Having apparently realized that the wordy hooks and snazzy roots-rock grooves that made them distinct also made them annoying, these former jam kings turn to pseudo-psychedelia, white-soul ballads and reined-in bar-band jams on their eighth album. But with the exception of the heartfelt "After What" and the god-awful disco-flavored (!) confessional "She and I," most of these songs still sound like launching pads for rave-ups and harmonica solos.

“All Along the Watchtower”

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."