(Geffen, 86 minutes)

www.geffen.com

BY LEE ZIMMERMAN

Are You Experienced and Axis: Bold As Love were the albums that established Jimi Hendrix's genius and etched his reputation as perhaps the greatest guitar guru of all time.  However, it was his third and final album, Electric Ladyland, that proved his most profound, and pointed the way to future possibilities Hendrix sadly wouldn't live to see to fruition.  Chock full of signature songs ("Voodoo Chile," "Rainy Day, Dream Away," "Crosstown Traffic," "All Along the Watchtower"), it branched out into more experimental realms, including the nearly side long opus "1983... A Merman I Should Turn to Be."  It also included collaborations with such exceptional guests as Al Kooper, Jefferson Airplane bassist Jack Cassady, Traffic's Steve Winwood and Dave Mason the Stones' Brian Jones, whose contributions have never been noted.  Listening now, more than 40 years after its conception, its still awe-inspiring, an exceptional masterpiece that was never eclipsed, before or since.

Given that assessment, Electric Ladyland is an album that still merits closer scrutiny.  Even those who might demur at the notion of being audio obsessive can happily immerse themselves in its depth and diversity.  The sonic experimentation that Hendrix indulged in allowed his freewheeling creativity to reach its zenith and it continues to offer a certain fascination for both the audiophile and the casual observer.

As one of the original entries in the superb Classic Albums series back in 1998, this "making of" DVD probed the genesis of this brilliant creation, through the dissection of the tracks and the isolation of the vocal and instrumental overlays.  Now expanded with an additional forty minutes of rarely seen video, it features intriguing interviews with many of the principals who were essential to its creation, engineer Eddie Kramer, the aforementioned individuals and several contributors who are now sadly deceased - among them, manager Chas Chandler, bassist Noel Redding and drummers Buddy Miles and Mitch Mitchell.  However, the more revelatory portions of this updated edition are found in the form of rare archival footage featuring Hendrix in performance, in the studio, on the road and in conversation discussing his muse, methods and personal philosophy. 

Several comments stand out.  "It was well ahead of it time," Redding notes of the album early on.  "He was like a young Mozart," Miles adds later. "I still miss him," an emotional Mitchell adds in the film's final moments.  For anyone watching this documentary, those sentiments will be shared.

Special features: none.