Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)

The title track to Jimi Hendrix's unparalleled Electric Ladyland album, this song paid off all bets as to whether Hendrix's talent was for real or not. As with many of his songs of the period, this was highly influenced by Curtis Mayfield's soul ballads of the mid-'60s with a distinctly blusey, psychedelic edge. This version, from The Jimi Hendrix Experience box set, is an instrumental work in progress, although Hendrix's fluid, octave-drenched guitar work is already clearly in evidence.