I like to think of Jimi Hendrix as being both parts of the greatest 1-2 punch in rock history. First comes the voice, which while not being the most technically beautiful sound in the world, to me embodies every aspect of late 1960s rock music with every word he speaks. After this comes the guitar.....the glorious, magical Hendrix guitar. Never in the history of this greatest of rock and roll instruments has a human being used it to relay such power. Every face-melting note that Jimi plays is like the hottest of fires being thrown from his fingertips. He was able to do things with distortion and delay pedals while using rather primitive equipment in the 60s that musicians today are still struggling to duplicate with our fancy electronics.Starting his career with the Jimi Hendrix Experience (comprised of Hendrix, bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell), Jimi used his first few albums to stretch the notion of the pop song format and splice that with his own version of psychedelic guitar playing. In 1969, Hendrix then formed a new group called Band of Gypsys, which he used to enter into a sort of jazz/funk like free guitar experimental stage. The songs he wrote for this band had a loose form, but after a couple of minutes they all just evolved into a Jimi Hendrix guitar spectacle, where he would produce sounds that had never been heard before coming from a guitar. In my opinion, he was headed into a new era which could have given us some of the most groundbreaking rock music ever made, when he died suddenly at the age of 27 in 1970. While we'll never know where his talents might have taken us, we'll always have the music he gave us during his life, and his impact on rock and roll music will always be seen in every person that picks up a guitar.
The Albums:
1. Are You Experienced? (1967)
2. Axis: Bold as Love (1967)
3. Electric Ladyland (1968)
4. Band of Gypsys (1970)
I have to say that when I saw David post Jimi Hendrix as his next pick I was quite surprised. As I knew a little about Jimi, I was going to pick him as my artist one week, just so I could get more acquainted with him and his music. Needless to say I was very interested in what I was about to hear.
ReplyDeleteI must admit that I am going to have to really give Jimi more of a listen in the future, for the simple fact that I was only able to go through each album once. Having said that, I feel like I have learned quite a bit more about this guitar god. “Are you Experienced” is the album with which I was most familiar. To me this album should be the official soundtrack for all hippies. There were quite a few songs on this album I had heard one time or another, either in a movie or on the radio. For me “Purple Haze” is the definitive song of Jimi Hendrix. The opening guitar riff is so awesome and speaks on such a psychedelic level. It is hard to believe that this was his debut album, the way Jimi wields his guitar is phenomenal. The first three tracks on here are probably my favorite. They each bring something different to the table, especially “Hey Joe” which starts on a much more somber level, but as the story continues picks up momentum and emphasis. I must also give props to Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell, for bringing their own special touch to each song. I love when you can paint a picture in your mind to the music, and I could definitely do that with each track. Mostly my mind went into thoughts of hippies doing drugs, free love, war, all the things most people picture when they think of that time in American History. Other songs that stood out for me were, “Third Stone from the Sun” which was all together quite different, but goes to show the diversity of Jimi, and his more somber, poetic, side. “Foxey Lady” for the simple fact that it is just awesome, and that’s all that needs to be said. I could go on and on about this album, but need to save my juices for the next three albums.
“Axis: Bold as Love” for some reason did not wash over me as much as “Are you Experienced.” I have to admit that I had to skip through “EXP,” when it got to the static and loud noise; it was too much for my ears. “Up from the skies” was quite unlike anything I had presumed would come from Mr. Hendrix, but I liked it’s jazzy vibe, and the unique sounds that Jimi can make with his guitar are quite incredible. “Spanish Castle Music” is what I have come to expect and appreciate about Jimi, with its raging guitar riffs that make you want to rock out. “Little Wing” was my favorite track on this album, I love the mellowness to it and the use of the xylophone, which was not quite what I was expecting to hear being used in one of his albums. All throughout this album I notice all the unique sounds that are being developed and it shows what a pioneer Jimi was for future artists. Perfect example of this is the song, “You got me Floatin” that has such a futuristic sound to it. The other thing I notice about this album is that it shows more of Jimi’s vocal talents. Just goes to show that he may be known for his guitar, but he had a good voice as well. While I don’t think this album lived up to my expectations, I think it is only because I had such high standards, and this album deserves repeat listenings to be fully appreciated.
ReplyDeleteI know music is subjective but if you can’t enjoy Jimi Hendrix in some way, you don’t deserve to have a pulse. Are You Experienced is an album that resurfaces from time to time in my collection and with every listen I find myself in complete awe of someone who knew exactly what they were put on Earth to do, and that is to blow fucking minds. To say Jimi was a proficient guitarist is to say Willie Mays was a serviceable outfielder; it’s insulting. This week is yet another opportunity to be spoiled by a musical hero.
ReplyDeleteTo me, the opening notes of “Purple Haze” sounds like Jimi knocking on the door of the music world and then subsequently blowing the door of it’s hinges with its booming electric bombast. Upon knocking down this door, Jimi ushered in a new era for other psychedelic rockers like Cream, The Doors, Jefferson Airplane and Black Sabbath. This music was made for the countries politically conscious and rebellious youth and also made to scare all the conservatives and squares who represented the “establishment”. Thinking about the time when this album came out with the heavy opposition to the Vietnam War and the continuing tension in race relations, it all served as fuel to feed Jimi’s fire. There is a strong vein of blues running throughout this album especially on “Hey Joe”, “Foxey Lady” and “Red House”; the guitar playing is very reminiscent of Muddy Waters and the Elmore James comparisons are dead-on with his singing. With the Allman Bros. and now Jimi, I really want to do a week where we spotlight one of the true blues masters like a John Lee Hooker or a Howlin Wolf; we’ve had the students so therefore we should hear the teachers. “I Don’t Live Today” is a highlight for me because of the way that the three of them can sound like a whole stage full of musicians, much like how Jack and Meg White make magic happen today with the White Stripes. The backwards guitar on “Are You Experienced” is so outside of the box and showed that Jimi was not holding back on what he was willing to try sonically; very forward thinking and impressive for a debut.
Hallucinogenic drugs were the fuel for this new psychedelic sound and Jimi embraced it wholeheartedly. “EXP” serves as a last chance for the listener to get off the hazy, woozy, trip that Jimi is about to lay on them with Axis: Bold As Love. Mitch, Noel and Jimi work beautifully together to put a thick thump to “Spanish Castle Magic”. “Little Wing” is my favorite Hendrix song ever, only to be followed by my second favorite track “If 6 was 9”; with these tracks together Jimi is piloting this slowly ascending plane of electric funk and curiosity that crescendos with this wail that I’ve still never heard come from a guitar to this day. Jimi’s voice has such a unique quality that makes it wonderful; for a man that never lived to see the age of 30, the tread on his tires was worn thin and the advanced age in his voice made him stand-out from his peers. “One Rainy Wish” is a great example of Jimi segueing from crooning to howling and sustaining a powerful presence with his voice.
“Electric Ladyland” starts off as Axis did with a loud, obnoxious intro. While I know it is to emphasize the music that is coming ahead I still dislike it strongly. “Voodoo Chile” is very sultry. I love the bluesy aspect of the song, and the fact that it has a simplistic drum beat, so it’s really just Jimi and the guitar doing all the talking. Of course until you get to the chorus and then all hell breaks loose. While I normally don’t like long songs, this one kept my interest the whole way through. When I first heard “Little Miss Strange” I thought that maybe the Beatles had collaborated with Hendrix on this song. It has a little bit more of a southern rock/pop sound to it. All in all it was not one of my favorites. “Gypsy Eyes” kind of reminds me of a White Stripes song. From the simple drum beat intro, to the awesome guitar solo’s it is so ahead of its time in so many aspects. As for my favorite song on the album it has to go to, “All along the Watchtower.” While the whole album is good, this song personifies greatness. From the face melting guitar solo’s to the emotion Jimi pours out as he is singing, you can’t get much better than this. I am sure Bob Dylan did not mind Jimi adding such emotional depth to his song. I once again could write a lot more but need to still get through the next album. I will, however, be giving this album another listen to in the very near future.
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to see that “Band of Gypsy’s” was a live album. I really like the message in “Who Knows.” The soldiers who go fight these wars for us, come back home to a world where people really have no idea the horrors that these men and woman have seen. It is neat to see the echoing aspect, and the crashing sounds of the cymbals. Not to mention even more stellar guitar playing. “Machine Gun” is the ultimate rock anthem to Vietnam, or any war for that matter. When it all comes down to it, we are fighting for all the wrong reasons. We are fighting the war that, “The Man” wants us to fight. Jimi’s fingers had to bleeding after playing this song, it was insane the sounds he could create. There is so much emotion tied to this song, and you could really tell that Jimi wanted to make sure he got his point across and put a lot of heart into it. Through this whole week I have been thinking how awesome it would have been to see Jimi in concert, and this album goes to show it would have been one heck of a spectacle. I like how each of the songs on the album don’t have quite as many lyrics, so that the guitar is really the star of the show.
ReplyDeleteI am very appreciative for the artist choice this week. It is hard to imagine what else Jimi would have put out if he was still around today, since he was already so ahead of his time. To think about what he accomplished in a matter of a few years, and how so many artists will never even come close to the genius that he was. All I can say is that he is definitely the greatest guitar player that ever lived.
Once again, on Electric Ladyland Jimi starts us off with not so much an opening track but more like an album genesis with “…And the Gods Made Love”. “Have You Ever Been” stacks up well with the great r&b hits from the likes of The Moments, Temprees, and The Originals; it seems like this track was placed on here to merely show how flawlessly Jimi and the Experience could switch their style. Every single second of the 15 minute “Voodoo Chile” seems necessary and not needless or repetitive, pure fucking jamming! “Gypsy Eyes” is very eerie as Jimi’s voice sounds A LOT like Anthony Kiedis of the RHCP; their album Mother’s Milk immediately came to mind for some reason, so when I went to Amazon.com to skim through it, I see that the remastered version has live tracks of the Chili Peppers doing “Crosstown Traffic” and “Castles Made of Sand”. Weird. “1983” paints the picture of a scary not so distant future; once again the political climate and the drug use probably helped manifest these images of walking into the sea as an escape from the ugliness of what seemed like never ending war. “Watchtower” is a Dylan song, most people recognize it as Jimi’s because of his musical interpretation of it; I’ve seen Dylan and his band perform this live and they do Jimi’s version, it’s badass and shows how greatness recognizes greatness.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t know what to expect going into Band Of Gypsy’s because live albums can fall at either ends of the spectrum. “Machine Gun” quells any fears of this being a sub-par outing; it has a very ominous feeling with Jimi providing the gunfire. Buddy Miles’ drums take center stage on this album, Pat Carney of the Black Keys and Meg of the White Stripes are torchbearers of his punishing, refuse to be ignored thumping. This, more than any of the other albums, seems like a real group effort. “We Gotta Live Together” is super funky, especially at the end where everyone plays like they’re catching the Holy Ghost at a Sunday morning service, absolutely insane. I wanted this album to go on forever. They broke the mold when they made Jimi, I think his ability to play an electric guitar upside down is only superseded by Beethoven’s ability to compose while being almost completely deaf.
Prior to this week, I have had very little exposure to Jimi Hendrix. I have often heard him referred to as the greatest guitar player every, so I was pretty stoked to get more familiar with his work. As I result of little exposure, I had no idea which songs he had written. When I popped in Are You Experienced?, I was quite surprised at how many of these tracks I had heard before, whether it was his version or another. While his voice isn’t the greatest, the guitar riffs are some of the most recognizable out there. It is difficult for me to put myself in a time where I haven’t heard sounds from a guitar like this before, but considering the era this came out, I can see why this album got the hype that it did. That being said, I am actually much more impressed with Mitch Mitchell’s drumming. It is quite difficult for lyrics solely about drug trips to touch a nerve with me. As a result, I focused on the music and not the vocals on this album. The bluesy feel and the masterful guitar work called for a really easy listen that often had me jamming out as best that I could in my cube. This was a fun listen and I really enjoyed I Don’t Live Today, The Wind Cries Mary, Fire, and the underlying riff in Foxey Lady.
ReplyDeleteThroughout most of Axis: Bold as Love, it just felt like the focus was more on the songwriting and lyrics than showing off the band’s talents on the instruments. I get the feeling that they felt they already broke the mode with their sound and they wanted to demonstrate that they were a more complete group. It is probably not fair to compare this effort to Are You Experienced, but I did not feel that this was even on the same playing field. There were a few standouts in Spanish Castle Magic, Ain’t No Telling, Little Miss Lover and perhaps Up from the Skies, but the rest of it was an attempt at psychedelic that came up short for me. Mitch Mitchell was once again the shining star on most of these, especially on She’ So Fine.
Electric LadyLand starts off on the wrong foot for me with Have You Ever Been. This was probably the worst song of the week for me. However, Crosstown traffic was a step back in the right direction. I can’t help but compare his vocals to those of Wesley Willis on several tracks on this album. If I like the artist, then long tracks are usually my favorites and Voodoo Chile was just that. This album was some of Jimi’s best work on the guitar working for almost 15 minutes. I could listen to this track over and over for a week straight. Come on (Let the Good Times Roll), Gypsy Eyes, and Still Raining, Still Dreaming were just as good. It wasn’t until All Along the Watchtower, that I was truly blown away. It seems like I have heard this title before, but this week was the first time that I had heard this track and with each listen it is moving up my all-time favorites list. Throw in Voodoo Child and this album starts getting included in the discussion of my all-time favorite albums. From most of the reviews I have read, Are You Experienced is said to be his best work, but this effort was better for me 10 fold.
ReplyDeleteMuch like the live album from the Allman Brothers, this is an album full of super long tracks that are essentially jam out sessions. Perhaps it is something this is a requirement to play at Fillmore East, but hey, I am not complaining. Power to Love has a fantastic intro that flat out rocks. The passion displayed in Machine Gun is unmatched in any of his previous work. Who Knows, Changes, and Message to Love all sound the same to me, but the are still solid tracks. The low moment for me is the closing track of We Gotta Live Together. This sounded more like a Parliament song to me than a Jimi Hendrix song.
Needless to say, this has been an eye-opening week for me. While releasing 4 albums in 4 years, it is quite remarkable to have 4 distinct sounds. I will have to spend more time at his display in the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame next time I go. Great Pick.
Jimi Hendrix is cool. That's how I'd like to sum up this week. There is a confidence about him as he's off in his own little world doing what very few people can do with the guitar, that just gets to people. I even felt cool while listening to it. Possibly, you could even go so far as to say Jimi Hendrix is magic (like kitties... except only David gets that).
ReplyDeleteI listened to these albums out of order, as well as a fifth that I ripped off David's computer, and enjoyed "Are You Experienced" probably the most. Everyone knows about "Purple Haze" - I even drank a beer once called Purple Haze, which contained raspberry puree - so this was a good start to my listening experience as most music tends to grow on me with familiarity. Going on, I can imagine this music live could blow a person's mind, especially if that person was on drugs. Something I mentioned with Simon and Garfunkel... everything seems "far away," creating a kind of dreamy, intoxicated feeling - except that guitar, which is kind of in your face. It's like a hurricane of mind-blowing riffs that attacks your senses and leaves you speechless. The amount of talent this guy has just seems limitless. My other fave track on the album was "The Wind Cries Mary," which is just laid back and smooth.
Moving onto "Axis," the first track is kind of nerve wracking, but interesting in a strange way. From there, the album moves into a funkier direction. Strong tracks here include: "Wait Until Tomorrow," "If 6 Was 9" and "Castles Made of Sand." I can say one thing, it seems all the way through that he knows the kind of artist he is, and although you can hear small differences, he never really strays from that.
"Electric Ladyland" was my favorite of the bunch. "All Along the Watchtower" has been redone over and over, but, probably because of my love for Forrest Gump, this one will always remain the best version. What can I say? The song is badass, from the strong worded lyrics and vocal delivery (which is amazing in this song by the way) to the all-consuming guitar. I should confess here that I knew this song, and I knew Jimi Hendrix sang "All Along the Watchtower" but I never knew it was this song. That coolness translates throughout the rest.
Where I previously mentioned that seeing Hendrix live would have been lifechanging, "Band of Gypsies" gives us a taste of that. I think the guitar stands out a little better on this album than in the others, which I would expect from a live album.