"I had these dreams that something was gonna' happen, seeing the numbers 1966 in my
sleep, so I was just passing time until then."   -   Jimi Hendrix

In the fall of 1966, Cream released 'Fresh Cream', in my opinion, an album that could be
considered the forerunner of all late sixties music.

But the true beginning of the late sixties began this month 40 years ago, January 1967, with
the release of the Doors first album,'The Doors', in the US and UK.  It went almost completely
unnoticed for several months, and finally started seeping into the public's musical
consciousness with the release of Light My Fire in April 1967.  Even as this album hit the
record stores, so was Jimi Hendrix in the middle of recording 'Are You Experienced' under
the close direction of Charles Chandler, former bass player for the Animals and directly
responsible for bringing Hendrix to the UK and setting him up with Noel Redding and Mitch
Mitchell.  1967 went on to see the release of many great albums on both sides of the
Atlantic: Are You Experienced, Sgt. Peppers, Disraeli Gears, Strange Days, on and on the
list goes, all riding the wave created by the Beatles and Rolling Stones years earlier.

Hendrix was actually discovered by Linda Keith, the girlfriend of Rolling Stones guitarist
Keith Richards. While Richards was touring the U.S with the Rolling Stones in the fall of
1966, Linda Keith started hanging out at the Cafe Wha? in New York's Greenwich Village.
Hendrix was playing there at the time with John Hammond and Randy California. Linda Keith
was taken by Jimi's act and, perhaps perceiving his potential, persuaded Chandler to
come by the club one night.  Chandler eventually talked Hendrix into coming back to the UK
with him. The rest is history.