Formal sessions for Electric Ladyland began in London at Olympic Studios on December 20,
1967. Hendrix began in fine style, recording the marvelous “Crosstown Traffic.” One month
later, Hendrix would return to Olympic and complete a superb interpretation of Bob Dylan’s “All
Along The Watchtower”. Noel Redding clashed with Hendrix at the outset of this session and,
in what would become a recurring theme throughout Electric Ladyland, Jimi elected to play the
bass himself. He would add the part as an overdub after recording the basic track on guitar and
with Traffic’s Dave Mason on 12-string guitar and Mitchell on drums.

The Experience made a quick trip to Paris to perform two concerts on January 29 and then flew
to New York the following day for a press reception organized by their US publicist Michael
Goldstein. Goldstein dubbed the event “The British Are Coming” and made the Experience, as
well as the other groups in the Michael Jeffery/Chas Chandler management stable available to
journalists and photographers at the Copter Lounge atop the Pan Am building in Manhattan.

Following the media hoopla in New York, the Experience flew to San Francisco, where their
extensive US tour in support of the recently released Axis: Bold As Love began in earnest at the
Fillmore Auditorium From San Francisco, the Experience ventured across the U.S., performing
at a mix of clubs, colleges, and medium sized auditoriums. Together with their loyal tour
manager Gerry Stickells, the group packed into a rented station wagon. In what can only be
described as a remarkable test of their endurance and enthusiasm, the Experience performed
sixty concerts in sixty days during the first leg of this tour.

Rather than return to London to resume recording, the decision was made to remain in New
York. “We are just going to record in the States, because our recording engineer (Eddie
Kramer) has gone over there permanently,” detailed Mitch Mitchell to Record Mirror’s Derek
Boltwood. “It’s funny that—Britain, I think, has the best recording engineers in the world. But
our studios and studio equipment can’t compare with what they have in America—so it’s only
natural that our engineers should want to go over there to work. And the thing is that it takes a
long time for a group to get used to an engineer, and it’s only when the two get to know exactly
what each of them is capable of, that they can work well together.” Beginning on April 18,

1968—Kramer’s first day in the US—the group was scheduled to begin recording at the newly
constructed Record Plant, a twelve-track recording studio (Olympic then only offered four track
recording by comparison) headed by Gary Kellegren, Chris Stone and Tom Wilson.