One of my favorite Jimi Hendrix songs, Crosstown Traffic. Recorded in '67-'68 in New York (where else, given the title?) the song's intro features the "Hendrix chord", a dominant 7#9 (don't ask) about which music critic John Perry once wrote "it's the whole of the blues scale condensed into a single chord".
The song features a strange and wonderful shifting of guitar back and forth between the right and left channels. Recording engineers always assign a channel dominance to inputs, which makes the stereo effect work, but it's usually subtle, and seldom so obviously meant to be heard as on this song. The effect is called "variable cross-feed" and may be a nod by Hendrix or his engineer to the title of the song.
The lyrics are obviously loaded with sexual references, ("tire tracks all across your back, yeah, I can see you've had your fun") a pre-curser to Prince's "Little Red Corvette".
The kazoo sound around the chorus was a super high tech design... a piece of Kleenex folded over a comb. Other trivia - Dave Mason of Traffic sang backup; more fun referencing the song title.
Irishman Foy Vance has done a brilliant version of "Crosstown", and I love him for it. This has become a favorite in my own repertoire. Don't know too much about him, but, as you can see on his website (http://www.foyvance.com/) Bonnie Raitt has said about him "One of the most soulful and powerful singers and writers I've heard in a long while." Coming from her, that's high praise indeed. Check out his acoustic solo take on the song...
Thanks for that video of Foy Vance! I have never heard of him, but I will definately find out about him. He has a voice and I like his version better actually, since I like the accoustic guitar better.Â
Posted by: Kimberly Koch | Wed 16 Dec 2009 at 23:35
[this is good] thanks for the intro to Foy Vance, and that lesson on the sweet Hendrix chord
Posted by: humbletree | Mon 04 Jan 2010 at 04:20