Is this box set worth the £50 price tag or is it purely for the die hard fans

Electric Ladyland - 50Th Anniversary Deluxe Edition Box set, Deluxe Edition, Import

I love the album but unsure whether or not to put this in my wishlist for Mrs Santa to order

Desire v Morality

Good question, Phil.

This is the box contents, I'm told:

6LP + blu-ray Deluxe 50th Anniversary box set £118.99
0R
3CD + blu-ray Deluxe 50th Anniversary box set £49.49
[https://www.normanrecords.com/]

The first CD features the album remastered by Bernie Grundman from the original analogue tapes. The second CD features ‘More Electric Ladyland: The Early Takes’, which presents 20 never before heard demos and studio outtakes.*
Some of these are intimate demos for song ideas Hendrix recorded himself on a reel-to-reel tape at the Drake Hotel, as well as early recording session takes featuring guest appearances from Buddy Miles, Stephen Stills and Al Kooper

The last CD features ‘The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Live At the Hollywood Bowl 9/14/68’ (a recently unearthed soundboard recording of a concert that took place just before the release of Electric Ladyland).

The blu-ray includes a 5.1 mix by Eddie Kramer, 24 bit/96 kz high resolution stereo audio and a full-length documentary, At Last… The Beginning: The Making of Electric Ladyland.

The set is in a large 48 page book containing Jimi’s handwritten lyrics, poem and instructions to his record label, as well as never before published photos from the recording sessions shot by Eddie Kramer.
Sadly, it doesn't seem to contain the original UK cover art, but we do get what we are told is Jimi's original intended cover [big and pic at the top].

* Not so! I possessed and was listening to all these recordings years ago.

Tracks:

CD 1 – Electric Ladyland remastered by Bernie Grundman
1. …And the Gods Made Love
2. Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)
3. Crosstown Traffic
4. Voodoo Chile
5. Little Miss Strange
6. Long Hot Summer Night
7. Come On (Let the Good Times Roll)
8. Gypsy Eyes
9. Burning of the Midnight Lamp
10. Rainy Day, Dream Away
11. 1983…(A Merman I Should Turn to Be)
12. Moon, Turn the Tides…Gently Gently Away
13. Still Raining, Still Dreaming
14. House Burning Down
15. All Along the Watchtower
16. Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

CD 2 – More Electric Ladyland: The Early Takes
1. 1983…(A Merman I Should Turn to Be)
2. Angel
3. Cherokee Mist
4. Hear My Train a Comin’
5. Voodoo Chile
6. Gypsy Eyes
7. Somewhere
8. Long Hot Summer Night
9. Long Hot Summer Night
10. Long Hot Summer Night
11. Snowballs at My Window
12. My Friend
13. At Last…The Beginning
14. Angel Caterina (1983)
15. Little Miss Strange
16. Long Hot Summer Night
17. Long Hot Summer Night
18. Rainy Day Dream Away
19. Rainy Day Shuffle
20. 1983…(A Merman I Should Turn to Be)

CD 3 – Jimi Hendrix Experience: Live At The Hollywood Bowl Sept. 14, 1968
1. Introduction
2. Are You Experienced?
3. Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
4. Red House
5. Foxey Lady
6. Fire
7. Hey Joe
8. Sunshine of Your Love
9. I Don’t Live Today
10. Little Wing
11. Star Spangled Banner
12. Purple Haze

Blu-ray

Electric Ladyland presented as:

Uncompressed LPCM Stereo 24b/96k
Uncompressed LPCM 5.1 Surround 24b/96k
DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround 24b/96k

Plus:

At Last… The Beginning: The Making of Electric Ladyland documentary


Here's my opinion, for what it's worth:
I don't think anything of Jimi's is worth a thing to anyone who's not a "die hard fan" as I feel it cannot be understood by anyone without that special connection.
To me, this box set along with all things Hendrix is priceless.
Will I be buying it?
No.
This is because:
a) Jimi's raison d'être was/is to raise levels of human consciousness with sound.
b) Jimi's whole existence was/is to make music for the Universe and to express our oneness in and with the Universe - not to make money. That's not to say he didn't like and enjoy the wealth and the benefits of worldly success. Of course he did!
c) The reason for this release is very different. The Hendrix Estate and all things Jimi has fallen into the hands of his greedy money worshipping half sister Janine.
d) Despite other's intentions and efforts, nobody can do anything remotely close to the way Jimi did/does things. A good example is the official release of Both Sides of the Sky. That's not what was in Jimi's head and heart at all!

So, will I be getting it?
Yes.
Not buying it though. If I had the skills and bravado of an expert thief, I would steal the physical box set from a big multinational company's shop. I don't, so I will aquire it from a fellow Hendrix 'fan' probably in digital format, hopefully including the full artwork, scanned with love to spread the pure joy of Jimi.
That, I feel, is what Jimi wants.
And the £50 not going to the Hendrix estate?
It'll go to a genuinely needy person or people.

Final comment for now is a quote:
"If I’m free, it’s because I’m always running. – Jimi Hendrix"

Just two things stopping me buying this. The price and the fact that I don't own a blu ray player. Else,I think it's a pretty worthy addition.

Hi Phil,
There's a lot of varied reviews on Amazon UK, some of them quite in depth here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Electric-Ladyland-50Th-Anniversary-Deluxe/dp/B07GGPT67F/ref=sr_1_47?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1542643906&sr=1-47&keywords=cd+box+set&refinements=p_n_binding_browse-bin%3A382528011

Mostly it seems to be the 5.1 audio blu-ray version that people are praising the most. So if you have the set up to play that, it might be worth it for that and the attractive looking book. I have a digipak 2 x disc set from some years ago that has the album (not remastered like here of course) and the same documentary on a DVD and that cost a tenner if that.

So you could arguably find parts of this cheaper in previous releases. I have not looked at the live recordings in depth on this set but there are an enormous number of them around, and I think I probably have those on CD that are included here.

I think it should be about the package as a whole. Looks like a nice set but opinions seem to be varied on Amazon. Not one I'll get myself I've got a couple of shelves full of live and studio Jimi and that'll do just nicely unless something previously undiscovered comes up of course.

PM:slightly_smiling_face: