Althouse: Jimi Hendrix's copy of Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited" has Jimi's blood on it.

April 6, 2018

Jimi Hendrix's copy of Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited" has Jimi's blood on it.

"In 1965, as a struggling musician in New York, Hendrix was already enough of a Dylan fan to spend his last money on this album. The Brook Street copy of this LP has Hendrix’s blood on its sleeve, after he cut his hand on a broken wine glass then picked up the album."

From "Inside Jimi Hendrix’s blood-spattered record collection." You can see the collection at the historic recreation of Hendrix’s apartment (AKA "flat) in Mayfair, London. At the link, to NME, there's a list of all the albums in the collection and some info about how well-worn they look, e.g., "Hendrix owned two copies of Handel’s ‘Messiah’, both of which show signs of wear and tear."

16 comments:

Ignorance is Bliss said...: Jimi Hendrix's copy of Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited" has Jimi's blood on it.

Should have been a copy of Blood on the Tracks.; 4/6/18, 7:36 AM
gilbar said...: i Just realized that US-61 connects (connected) Duluth with Memphis
Now i see what he was doing there!!!; 4/6/18, 8:03 AM
Jaq said...: Jimi is my personal guitar god. I know that sounds trite, but stuff is trite for a reason.; 4/6/18, 8:05 AM
Jaq said...: I love those kinds of insights, glibar.; 4/6/18, 8:06 AM
stevew said...: You and me both Tim. A few friends and I occasionally debate and argue over the top rock and blues guitarists. Aside: we saw Robin Trower the other night. We quibble about whether there is a top 10 or 25 or, as some say, 100. I argue that there is no meaningful distinction between numbers 11, 19, 37, and 50; so a top 10 it is. We never argue, however, about who is #1. That is and always will be Jimi.

-sw; 4/6/18, 8:42 AM
MadisonMan said...: You can take US 51 south from Madison to Memphis. I guess if I made an album I'd call it Highway 51 Revisited.; 4/6/18, 8:51 AM
AllenS said...: There are a lot of back roads to Memphis from Star Prairie WI. If I made an album I'd call it: Hi, could you tell me where I am?; 4/6/18, 9:31 AM
tcrosse said...: A Dylan album with Hendrix' blood on it is the sort of relic which could be used to cure tone-deafness in the faithful.; 4/6/18, 10:01 AM
Etienne said...: I suppose if you needed someone to hero worship, even over their collection of plastic discs, that a hippy guitar player is probably not going to cause as much damage to your health as trying to monetize youtube.; 4/6/18, 10:12 AM
Howard said...: Tim and sw: where does Clapton fall in? Personally, I think he's highly over-rated. I do like what he was able to do with Cream and Blind Faith, but as a solo/frontman, meh; 4/6/18, 10:52 AM
William said...: There have been several cases of barren women bearing healthy children after listening to this album.......I suppose this increases the value of this particular album astronomically, but I don't know if I would recommend it as a long term investment. I'm sure that Hendrix was a superb guitar player, but is that such a high water mark in human achievement. Anyway, the guitar looks like it's going the way of the clavichord. I don't think Hendrix will have the legs of Handel, and, frankly, Handel was no Bach..; 4/6/18, 10:58 AM
stevew said...: I like a lot of Eric Clapton's music and playing, but he's not in my top 10. Here are the characteristics I evaluate when deciding on a guitarist's place:

1. Technical ability
2. Innovation
3. Uniqueness of style
4. Emotion as conveyed through the playing

-sw; 4/6/18, 11:04 AM
Etienne said...: I liked Keith Richards simple stuff in the 60's. He didn't try to weird you out like Mick Taylor later, who sounded like he was in his own ditsy world. Brian Jones was still able to walk and talk and chew gum at that point. He also had a great (simple) guitar style, although he got bored of the guitar early on.

Simple Keith riff: 19th Nervous Breakdown

On that song, all Brian was doing was a little ditty on the top strings.; 4/6/18, 11:30 AM
Howard said...: The Stones are the best American band ever.; 4/6/18, 11:59 AM
Etienne said...: Howard said...The Stones are the best American band ever.

...best American negro band ever...; 4/6/18, 1:04 PM
Howard said...: exactly; 4/6/18, 6:44 PM