Reviewed:
- Are You Experienced (1967)
- Axis: Bold as Love (1967)
- Electric Ladyland (1968)
- Smash Hits (1968, compilation)
- Band of Gypsys (1970, live album)
ARE YOU EXPERIENCED 1967 (Sony Music)
- Standouts: Everything (obviously).
Jimi Hendrix obviously needs no introduction. Any self-proclaimed rock fan should already know who he is, so I'm not going into huge detail regarding how he came onto the scene in the mid-60's, and his history prior etc.. Long story short, he's arguably the most influential rock guitarist of all time, and his band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience consisted of Jimi on guitar/vocals and a couple of Brits in the rhythm section - Noel Redding on bass and Mitch Mitchell on drums. Of course, Are You Experienced, Jimi's first full length with the Experience is a legendary and extremely influential album. It's exciting to listen to now, so imagine how exciting it was in 1967. Like a lot of albums in the 60's, Are You Experienced came in both UK and US formats, with different track-listings for both, but I have the CD and vinyl reissues, which features all tracks that were featured on both editions - a grand total of 17 tracks. So that's the version I'm referring to; I've never owned an original pressing of this album (sadly), so to me, the album's always been both the UK and US versions combined.
There's not a lot I can say about this record that hasn't already been said. But whatever, here's my take on it anyhow. I think it's probably one of the best albums ever made, across any genre - period. I'll just put that out there now; I don't know if it'd make my own personal top five, but I'm sure it'd make my top ten. Jimi was obviously a very talented guitar player from a technical point of view (when you consider his opposition in the 60's), but he doesn't play in a way that is note-for-note perfect. And that's part of what makes him so great. I remember watching an interview with Ritchie Blackmore on YouTube, and I can't quote him directly, but he basically said he loves Hendrix's playing because he has to search for the notes. Sure, guys like Joe Satriani and Steve Vai can play guitar in a way that is technically-proficient to the extreme - to the point where they play so good that they almost sound inhuman at times - and of course, this is no bad thing, but there's definitely less heart and soul if you play so well that you never fuck up. I totally agree with Ritchie.
Essentially, this album is a groundbreaking piece of rock n' roll for it's deep musical innovation, but it's still so pure. Jimi brings blues influences into almost all the tracks, but his playing also makes use of heavy rock (particularly heavy compared to whatever else was around in the 60's), R&B, soul and psychedelia - you can hear all these different influences throughout the album. Tracks like the unmistakeable 'Foxy Lady' and 'Purple Haze' are bombastic slabs of heavy blues rock, and you can see why they even influenced heavy metal later down the line. But some of the stuff on here is really soulful - 'May This Be Love' is a mellow, psychedelic number with tons of heart. And you've gotta really love the ballad 'The Wind Cries Mary' - Jimi even sings and writes lyrics in an almost Dylan-esque sense - at least that what I've always thought about this lovely song (of course, Jimi would cover Bob Dylan tracks live). Certain tracks groove hard as well. 'Fire' for example, is a fast, driving blues number with some really great backing vocals from Noel Redding ("Let me stand next to your fire"), and this track in general just makes me feel good! It's a go-to song for when I'm feeling glum, or pissed off.
The acid rock/psychedelic touches are written all over songs like 'Third Stone from the Sun' and the trippy title track, which is fair enough, because this was still 1967 - and Woodstock hadn't even happened yet. Jimi did psychedelia better than anyone else. There's a couple of more straight-forward blues numbers on here too, such as 'Red House' and 'Remember', but as straightforward as they are, with Jimi playing them, they're never dull. And there's a lot of great hook too, especially on 'Highway Chile' and '51st Anniversary', the latter of which may be the most underrated song on the album, in my eyes. Of course, 'Hey Joe', the Billy Roberts cover is one of the best known songs on here, and was a hit for Hendrix. Jimi doesn't go all-out with his guitar playing on 'Hey Joe', but it features some of the best vocal melodies on the album.
I'm a huge fan of the way this album was recorded. It has a very dynamic kind of feel to it. It's raw, dirty and loud, and on songs like the ballsy 'Manic Depression', there's a lot of stuff going on that wasn't commonplace in contemporary albums, and I'm not just talking about the actual musicianship itself. Jimi's guitar and vocals are often shifting between either of your speakers, and this adds to the psychedelic and live feel of the album's overall sound. It's quite hard to describe, but either way, it's gold.
I'd like to pick out some flaws with this album, but I honestly can't really find any. So if you were looking for an extremely rare review of an angry rock fan slamming Hendrix for a change, then I'm sorry to disappoint you. Uh... maybe it's less ambitious than it's two follow-ups because it's a little less artsy and experimental? For some, that could be a flaw, but for me the fact that this is the most straightforward Hendrix experience actually makes it his best album - it's still exciting and full of varied songs that the whole product never gets boring or old anyway, even with the lengthy reissue track-listing of 17 songs. Maybe 'Stone Free' ends a little too abruptly, and maybe you could criticise Jimi's singing voice because in terms of his vocal ability, he's not exactly the best singer in the world - but I'm really clutching at straws here. Truth is, every rock fan should have Are You Experienced in their collection, regardless of whether you love indie, prog, folk or metal best. The album's so powerful and influential not just for Jimi's guitar playing, but for the fact the songs as a whole feature just about everything you could ever want in a rock n' roll album. And everything on here save for 'Hey Joe' was written by the band - covers were still rife with bands in the 60's, so I feel that's worth mentioning too.
Adam's rating: 10/10
AXIS: BOLD AS LOVE 1967 (Sony Music)
- Standouts: 'Up From the Skies', 'Spanish Castle Magic', 'Ain't No Telling', 'Little Wing', 'If 6 Was 9', 'You Got Me Floatin'', 'Castles Made of Sand', 'Little Miss Lover', 'Bold as Love'
As much as I love the three studio albums the Experience made together, I've gotta admit that Axis: Bold as Love is the one I care least for. Not that I think it's a bad album, no sirree - in fact, it's an incredibly strong work on almost all fronts. However, Are You Experienced is just one of those albums with so much character within the playing, and it's also the kind of album that I can either listen to in full and enjoy the hell out of it, or I can easily pick any individual track and play it on it's own - it's just that good.
Well, the good songs on Axis are fucking classics, every bit as good as anything from Are You Experienced. For starters, 'Spanish Castle Magic' rocks! That track is just so damn cool, it has Jimi's attitude written all over it, a hard rockin', bluesy, groovin' gem of a song. 'Little Wing' is the other particularly famous song on here, and again, there's a reason why it's so revered. Jimi's guitar playing is so melodic and pretty on it; what a great, psychedelic ballad. Shame it doesn't even last two and a half minutes! Whatever, it's still one of Hendrix's best songs ever. I also really love 'If 6 Was 9' - it may seem quite muddled and disjointed, with a tempo and rhythm that kind of goes all over the place, and the middle part of the song is trippy to the max, but I guess there's just something about Jimi's presence that makes it so special to me.
'Ain't No Telling' is great too; this one sounds as if it could've fit on the first LP, and is an underrated blues rocker. I'm also very fond of the other Dylan-esque number, 'Castles Made of Sand' - it isn't as good as 'The Wind Cries Mary', which is what it's most comparable to, but it's still solid all-round. 'You Got Me Floatin'' sort of shares similarities with 'Fire'; it's another upbeat, blues-influenced rockin' blueser (hey, I just made up a word!), with some great backing vocal melodies again. However, it still isn't as good as 'Fire'! It just isn't! I love the almost funk rock of 'Little Miss Lover' - this song is really unique compared to anything off the predecessor, and 'Bold as Love' is a great ballad to end the album on.
The thing that really separates Axis from the debut is the added emphasis of psychedelia. I wouldn't say Jimi was trying as hard as possible to take you on an acid trip, but the album starts with a weird, cliche'd introduction called 'EXP' with Mitch Mitchell interviewing Jimi (playing some guy called Paul Caruso) about UFOs (?!), so that's uh... yeah... the product of LSD I guess. Obviously Are You Experienced had it's share of psychedelia too, but it isn't as blatantly obvious as it is here. I don't really care too much for 'She's So Fine' either; sure, Jimi's guitar playing is nice on it (as always), but for whatever reason Noel Redding actually handles the vocals this time, and despite Hendrix's playing, it kind of makes you forget you're even listening to the same band. It does have some nice hooks though, and it's certainly not a bad track - none of the songs here are bad, in fact. You could argue that the production is better here; it's certainly more refined this time around, and less raw, but the harsh-sounding, feedback-drenched debut still sounds better to me. But I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people preferred the production job that was done on this album.
Axis: Bold as Love is a classic album - there's no denying that. However, aside from a handful of tracks, at the end of the day it just does most things worse than Are You Experienced. I get that the band probably were probably trying to be a little more creative this time around (I'm sure drugs had nothing to do with this...), and obviously as a result the album ends up being Hendrix with extra psychedelia. That said, I still think it's a fantastic album. It's still quite easily one of the best acid rock albums ever made, it's just that given the reputation of the first album, it had a hell of a lot to live up to. Are You Experienced was almost like a greatest hits of everything that made Jimi so great in the first place.
Adam's rating: 9.2/10
ELECTRIC LADYLAND 1968 (MCA)
- Standouts: All except '1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)'
The third and final album from the Experience was Electric Ladyland, and it's clear that at this point, even though he'd only made two other studio LP's prior, Jimi was becoming a more accomplished songwriter and musician at this point. Some consider it his best work, and while there's a lot of fair points to be made for this view, I still think Are You Experienced is his finest hour. I guess it all depends on how you view him as a musician. To me, he's a guitar hero more than anything else (although he was obviously great at a lot of things), and if that's your main criteria, then you too, will probably find that debut album to be his best.
That said, Electric Ladyland has not only my favourite Hendrix tune, but also one of my all-time favourite tracks, 'Voodoo Child (Slight Return)' - a song that showcases his innovation as a rock guitarist, and one of the most ass-kicking songs of all time! It's just a track that really has everything you could want from a hard rockin', bluesy, supremely cool piece of guitar work - from all the whammy-based, wah-wah-drenched soloing to the riffs themselves. It's his best song ever, especially in terms of it's guitar work, as far as I'm concerned.
However, the rest of the album ventures into some new territories, and features a little more experimentation. There's a lot of organ work on this album, to the point where some tracks don't actually revolve around guitars. That means a chunk of the record is very soul-focussed, more-so than rock at times. The brief opening track, 'Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)' is an extremely soulful, psychedelic introduction. And then of course, you've got tracks like 'Burning of the Midnight Lamp' which is soulful acid rock that features gospel-like vocal harmonies and harpsichord-backed melodies. By the way, just because the album is a little artsier this time, does not mean tracks like these are bad by any stretch of the imagination. They're genuine classics that display Jimi's talents further.
Even if I do prefer Are You Experienced, I still love about 95% of this record. Along with 'Voodoo Child (Slight Return)', the album also has other tracks that are among his best ever. The pop rock-based 'Crosstown Traffic' is quite possibly the catchiest little number he ever wrote - the kazoo melody (which was actually makeshift) is irresistible, makes me wanna replay the song over and over! And obviously there's also the Bob Dylan cover 'All Along the Watchtower', which is by far my preferred version. Jimi transforms the song into a hard rock classic with his signature touches stamped all over his rendition. It's kind of like the ultimate Vietnam War track, well, apart from Creedance's 'Fortunate Son' that is. 'Voodoo Chile' too, is another of my favourite Hendrix songs. It's a sleezy, fourteen minute long bluesy jam that was supposedly recorded in one take - not really surprising given that it sounds live. To me it's comparable to the kind of stuff Jimi was doing with on the Band of Gypsys live album in 1970.
Noel Redding fronts another psychedelic pop rock number with 'Little Miss Strange', and I prefer this over 'She's So Fine' from Axis: Bold as Love. 'Come On (Part One)' aka 'Let the Good Times Roll' is the Earl King cover - Jimi doesn't do anything particularly special with it, he just knows how to have fun on a classic rock n' roll number! 'Gypsy Eyes' has loads of groovy, bluesy, multi-layered guitar lines while 'Rainy Day, Dream Away' features saxophones to accommodate Jimi's guitar licks. '1983 (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)' is probably my least favourite number on here - I mean, I like it, but it's really long and doesn't really go anywhere at times. It's more of an experimental, proggy kind of acid jam with no real structure. I guess I still like it because Jimi's playing is almost always enjoyable up to a point. 'Still Raining, Still Dreaming' is full of lengthy guitar solos on top of that classic, psychedelic 60's organ sound and 'House Burning Down' is yet another great psychedelic blues fest.
Electric Ladyland is a mostly astonishing piece of music - 'All Along the Watchtower', 'Voodoo Chile', 'Voodoo Child (Slight Return)', 'Burning of the Midnight Lamp' and 'Crosstown Traffic' are all among Hendrix's best songs ever, and the rest of the album is brilliant too. I want to give it a 10, because for the most part I love the majority of the songs on here... but I always found the album to be a little too long! And while some of these tracks do truly display the brilliance that was Jimi Hendrix, there's a handful of material on here (e.g. 'Rainy Day, Dream Away' and 'Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)') that to me don't quite represent the man and what he was all about. They're still brilliant songs of course, but I still think Are You Experienced is the quintessential Jimi Hendrix album. It may not be the most radical, but it has the Jimi sound that I think of when someone says "Hendrix". Electric Ladyland though, represents Jimi at the peak of his creativity as a musician, and that's still a massive deal.
Adam's rating: 9.7/10
SMASH HITS 1968 (MCA)
I suppose there was a point to this compilation (which happens to be the first ever Hendrix compilation) when it was first released in 1968 since Are You Experienced was released in the UK and US with different song listings - apparently whatever four tracks on the UK version that were missing from the US are featured here - but this is kind of irrelevant these days since the newer reissues of the debut album, CD or vinyl, feature all 17 tracks anyway. Plus, I didn't actually know that there were UK and US version of this compilation until looking on Wikipedia. The UK version which I own does have 'The Stars That Play with Laughing Sam's Dice' on it though, which was a B-side to 'Burning of the Midnight Lamp' that was never included on Electric Ladyland, so there's that. The rest of the tracklisting consists of Are You Experienced songs and 'Burning of the Midnight Lamp'. The only reason I own this disc is because someone bought it for me way back when I was still at school.
BAND OF GYPSYS 1970 (Sony Music)
- Standouts: 'Who Knows', 'Machine Gun', 'Changes', 'Power to Love'
Well, my opinion of this record has deviated a little over time. Once upon a time, I used to think Band of Gypsys was one of the best live recordings in the world, but I don't think it sits among the best live albums ever anymore. In all fairness, there's a handful of legendary live albums that I still haven't heard and don't own (e.g. The Who's Live at Leeds or that unplugged Nirvana thing), but either way, I don't enjoy it as much as I do Deep Purple's Made in Japan, or Judas Priest's Unleashed in the East these days. I guess the reason I used to hold this thing in such high regard is purely because I enjoy Jimi's playing that much. But this ain't him and the Experince - it's Jimi jamming with a couple of famous R&B guys, Buddy Miles and Billy Cox. For that reason, none of the six tracks here are the same iconic stuff he was doing with Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell, instead, it's a very long and drawn out set of improvised blues rock jams - don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Deep Purple's Made in Japan, which is legendary because of it's lengthy, improvised jams. The only difference is, Made in Japan is full of energy, whereas Band of Gypsys is much slower, more laid-back and soulful by comparison. Not quite the same kind of approach, then. Of course, this album was recorded in January 1970, and by September that year, Jimi passed away...
The first couple of tracks here are built around a single particular riff or melody, and Jimi (or occasionally Cox and Miles) adds vocals, but there's no real structure to the songs. Instead, Cox and Miles provide solid rhythm backing while Jimi solos over the top. Honestly though, despite everything I said in that first paragraph, I still really like Band of Gypsys. I just don't think it's a masterwork anymore, presumably because I've heard plenty more live albums since. I totally dig the nine and a half minute 'Who Knows', such a cool groove to that track. And Jimi's endless soloing on the ridiculously long 'Machine Gun' is great, because let's be honest, it's just Hendrix playing the guitar - so by default it's going to be enjoyable in that regard.
The remaining tracks are shorter and more structured, and I do like them. For example, the funky guitar licks in 'Changes' are sublime. However, when compared to the stuff Jimi did on those three albums with the Experience, none of the four remaining Band of Gypsys songs will ever come close. It's clear that this wasn't purely a Hendrix-driven project, so the vibe is still different even if you can unmistakeably hear Jimi's signature touches throughout the album. I like the lengthy jams of the first couple of tracks most, but if unstructured jamming's not your thing, then you probably won't enjoy them. I recommend anyone who enjoyed the Experience listens to Band of Gypsys at least once, because I really feel you could either love it or hate it. I still think it's great. But one of the best live albums of all time? Nah, I don't think so anymore. Always loved that album cover though.
Adam's rating: 8/10
