Ref.: CBH / SPV SPV 085-44 682 / CRCL-4731
Date: 1996
(1) Compilation
[50]
Date: 1996
(1) Compilation
[50]
Lyrics
02. You Don't Want Me tracks
(Instrumental)
05. Wah Wah tracks
(Instrumental)
07. Mercy Lady Day tracks
(Instrumental)
09. My Best Friend tracks
(Instrumental)
11. Second Time Around tracks
(Instrumental)
Notes
Original folder name: jimi hendrix - ballad of jimi - the authentic ppx studio recordings vol. 3
---
The Authentic PPX Studio Recordings Vol.3: Ballad Of Jimi (CBH / SPV SPV 085-44 682 / 1996 / Ger / 1CD) ftbfs: A362
(Remastered Curtis Knight material 1965-67)
---
THE AUTHENTIC PPX STUDIO RECORDINGS VOL. 3: BALLAD OF JIMI / CD
(SPV 085-44682) (studio, 1965 and 1967)
---
THE COMPLETE PPX RECORDINGS (?) Germany
Get That Feeling/How Would You Feel/Hush Now/No Business/Simon Says/Gotta Have A New Dress/Strange Things/Welcome Home/Love, Love/Day Tripper/Gloomy Monday/Fool For You Baby/Don't Accuse Me/Hornet's Nest/Flashing/Oddball/Happy Birthday/UFO/You Don't Want Me (instrumental)/Better Times Ahead/Future Trip/Wah Wah (instrumental)/Everybody Knew But Me/Mercy Lady Day (instrumental)/If You Gonna Make A Fool Of Somebody/My Best Friend (instrumental)/Ballad Of Jimi/Second Time Around (instrumental)/Drivin' South (instrumental)/Ain't That Peculiar/I'll Be Doggone/I've Got A Sweet Little Angel/Bright Light, Big City/Get Out Of My Life Woman/Last Night (instrumental)/Sugar Pue Honey Bunch/What'd I Say/Shotgun/California Night (live)/Level (studio instrumental)/Feel Good (live)/Left Alone (live)/Knock Yourself Out (studio instrumental)/Something On Your Mind (live)/I Should've Quit You (live)/Hard Night (live instrumental)/I'm A Man (live)/Instrumental (studio)/On The Killing Floor (live)/Money (live)/Nobody Loves Me (live)/Love (studio instrumental)/You Got Me Running (live)/Mr. Pitiful (live)/Torture Me Honey (studio instrumental)/Sleepy Fate (studio instrumental)/Satisfaction (live)
Just about every Pre-Experience w/Curtis Knight track available. CD; 6-CD Set. +
---
The Authentic PPX Studio Recordings
Nippon Crown CRCL 4729 34
Released: 1999
Running Time: 31:20
This page is a Web-page version of a message sent by Ken Voss to the Hey Joe mailing list, Volume 19991119. It was originally published in Voodoo Child #43 Summer, 1997. It's put here with Ken Voss's permission.
THE COMPLETE & AUTHENTIC PPX STUDIO RECORDINGS...
In 1997, SPV Records in Germany released six volumes titled The Authentic PPX Studio Recordings. Now, here in 1999, Nippon Crown of Japan is offering that same set a 6CD box set as Jimi Hendrix: The Complete PPX Recordings (CRCL-4729-34).
During two studio sessions in 1965 and 1967, plus a live set at George's Club in Hackensack, New Jersey, Jimi Hendrix recorded tracks with Curtis Knight. Under contract to, and under the direction of producer Ed Chalpin, these studio sessions at PPX Studios in New York became infamous. Not only for being one of the earliest known studio sessions featuring Hendrix as a lead performer, but for the legal embattlement the sessions created.
The tapes have been released on various album combinations over three dozen times, as Chalpin continuously licenses them to record companies throughout the world. "As long as there are record companies who want to distribute this material in their market, I will license it to them accordingly," Chalpin once indicated, noting that each of those companies is only supposed to distribute the product in the country they are licensed.
But, according to CBH, the Knight material has never before been officially licensed on compact disc. That is, until now. Of course, we can document numerous pseudo-legitimate releases with some of the Hendrix- Knight material included, but certainly, this is the most comprehensive compilation of such material to date.
Chalpin has licensed the tapes to CBH Records in Germany. Engineers Kalle Trapp and Rainer Hansel went in and recut, re-edited and remastered the material into a six volume set. Some songs have been remixed, some mixed down to only include Jimi's guitar and vocals. Others have been completely re-edited, cut and spliced in such a way that choruses are repeated, verses are re-arranged, and guitar parts are extended. "Butchered," say some; "creative" argue others. Either way, we do get some new material. We get plenty of old material that's been cleaned up and made more presentable and listenable. And, we get the doctored tracks, which will always get challenged in the Hendrix circles.
Hopes ran high when news came of the official German release of The Authentic PPX Studio Recordings that maybe this time we'd have these Hendrix-Knight sessions presented in a sympathetic context with perhaps some detailed liner notes and new information to shed light on these sessions. Dream on!
Let's start with the liner notes, claiming these recordings are available for the first time on CD. Well, what about Historic Hendrix and Prologue, amongst others, which have been around for ages. The liner notes by Gitti Gulden may as well have been written by Chalpin himself as yet again we have a very rose-tinted version of events where he appears to be the innocent part who has been badly done to over the years.
The most interested part is the line-up details which lists: "Drums: Johnny Star. All other instruments played by Jimi Hendrix. Lead Vocals: Curtis Knight. Additional Vocals: Jimi Hendrix." Johnny Star's name has only appeared in historical references previously as a suggested engineer. Noted session drummer Bernard Purdie has made claim he was involved with some of these sessions. And, as far as Jimi playing all instruments on all the tracks, there's enough historical evidence to discount this statement as total rubbish. Even the photos included in some of the booklets show additional musicians in the studio.
In the original SPV releases, each disc comes with an eight page booklet. Graphic continuity brings this six volume set into a unified perspective. The six covers feature different photos from the Gered Mankowitz photo archives. Each inside cover features two different rare (some never before published) photos of Hendrix during the Curtis Knight period and sessions. On the Nippon Crown box set, the SPV covers are re-used on the individual discs. Each disc comes in a cardboard slipsleeve. A 16-page booklet, encapsulating the same pictures and text that appeared in the SPV releases, is included. The six discs are then encased in a thin cardboard "box", another Mankowitz shot used on the metallic-ink four-color cover.
Most of the material has been previously released on numerous titles, the German Astan and Babylon labels providing in vinyl versions the prominent portion of the material presented here.
THE AUTHENTIC PPX STUDIO RECORDINGS
VOL. 3: BALLAD OF JIMI
SPV 085-44682 CRCL-4731 TITLE RUNNING TIME
1 UFO 2:56
2 You Don't Want Me 3:04
3 Better Times Ahead 2:35
4 Future Trip 2:31
5 Wah Wah (Hush Now) 1:21
6 Everybody Knew But Me 1:35
7 Mercy Lady Day (Love Love) 8:39
8 If You Gonna Make A Fool Of Somebody 2:47
9 My Best Friend (Ballad of Jimi instr.) 2:31
10 Ballad of Jimi 2:28
11 Second Time Around (Get That Feeling) 9:09
For years, we've complained about the constant repackaging of the sessions Hendrix played with Curtis Knight in 1965 and 1967. Never did we realize there was actually more material. Here we get three new songs, with others offering new versions or different mixes of previously released material. Love it or not, the sessions with Curtis Knight were the first to truly show the emergence of Jimi Hendrix as a guitar player to take note of. It was the first sessions we really heard Jimi come to the forefront - his vocals, his licks, his independence.
The disc opens with a new version of "UFO" featuring Hendrix playing a Hagstrom bass backing Knight during their 7/67 recording session. Sounding more like a demo, featuring guitar and vocal only, it's different then the alternate vocal mix that first emerged on commercial vinyl releases such as Birth Of Success.
"You Don't Want Me" serves up a new mix. Curtis Knight's vocals have been removed from this mix, which is alleged that Jimi plays all the instruments.
"Better Times Ahead" is heard for the first time here, emerging from the 1965 session. Jimi's guitar licks are distinctive, as he provides background vocals to Knight's lead.
"Future Trip" is part of the "Day Tripper" medley from 1967 that originally appeared on Get That Feeling, this being a definitively improved mix.
"Wah Wah" is mistitled, actually "Hush Now" from the 1967 sessions. It appears to be an instrumental try-out which seems to cut off abruptly as if the band broke it off due to a mistake. It also has been spliced and edited, this version having appeared previously on the vinyl release Jimi Hendrix Instrumental (MFP) in England in the late 60s.
"Everybody Knew But Me" is another new song from the 1965 session. Here again, this mix is limited to Knight's vocals and Jimi's guitar.
Listed as "Mercy Lady Day", the next track is really "Love Love" from the 1967 session. This appears to be the mono instrumental mix that originally appeared on the album Second Time Around.
Again to the 1965 session for another new track - "If You Gonna Make A Fool Of Somebody" - again, this mix only giving us a Hendrix guitar and Knight vocal mix.
Two versions of "Ballad Of Jimi", an instrumental version titled "My Best Friend", give us a creative view of the emergence of this song. Both from the 1967 sessions, the first is an instrumental version with overdubs added that first appeared on My Best Friend. The second includes Knight's vocal track that can be originally found on The Great Jimi Hendrix In New York, similar to the Capitol release with a modified introduction, and lyrics sung instead of spoken.
The disc closes with "Get That Feeling", incorrectly titled as "Second Time Around"; this one being an instrumental version from the 1967 session, also found on The Great Jimi Hendrix In New York.
A series of six discs from the PPX sessions, this is actually a welcome new addition to the Hendrix collection. New vintage photos adorn the disc's jacket.
---
Ballad Of Jimi
The Authentic PPX Studio Recordings Vol. 3
CBH Records & SPV
Schallplatten SPV08544682 [German CD]
1996
Recently Released Curtis Knight Stuff
U.F.O., You Don't Want Me (Instrumental), Better Times Ahead, Future Trip, Hush Now (Instrumental) (not Wah Wah), Everybody Knew But Me, Love Love
(Instrumental) (not Mercy Lady Day), If You're Gonna Make A Fool Of Somebody,
The Ballad Of Jimi (Instrumental) (not My Best Friend), The Ballad Of Jimi, Get That Feeling (Instrumental) (not Second Time Around).
---
The Authentic PPX Studio Recordings Vol.3: Ballad Of Jimi (CBH / SPV SPV 085-44 682 / 1996 / Ger / 1CD) ftbfs: A362
(Remastered Curtis Knight material 1965-67)
---
THE AUTHENTIC PPX STUDIO RECORDINGS VOL. 3: BALLAD OF JIMI / CD
(SPV 085-44682) (studio, 1965 and 1967)
---
THE COMPLETE PPX RECORDINGS (?) Germany
Get That Feeling/How Would You Feel/Hush Now/No Business/Simon Says/Gotta Have A New Dress/Strange Things/Welcome Home/Love, Love/Day Tripper/Gloomy Monday/Fool For You Baby/Don't Accuse Me/Hornet's Nest/Flashing/Oddball/Happy Birthday/UFO/You Don't Want Me (instrumental)/Better Times Ahead/Future Trip/Wah Wah (instrumental)/Everybody Knew But Me/Mercy Lady Day (instrumental)/If You Gonna Make A Fool Of Somebody/My Best Friend (instrumental)/Ballad Of Jimi/Second Time Around (instrumental)/Drivin' South (instrumental)/Ain't That Peculiar/I'll Be Doggone/I've Got A Sweet Little Angel/Bright Light, Big City/Get Out Of My Life Woman/Last Night (instrumental)/Sugar Pue Honey Bunch/What'd I Say/Shotgun/California Night (live)/Level (studio instrumental)/Feel Good (live)/Left Alone (live)/Knock Yourself Out (studio instrumental)/Something On Your Mind (live)/I Should've Quit You (live)/Hard Night (live instrumental)/I'm A Man (live)/Instrumental (studio)/On The Killing Floor (live)/Money (live)/Nobody Loves Me (live)/Love (studio instrumental)/You Got Me Running (live)/Mr. Pitiful (live)/Torture Me Honey (studio instrumental)/Sleepy Fate (studio instrumental)/Satisfaction (live)
Just about every Pre-Experience w/Curtis Knight track available. CD; 6-CD Set. +
---
The Authentic PPX Studio Recordings
Nippon Crown CRCL 4729 34
Released: 1999
Running Time: 31:20
This page is a Web-page version of a message sent by Ken Voss to the Hey Joe mailing list, Volume 19991119. It was originally published in Voodoo Child #43 Summer, 1997. It's put here with Ken Voss's permission.
THE COMPLETE & AUTHENTIC PPX STUDIO RECORDINGS...
In 1997, SPV Records in Germany released six volumes titled The Authentic PPX Studio Recordings. Now, here in 1999, Nippon Crown of Japan is offering that same set a 6CD box set as Jimi Hendrix: The Complete PPX Recordings (CRCL-4729-34).
During two studio sessions in 1965 and 1967, plus a live set at George's Club in Hackensack, New Jersey, Jimi Hendrix recorded tracks with Curtis Knight. Under contract to, and under the direction of producer Ed Chalpin, these studio sessions at PPX Studios in New York became infamous. Not only for being one of the earliest known studio sessions featuring Hendrix as a lead performer, but for the legal embattlement the sessions created.
The tapes have been released on various album combinations over three dozen times, as Chalpin continuously licenses them to record companies throughout the world. "As long as there are record companies who want to distribute this material in their market, I will license it to them accordingly," Chalpin once indicated, noting that each of those companies is only supposed to distribute the product in the country they are licensed.
But, according to CBH, the Knight material has never before been officially licensed on compact disc. That is, until now. Of course, we can document numerous pseudo-legitimate releases with some of the Hendrix- Knight material included, but certainly, this is the most comprehensive compilation of such material to date.
Chalpin has licensed the tapes to CBH Records in Germany. Engineers Kalle Trapp and Rainer Hansel went in and recut, re-edited and remastered the material into a six volume set. Some songs have been remixed, some mixed down to only include Jimi's guitar and vocals. Others have been completely re-edited, cut and spliced in such a way that choruses are repeated, verses are re-arranged, and guitar parts are extended. "Butchered," say some; "creative" argue others. Either way, we do get some new material. We get plenty of old material that's been cleaned up and made more presentable and listenable. And, we get the doctored tracks, which will always get challenged in the Hendrix circles.
Hopes ran high when news came of the official German release of The Authentic PPX Studio Recordings that maybe this time we'd have these Hendrix-Knight sessions presented in a sympathetic context with perhaps some detailed liner notes and new information to shed light on these sessions. Dream on!
Let's start with the liner notes, claiming these recordings are available for the first time on CD. Well, what about Historic Hendrix and Prologue, amongst others, which have been around for ages. The liner notes by Gitti Gulden may as well have been written by Chalpin himself as yet again we have a very rose-tinted version of events where he appears to be the innocent part who has been badly done to over the years.
The most interested part is the line-up details which lists: "Drums: Johnny Star. All other instruments played by Jimi Hendrix. Lead Vocals: Curtis Knight. Additional Vocals: Jimi Hendrix." Johnny Star's name has only appeared in historical references previously as a suggested engineer. Noted session drummer Bernard Purdie has made claim he was involved with some of these sessions. And, as far as Jimi playing all instruments on all the tracks, there's enough historical evidence to discount this statement as total rubbish. Even the photos included in some of the booklets show additional musicians in the studio.
In the original SPV releases, each disc comes with an eight page booklet. Graphic continuity brings this six volume set into a unified perspective. The six covers feature different photos from the Gered Mankowitz photo archives. Each inside cover features two different rare (some never before published) photos of Hendrix during the Curtis Knight period and sessions. On the Nippon Crown box set, the SPV covers are re-used on the individual discs. Each disc comes in a cardboard slipsleeve. A 16-page booklet, encapsulating the same pictures and text that appeared in the SPV releases, is included. The six discs are then encased in a thin cardboard "box", another Mankowitz shot used on the metallic-ink four-color cover.
Most of the material has been previously released on numerous titles, the German Astan and Babylon labels providing in vinyl versions the prominent portion of the material presented here.
THE AUTHENTIC PPX STUDIO RECORDINGS
VOL. 3: BALLAD OF JIMI
SPV 085-44682 CRCL-4731 TITLE RUNNING TIME
1 UFO 2:56
2 You Don't Want Me 3:04
3 Better Times Ahead 2:35
4 Future Trip 2:31
5 Wah Wah (Hush Now) 1:21
6 Everybody Knew But Me 1:35
7 Mercy Lady Day (Love Love) 8:39
8 If You Gonna Make A Fool Of Somebody 2:47
9 My Best Friend (Ballad of Jimi instr.) 2:31
10 Ballad of Jimi 2:28
11 Second Time Around (Get That Feeling) 9:09
For years, we've complained about the constant repackaging of the sessions Hendrix played with Curtis Knight in 1965 and 1967. Never did we realize there was actually more material. Here we get three new songs, with others offering new versions or different mixes of previously released material. Love it or not, the sessions with Curtis Knight were the first to truly show the emergence of Jimi Hendrix as a guitar player to take note of. It was the first sessions we really heard Jimi come to the forefront - his vocals, his licks, his independence.
The disc opens with a new version of "UFO" featuring Hendrix playing a Hagstrom bass backing Knight during their 7/67 recording session. Sounding more like a demo, featuring guitar and vocal only, it's different then the alternate vocal mix that first emerged on commercial vinyl releases such as Birth Of Success.
"You Don't Want Me" serves up a new mix. Curtis Knight's vocals have been removed from this mix, which is alleged that Jimi plays all the instruments.
"Better Times Ahead" is heard for the first time here, emerging from the 1965 session. Jimi's guitar licks are distinctive, as he provides background vocals to Knight's lead.
"Future Trip" is part of the "Day Tripper" medley from 1967 that originally appeared on Get That Feeling, this being a definitively improved mix.
"Wah Wah" is mistitled, actually "Hush Now" from the 1967 sessions. It appears to be an instrumental try-out which seems to cut off abruptly as if the band broke it off due to a mistake. It also has been spliced and edited, this version having appeared previously on the vinyl release Jimi Hendrix Instrumental (MFP) in England in the late 60s.
"Everybody Knew But Me" is another new song from the 1965 session. Here again, this mix is limited to Knight's vocals and Jimi's guitar.
Listed as "Mercy Lady Day", the next track is really "Love Love" from the 1967 session. This appears to be the mono instrumental mix that originally appeared on the album Second Time Around.
Again to the 1965 session for another new track - "If You Gonna Make A Fool Of Somebody" - again, this mix only giving us a Hendrix guitar and Knight vocal mix.
Two versions of "Ballad Of Jimi", an instrumental version titled "My Best Friend", give us a creative view of the emergence of this song. Both from the 1967 sessions, the first is an instrumental version with overdubs added that first appeared on My Best Friend. The second includes Knight's vocal track that can be originally found on The Great Jimi Hendrix In New York, similar to the Capitol release with a modified introduction, and lyrics sung instead of spoken.
The disc closes with "Get That Feeling", incorrectly titled as "Second Time Around"; this one being an instrumental version from the 1967 session, also found on The Great Jimi Hendrix In New York.
A series of six discs from the PPX sessions, this is actually a welcome new addition to the Hendrix collection. New vintage photos adorn the disc's jacket.
---
Ballad Of Jimi
The Authentic PPX Studio Recordings Vol. 3
CBH Records & SPV
Schallplatten SPV08544682 [German CD]
1996
Recently Released Curtis Knight Stuff
U.F.O., You Don't Want Me (Instrumental), Better Times Ahead, Future Trip, Hush Now (Instrumental) (not Wah Wah), Everybody Knew But Me, Love Love
(Instrumental) (not Mercy Lady Day), If You're Gonna Make A Fool Of Somebody,
The Ballad Of Jimi (Instrumental) (not My Best Friend), The Ballad Of Jimi, Get That Feeling (Instrumental) (not Second Time Around).