Room Full Of Mirrors     7:55

Recorded: Record Plant, New York, April 21, 1969
Producer: Jimi Hendrix
Engineer: Gary Kellgren

Mixed By Eddie Kramer
Sear Sound, New York, September 30, 1999

Guitar, Vocals: Jimi Hendrix
Bass: Billy Cox
Drums: Unknown
Percussion: Unknown

Previously Unreleased Recording

With little time available to focus on developing new material, the Experience struggled to make progress on a follow-up to Electric Ladyland. The double album's enormous international success masked the dissension which had plagued the group in the recording studio. Beginning at TTG Studios in October 1968, through Olympic in February 1969, and Olmstead and Record Plant in April of that year, the Experience endeavored to make progress on a finished album. In the place of songs composed prior to entering the recording studio, jamming now became Hendrix's principal songwriting device. This strategy, however, ran contrary to Noel Redding's desire, as the bassist was particularly affected by the group's lack of progress and overall focus.

Despite the rising expense, Jimi was determined to continue recording. The studio increasingly became his personal refuge, allowing him to close out the world and focus on his music. No artist of Hendrix's era used the recording studio as a work space to write new material. The costs for such an exercise were considered too prohibitive and the atmosphere typically uninspiring. Jimi was undaunted by the financial costs. Even in the presence of his cadre of friends and hangers on, the Record Plant became the venue for his continued musical exploration.

Burdened with an exhaustive schedule of personal appearances, the tense relationship between Hendrix and bassist Noel Redding further deteriorated. Frustrated, Hendrix reached out to old friend Billy Cox, with whom he had served in the US Army and performed on the famed R&B "chitlin' circuit" prior to leaving for New York.

The bassist reunited with Hendrix backstage at an Experience concert in Memphis on April 18, 1969 and three days later joined him in the Record Plant. This exploration of "Room Full Of Mirrors" marked Cox's first session with Jimi. The two, joined by an unidentified drummer and percussionist roared through thirty one spirited takes in an effort to perfect one of Jimi's most promising new songs.

Featured here is take thirty-one. Recorded live in the studio, Jimi concluded the take with a wild, outlandish solo. His impish laugh at the close was answered in style with a Bronx cheer led by engineer Gary Kellgren inside the control room.

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