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As a music lover and record collector, I’m always interested in checking out the CDs and albums other people have in their homes. You know what I mean. Just like people who read; they always peruse the bookshelves when they visit someone’s home.

I’ve often thought that it would be especially interesting to browse the collections of celebrities, especially rock stars. What unusual gems were they listening to and influenced by?

I recently read an essay by Jeff Gold who runs the website Recordmecca that tells the tale of Jimi Hendrix’s record collection. Gold knows what he’s talking about – he acquired, at auction, part of the collection (the rest is on display in Seattle’s Experience Music Project Museum).

Here’s a list of some of Jimi’s discs:

Robert Johnson “King of the Delta Blues Singers”
Muddy Waters “The Real Folk Blues”
John Lee Hooker “Drifting Blues”
Wes Montgomery “A Day In The Life”
The Roland Kirk Quartet “Rip, Rig and Panic”
Ravi Shankar “India’s Master Musician” and “Portrait of a Genius”
The Jimi Hendrix Experience “Electric Ladyland”
The Dream “Get Dreamy”
Howlin Wolf “The Howlin’ Wolf Album” and “Moanin’ In The Moonlight”
Bob Dylan “Greatest Hits” and “Highway 61 Revisited”
Elmore James “Memorial Album”
James Brown “Showtime”
Clara Ward “Gospel Concert”
Acker Bilk “Lansdowne Folio”
The Beatles “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band”
Various “Chicago The Blues Today” and “American Folk Blues Festival ‘66”
Bill Cosby “Revenge

Lots of blues, some jazz, rock, R&B and gospel. No surprises here. But Get Dreamy by The Dream? Now that’s something that arouses my curiosity. Here’s what Gold says about the album:

The rarest album in the bunch was “Get Dreamy” by The Dream, a 1967 LP by a Norwegian psychedelic quartet. This album featured what has to be the earliest ever Hendrix tribute, their song “Hey Jimi” (Hendrix’s debut single, “Hey Joe” was first released in December 1966.) This copy was inscribed to Jimi by Dream guitarist (and later celebrated ECM jazz guitarist) Terje Rypdal, who wrote “With all the respect we can give a fellow musician, we wrote “Hey Jimi” as a tribute to you. We hope you like it and enjoy the rest of the LP too. On behalf of the Dream, Terje Rypdal.” In 2005 I googled “Terje Rypdal” and “Jimi Hendrix” and found an interview where Rypdal mentions sending a copy of the album to Hendrix through a friend of a girlfriend of Jimi’s, but never being sure it got to him. I found an email address for his manager and sent him a message that the album had indeed found it’s way to Jimi, and got a message back that Terje was thrilled to know that Jimi had received it—and letting me know that if I ever wanted to sell it, “mail us first !!!!!” However, this one’s not going anywhere!

So let’s get to it! Today’s SotW is “Hey Jimi” by The Dream.

The Dream – Hey Jimi

Follow this link if you’re interested in reading Gold’s complete article:

Jeff Gold – Jimi Hendrix’s Record Collection

Enjoy… until next week.