The Complete BBC Radio Sessions 1967

Complete info text file by Prof. Stoned:

Jimi Hendrix Experience - The Complete BBC Radio Sessions 1967 ...and more! [A Prof. Stoned Comp 2020]
16bit/44.1khz CD Quality

01. Hey Joe
02. Rock Me Baby (incomplete)

Recorded: BBC Broadcasting House, Studio S2, London, UK; Monday 30 January 1967
Broadcast: BBC Radio 'Pop North'; 9 February 1967

01. 'A Brand New Sound' [Interview]
02. Hey Joe
03. Stone Free
04. Love or Confusion
05. Foxey Lady [Take 1] (incomplete)
06. Foxey Lady [Take 2]

Recorded: BBC Broadcasting House, Studio S2, London, UK; Monday 13 February 1967
Broadcast: BBC Radio 'Saturday Club'; Saturday 18 February 1967
Host: Brian Matthew
Producer: Bill Bebb
Engineer: Peter Harwood

01. Killing Floor
02. Fire
03. 'Electronic Excitement'
04. Purple Haze

Recorded: BBC Broadcasting House, Studio S2, London, UK; Tuesday 28 March 1967
Broadcast: BBC Radio 'Saturday Club'; Saturday 1 April 1967
Host: Brian Matthew
Producer: Bill Bebb
Engineers: Peter Harwood/Tony Wilson

01. 'Introducing the Experience' [Interview]
02. Burning of the Midnight Lamp
03. Hound Dog
04. Little Miss Lover
05. Catfish Blues
06. Driving South [Take 1]
07. Driving South [Take 2]
08. Jammin
09. I Was Made to Love Her
10. Ain't To Proud To Beg

Recorded: BBC Playhouse Theatre, London, UK; Friday 6 October 1967
Broadcast: BBC Radio 'Top Gear'; Sunday 15 October 1967
Hosts: Pete Drummond/Tommy Vance
Producer: Bernie Andrews
Engineer: Pete Ritzema

Note: Tr. 08-10 features Jimi, Noel & Stevie Wonder on drums (and faint vocals). The first take of Driving South is slightly edited. The complete version only exists as a poor off-air recording.

01. 'Alexis Korner Introduction'
02. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?
03. 'Rhythm and Blues World Service'
04. (I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man
05. 'Traveling with the Experience'
06. Driving South

Recorded: BBC Aeolian Hall, Studio 2, London, UK; Tuesday 17 October 1967
Broadcast: BBC World Service 'Rhythm And Blues'; Monday 13 November 1967
Host: Alexis Korner
Producer: Jeff Griffin
Engineer: Joe Young

01. Radio One
02. 'Interview with Tony Hall'
03. Spanish Castle Magic
04. Wait Until Tomorrow
05. Day Tripper
06. Hear My Train A Comin [Take 1]
07. Hear My Train A Comin [Take 2]

Recorded: BBC Playhouse Theatre, London, UK; Friday 15 December 1967
Broadcast: BBC Radio 'Top Gear'; 24 December 1967
Host: John Peel
Producer: Bernie Andrews
Engineer: Pete Ritzema

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Total time: 1h47m07s
All tracks are Mono

Audio Sources Supplied & Research by JWB
More research & Mastering: Prof Stoned

Source of information: Ken Garner - In Session Tonight (1993)

Note: The BBC have licensed their Hendrix recordings for two official releases: "Radio One" (1988) & "BBC Sessions" (1998). In both instances, 2nd generation tapes were sent and used, probably because the BBC has them on file as master recordings. These tape dubs were made back in the day and were subjected to heavy processing which included EQ, compression, stereo re-channeling and sometimes reverb. As a result, they have obvious lesser fidelity.

However, the original mono tapes of nearly all sessions (or at least quality copies thereof) still exist and were used for two early 90s BBC radio specials. The producer of these shows, Richard Skinner, has been the only one so far who cared enough to dig a little deeper in the vaults and he played nearly all material in uninterrupted form on his shows, which has allowed fans to hear the real deal on two rare Westwood 2CDs. So thanks to Mr. Skinner, this compilation rectifies the tape source problem for the most part and also restores whatever dialogue was cut. Plus, you get to hear the complete Stevie Wonder jam and a 6-minute interview.

Nearly all tracks here are sourced from a digital clone derived from the 1st generation mono mastertapes or BBC transcription disc*. However, a few sources remain sonically compromised:
01) 'Driving South' from the 1967-10-06 session & 'Hear My Train A Comin [Take 2]' which both come from processed 2nd generation tapes, the latter with additional reverb
02) the January 1967 session which was not archived by the BBC; it survives only as a partial but not completely awful off-air recording
03) the March 1967 session which has only survived on BBC transcription disc with heavily compressed/EQ'd sound.

I have carefully remastered every track in my mastering studio. Considering these are direct-to-mono recordings, it's no surprise the instrumental and tonal balances are often uneven and some work to make them shine is definitely required.

[* The whereabouts of 'Radio One' is actually unknown but it seems to be copy of the unprocessed 1st generation tape. It does not have the EQ/compression/reverb that can be heard on the 2nd generation source that's on the official albums.]

v1.0: 06-07-2020
v1.1: 15-07-2021 (Tr. 01-10 newly remastered, everything else is the same as v1.0)
v1.2: 23-10-2021 (audio unchanged, Info.text updated, flacs newly tagged & put in seperate folders)

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Sources:

- Hendrix At "The Beeb" (2◊CD, Comp, Transcription) Westwood One Radio Network ñ Show# 92-48 USA 1992 > all tracks minus the following:
- BBC Classic Tracks (2◊CD, Comp, Transcription) Westwood One, USA 1991 > Foxey Lady [Take 2] + Driving South [Take 1]
- BBC Radio (2xCDR, Comp) For Trade Only FTO 008-009 2004 > Purple Haze, 'Introducing the Experience', Radio One & 'Interview with Tony Hall'
- BBC DAT Masters (2xCDR) no label - 2007 > 'Traveling with the Experience', Driving South & Hear My Train A Comin [Take 2]
- 'off-air radio recording on reel to reel found at car boot sale' > Hey Joe & Rock Me Baby (both from January session)
- various BBC Transcriptions (used to fill out intro's/outro's) > For example: the last seconds of "Fire" are authentic here. The EH version was doctored; they used the final notes from Purple Haze to mask the incomplete source they used.

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***Bonus Material***

01. Manic Depression

1967-04-17 'Late Night Line Up'- BBC TV, London, UK

02. 'Intro by Pete Murray with false start'
03. Burning Of The Midnight Lamp [live vocal over pre-recorded backing track]

1967-08-24 'Top of the Pops' BBC TV, Lime Grove Studios, London, UK

Taken from the EH 2010 "BBC Sessions". Tr. 01 is from 2nd generation tape, while Tr. 02/03 appear to be an off-air recording. I only remastered the latter from this section because it sounds particularly harsh and distorted on the official release.

01. 'Introduction #1'
02. Foxey Lady
03. 'Introduction #2'
04. Catfish Blues
05. Purple Haze

1967-11-10, 'Hoepla' (TV Show), Vitus Studio, Bussum, Netherlands
Host: Roselie Peters
Producer: Wim van der Linden
Engineer: Adrie Ottenvanger

A clean mono soundboard recording that is somewhat overlooked. Tr. 02+04 have been sourced from the 1992 Univibes Fanclub release "Calling Long Distance", which despite its bootleggy content was sanctioned by Alan Douglas. All the rest comes from the bootleg "Live In Europe '66-'70" (2010, CD). Everything has been restored and remastered for optimal coherence. Catfish Blues has also been officially released on the 1994 album 'Blues' but appears in better quality here. Three takes of Purple Haze were attempted. This version is made up from the freak-out intro of take 1 (after which it breaks down) and the majority of take 3 but with a 30 fragment from take 2 which is absent on the former. Take 2 was broadcast at the time, while take 3 was intended for a future broadcast that never happened. Sadly, the film footage was wiped and no copy of it has survived.