Music Arcades: Jimi Hendrix: Kiss the Sky

Going to school in 1978/79 there was an invisible cut-off point for 'current' music. It seemed then to be set about 1970: you could listen to Hunky Dory, early Elton John or even Deep Purple, along with The Police (who were briefly as current as you could be), Squeeze and Armed Forces. But anything older than that? No one had it, or played it. Including The Beatles. Gradually, with each passing year, the time horizon extended back a bit further. By 1981 my collection had expanded to include records from 1967, and by 1984 it reached back before I was born for the first time. Oh, and to the tenth century CE.

I mention this because kids today, they all know about Jimi Hendrix by the time they're ten. Must be in the National Curriculum. Or just Guitar Hero. But I was in the sixth form when the word started spreading about this Hendrix guy. I borrowed some records and recorded them, but it was by no means love at first listen.

And I don't know why I remember things like this, but I can picture myself browsing the cover of this compilation in Our Price on Commercial Way, Woking, in 1985 or '86 (the £5.99 price sticker bears out this memory).

Nowadays there are many, and better, Hendrix compilations. If someone asked me where to start with Jimi Hendrix and how to understand his music, I'd probably recommend Charles Shaar Murray's book about him before I recommended this LP. Nice cover, though.