distinguished, but it's worth having for the slashing guitar which dominates throughout.
****
Widnes Weekly News 20 October 1967:
JIMI HENDRIX
... and Curtis Knight come up with some really incredible vocal and instrumental sounds on "Hush now", a power-packed single. It's a pounding mid-tempo beater, and with a way-out guitar riff paving the way for a fiery vocal, the driving beat never lets up. Exciting and progressive, "Hush now" possesses all the necessary ingredients to provide Jimi and Curtis with a resounding British hit (On London).
Liverpool Echo 21 October 1967:
Track records will be issuing the next single by the Jimi Hendrix Experience in the early part of November. On it will be another self-penned Hendrix sound storm entitled "Little Miss Love."
In the meantime, Decca's London label offers a pair of Jimi Hendrix-Curtis Knight tracks recorded several years ago in New York.
The main deck is "Hush now" which contains some fascinating guitar work coupled with a bluesy Dylan-flavoured vocal. It's a fairly interesting production but I guess most Hendrix experiences will prefer to wait for the up-to-date single in November.
Coventry Evening Telegraph 24 October 1967:
Old recordings by stars who have since hit the top rarely catch the bandwaggon. But "Hush Now" (London), an old track by Jimi Hendrix and Curtis Knight, is worth hearing. There's some doubt about who's responsible for the trance-like vocal; but that's certainly Jimi's guitar spitting fire.
Cash Box 28 October 1967:
"Int’l Negotiations Made
For New Hendrix Albums
NEW YORK—PPX Enterprises, producers for Jimi Hendrix, have announced the finalization of international negotiations for two new albums from the performer.
LP’s have been set with English Decca and London for world handling exclusive of the U.S., Canada, South and Central America and European countries to be covered by Teldec. Teldec has been contacted and is now negotiating with PPX concerning the albums. Scandinavian nations will be serviced by Swedish Decca."
Possibly the first release of any of the 1967 recordings came already at the end of October / start of November 1967:
Cash Box 4 November 1967 in the "CashBox Holland" -section:
"On the London label Phonogram rush-released the Jimi Hendrix/Curtis Knight recording “Hush Now,” originally made by PPX Records, USA. For all Jimi Hendrix fans in Holland this release came as a big surprise and it is expected to be a fast charts climber."
Cash Box 16 December 1967:
"Capitol Releases
Jimmi Hendrix LP
HOLLYWOOD—Capitol Records has acquired release rights to an album by Warner Bros./ Reprise guitarist Jimi Hendrix, according to an announcement by Voyle Gilmore, vice president of A&R at Capitol Records. The deal was negotiated with Ed Chalpin, president of PPX Enterprises, a New York-based production company.
In order to coincide with Capitol’s powerhouse overall Yule release, the label is unveiling “Get That Feeling,” featuring Jimi Hendrix playing and Curtis Knight singing, in “rush” fashion. The Hendrix-Knight album will be marketed with other Capitol top-line pop product like “Magical Mystery Tour” by the Beatles and “Wild Honey” by the Beach Boys, and multi-disk deluxe gift packages by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Jackie Gleason.
“Get That Feeling” was recorded by Hendrix and Knight in New York this summer. According to PPX, it will be issued by Decca in the U.K., Sweden, Germany and Japan, and by RCA in Argentina."
Ironically Get That Feeling landed in the bargain bins almost immediately after it's release, Cash Box 30 December 1967:
"Capitol, Manpower In Merchandising Tie-In
HOLLYWOOD—In order to augment its 1967 post-Christmas merchandising campaign, Capitol Records Distributing Corp. has tied in with Salespower, the marketing division of Manpower, Inc., according to an announcement by Brown Meggs, vice president and national merchandising manager of CRDC. According to the agreement, Salespower will make 1,000 complete point-of-purchase installations in 18 markets throughout the country in one day, December 26.
Catchword for the campaign is the slogan, “Day-Old Christmas Gifts at Low Prices.” Ready for distribution is a series of ad mats, for co-op newspaper advertising and featuring the latest in Capitol’s best selling albums —the Beatles’ “Magical Mystery Tour,” Jimi Hendrix’s “Get That Feeling” and the Beach Boys’ “Wild
Honey.”
In-store display and merchandising pieces include a step-down floor merchandiser and a window banner with a bedraggled Santa Claus staring tiredly at the Christmas gift copy. All of the point-of-purchase materials will promote the “day-old gifts” theme. Divider card titles read as follows: “Party Picker-Uppers,” “Left-Overs,” “Grab-Bag Goodies,” “Nifty and New” and “Year-End Specials.”"
Billboard 17 February 1968:
"Hendrix Loses Suit Vs. Cap.
LOS ANGELES — U.S. District Court Judge Charles M. Metzner ruled against Jimi Hendrix in the singer's attempt to have Capitol Records, Inc., temporarily enjoined from manufacturing or selling the recordings released by Capitol in the U. S. The suit was filed last month in the U. S. District Court in New York seeking a preliminary injunction restraining Capitol from selling or distributing any Hendrix recordings.
While he sided with Capitol by refusing the preliminary injunction, Judge Metzner did issue a temporary injunction prohibiting Capitol from further sale of "Get That Feeling" in the album jacket originally used.
The original jacket was, in the judge's opinion, possibly confusing to the consumer.
Voyle Gilmore, Capitol vice-president for a&r and creative services, said: "We are now in the process of designing a new album cover that will satisfy the requirements of Judge Metzner's opinion.""
With thanks to Doug Bell & Peter Strömbäck for help on the chat transcriptions and additions and suggestions and Pete Flynn for advice and opinions on gear and the guitar playing on the 1967 recordings (as I do not play any instrument myself...).
SOURCES:
1 Jimi's PPX court case "Examination Before Trial" given 7 March 1968 in New York City, partially reproduced in Univibes issue #35
2 Library of Congress Copyright Office
Catalog of Copyright Entries 1967 Music July-Dec 3D Ser Vol 21 Pt 5
3 the sheet of paper itself that the information has been written on is genuine. It is a generic session log sheet used by Studio "76", as confirmed by an identical authentic log sheet reproduced in the booklet for the 2020 "No Business" Dagger Records CD. The filled in information might also be genuine apart from the added date, but this clearly is NOT a log for an original 1965 master tape. Several of the tracks listed were recorded in 1967, so it`s at best a log for a 1967/1968 mixing session and in the worst case completely fabricated. The back of the sleeve of the 45 includes a long story (in German) about the song having the original 1965 lyrics (which it does not) that were censored because of drug references (which they weren`t) and that the included log sheet proves the recording date (which it doesn`t).
And finally, the log sheet includes notation of the instruments recorded on each track of the multitrack master tape. Two takes of "My Best Friend" aka "Ballad Of Jimmy" are listed and both are noted to include a "wow guitar" -track. Which clearly means a guitar part played with a wah-wah pedal, an effect that was not available in 1965 but which Jimi did use during the 1967 sessions. So the log sheet is definitely NOT a reproduction of an original log for a 1965 recording session.
4 The liner notes for the LP issue of No Business state ""Gloomy Monday," "Hush Now," and "Love, Love" recorded at Studio 76 on August 8, 1967". This can`t be correct for "Hush Now" and "Love Love" since they were being worked on at Studio "76" on 31 July 1967 according to a tape log reproduced in the liner notes of the same album.
5 with thanks to Len Pogost. According to the liner notes for the The Jimi Hendrix Experience -boxset released by Experience Hendrix in 2000 the 4 May 1967 session at Olympic Studios started with a solo take by Jimi followed by two rehearsal takes and finished with two formal numbered takes. Take two had a tambourine overdub by Mitch Mitchell added on 5 May and this is this master take which is included on the boxset. Hendrix collectors first got to hear the song on the bootleg CD Studio Haze which was released in 1993. That disc, however, was sourced from a leaked cassette tape of tracks which had been reworked by Chas Chandler (with the help of Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell) in 1987. Chas added a tuba overdub to the recording which works very well but was not present on the original tape.
6 with thanks to Pete Flynn for the guitar model ID.
7 demo copies of the single list the release date as "20-10-67" and the first UK newspaper reviews started to appear on 21 October 1967.
8 An article in the Sunday 6 August 1967 -issue of Daily News, "The Beautiful People" written by Christina Kirk, included the following:
"Another unlikely spot for the pretty people to congregate is Ondine, a store front discotheque located at the foot of the 59th St. bridge between an abandoned furniture store and an exterminating company. The decor is nautical (Ondine is a sea nymph), but the lightning is so dim that the 20-foot sailing boom over the bar is barely visible.
Everybody from A&P heir Huntington Hartford to the Rolling Stones find their way to Ondine by following the sound of raucous rock. Currently, Ondine is featuring a group of Long Island boys called No Deposit, No Returns.
Some of the "in crowd" have been drifting down to the Village to preview the Salvation, a new discotheque which opens officially next tuesday. It is co-owned by Bradley Pierce and Jerry Schatzberg, a top fashion photographer, and it is already attracting some of Jerry's beautiful subjects, such as the very social John Barry Ryan 3d and his wife Dee-Dee and editor Clay Felker and his actress wife, Pamela Tiffin."
9 Univibes #18, Day-To-Day Diary, page 19. No source for the quote from Noel is given but as Noel gets a "special thanks" at the end of the article the information about the date probably comes from his diary / manuscript which has often been quoted in Univibes
10 with thanks to Ben Valkhoff for the dating of the picture "On or around 22 July"
11 Ben Valkhoff dated these pictures to be from July 1967 in his book Eyewitness - The Illustrated Jimi Hendrix Concerts - 1966-1967
12 with thanks to Peter Strömbäck for pointing out the "M.L." initials in the tape log. Peter also found that Zal had posted a review of Get That Feeling on Amazon.com on the 5th of September 2022:
Zal is also active on at least one internet forum, Peter Strömbäck has been trying to get in touch with him.