Here are the two covers used for The Jimi Hendrix Experience album “Electric Ladyland“, although Jimi Hendrix himself did not want either one of these.

U.S. version

U.K. Version

Jimi’s Version

A letter Hendrix wrote to Reprise Records described exactly what he wanted for the cover, but it was mostly ignored. He expressly asked for a color photo by Linda Eastman (later Linda McCartney) of the group sitting with children on a sculpture from Alice in Wonderland in Central Park, NY, even drawing a picture of it for reference.

Reprise instead used a blurred red & yellow photo of his head, taken by Karl Ferris. Track Records had its own art department, which produced a cover depicting 19 nude women lounging in front of a black background.  The original UK & German CD release from the 1980s features the UK artwork cover, while the Allan Douglas’ re-master CD issue features the U.S. version by Ferris, which has since become the official worldwide cover of Electric Ladyland.

The company Experience Hendrix, which owns the rights to the album and most of Hendrix’s catalogue, has stated that the original UK nudes cover will not be used any longer, since Hendrix himself did not like it; nonetheless Hendrix’s own choice, the Eastman photo, is still ignored.

A dispute nearly occured over the album’s title. In the final stages of production, a studio technician renamed the album “Electric Landlady“. The album was almost released under this official title until Hendrix noticed the error, which upset him considerably.

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