Smash Hits (The Jimi Hendrix Experience album)

Smash Hits is a compilation album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Track Records first issued it on April 12, 1968, in the UK and included all four of the group's singles (both A and B sides) released up to that time, plus four additional songs from the UK edition of Are You Experienced.

Smash Hits
Three photos of Hendrix in colorful clothing with the album title above him
Greatest hits album by
the Jimi Hendrix Experience
ReleasedApril 12, 1968 (1968-04-12)
RecordedOctober 1966 – July 1967
GenreRock
Length44:31
LabelTrack
ProducerChas Chandler
Jimi Hendrix UK chronology
Axis: Bold as Love
(1967)		 Smash Hits
(1968)		 Electric Ladyland
(1968)
Jimi Hendrix US chronology
Electric Ladyland
(1968)		 Smash Hits
(1969)		 Band of Gypsys
(1970)

Reprise Records did not issue the album in the US until July 30, 1969, with some different tracks. It included two songs from Electric Ladyland and three tracks from the UK edition of Are You Experienced, which were previously unreleased in the US (including a stereo version of "Red House" from a different take than the original mono album version).

Smash Hits has been reissued several times on CD; however, it has been largely superseded by more recent and comprehensive compilations, such as Experience Hendrix: The Best of Jimi Hendrix (1997).

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Rolling Stone[2]

In a review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave the album four and a half out of five stars. He notes "the main strength of Smash Hits is that it contains the best-known big-name songs in one place. Maybe not enough to make the collection essential, but still enough to make it a representative, accurate sampler".[1]

Robert Christgau included the album in his "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings, published in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981).[3]

Track listing

The running times are taken from the 1980 Polydor (Europe) and 1979 Reprise (US) reissues; the original Track Records and Reprise Records Smash Hits LPs did not include track lengths. Other releases may show different information. All tracks written by Jimi Hendrix, except where noted.

UK edition
Side one
No.TitleOriginal releaseLength
1."Purple Haze"single2:44
2."Fire"Are You Experienced2:35
3."The Wind Cries Mary"single3:21
4."Can You See Me"Are You Experienced2:33
5."51st Anniversary"single (UK B-side)3:18
6."Hey Joe" (Billy Roberts)single3:26
Side two
No.TitleOriginal releaseLength
1."Stone Free"single (UK B-side)3:39
2."The Stars That Play with Laughing Sam's Dice"single (UK B-side)4:22
3."Manic Depression"Are You Experienced3:36
4."Highway Chile"single (UK B-side)3:32
5."Burning of the Midnight Lamp"single (UK)3:38
6."Foxy Lady"Are You Experienced3:18

US edition
Side one
No.TitleOriginal releaseLength
1."Purple Haze"single2:46
2."Fire"Are You Experienced2:34
3."The Wind Cries Mary"single3:21
4."Can You See Me"Are You Experienced (UK)2:31
5."Hey Joe" (Billy Roberts)single3:23
6."All Along the Watchtower" (Bob Dylan)single4:01
Side two
No.TitleOriginal releaseLength
1."Stone Free"single (UK B-side)3:33
2."Crosstown Traffic"Electric Ladyland2:15
3."Manic Depression"Are You Experienced3:30
4."Remember"Are You Experienced (UK)2:47
5."Red House"alternate recording3:48
6."Foxey [sic] Lady"Are You Experienced3:15
1988 CD and CD+G bonus tracks[4]
No.TitleLength
13."51st Anniversary"3:16
14."Highway Chile"3:32

Charts and certifications
Chart (1968–1969) Peak
position
Canada RPM LP Chart[5] 3
Germany Charts[6] 19
Norway Charts[7] 11
UK Official Charts[8] 4
US Billboard 200[8] 6
US Best Selling Soul LP's[9] 22

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified it as 2× Multi Platinum[10] and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) ceritifed it as Gold.[11]

Personnel

References
  1. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Jimi Hendrix / The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Smash Hits – Review at AllMusic. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
  2. Rolling Stone review
  3. Christgau, Robert (1981). "A Basic Record Library: The Fifties and Sixties". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 0899190251. Retrieved March 16, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  4. Reprise Records catalog Nos. 2276 and 2276-2
  5. "LP Chart" (PDF). RPM. Vol. 12, no. 7. April 10, 1969 – via Collectionscanada.gc.ca.
  6. "Jimi Hendrix: Albums". Offiziellecharts.de (in German). Retrieved September 1, 2020.
  7. "Smash Hits: Jimi Hendrix". Vglista.no. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
  8. Shapiro, Harry; Glebbeek, Cesar (1991). Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy. New York City: St. Martin's Press. pp. 531, 534. ISBN 0-312-05861-6.
  9. "Chart History: Jimi Hendrix – R&B/Hip-Hop Albums". Billboard. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
  10. "Gold & Platinum". Recording Industry Association of America. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved June 21, 2014.
  11. "BPI Certified Awards – Search". British Phonographic Industry. Archived from the original on June 27, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2014.
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