Album Club - Week 71 The Jimi Hendrix Experience Axis Bold of Love

[John]

One of the 20th Century icons has to be Jimi Hendrix. Jimi redefined what was possible on the guitar, with his control of feedback, playing the guitar upside down and his stage presence and wild showmanship.
Axis Bold of Love is Jimi second album and has some fantastic tracks on it. Some of my favourites include Little Wing with its beautiful sounding chords, Castles Made of Sand (one of the tracks I want played at my funeral), Spanish Castle Magic, Wait Till Tomorrow and If 6 Was 9
http://open.spotify.com/album/3uFZf8rykoHo7XMIQVYW6r
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis:_Bold_as_Love
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[Rare Bird]

I wont listern because i have it already on CDee :( I really like the JH Experience fuzzies..Top marks from me.

[Barry]

10/10 from me! :)

[The Grand Wazoo]

Good choice John - not the most obvious Experience album to select, which is a good thing in my book!
I'm playing it now and thoroughly enjoying it as I always do.
It'll be a 10/10 from me, but this is an album that I think merits a bit of discussion beyond giving it a simple score.

It's very different from 'Are You Experienced' in that it was more carefully considered and perhaps a bit more sophisticated than the shot from the hip that the first album was.

It's also less of a guitar freaks event and certainly less indulgent than 'Electric Ladyland'.

[John]

For me it strikes a good balance
Jimi is still writing good songs and as you say it is not as guitar driven as the first album
You also hearing his influences playing with RnB bands on tracks like Little Wing I think what is often over looked is his song writing and for me this is another reason why I enjoy the album

[Bazil]

I've never been very keen on JH apart from the hits, I'll see if this can kick-start something.

[Firebottle]

I was 'brought up' on Hendrix, always loved the sheer talent of the man.

I was very lucky to go to the last Isle of Wight festival to feature Jimi as one of the lead acts.

I managed to blag my way into the 'security' enclosures behind the stage and was told which caravan the great man was expected at later.
A friend and myself lit a small camp fire outside this caravan, when Jimi arrived he said 'keep it burning' then came and sat by it after a while :D

Being quite young at the time I didn't have the balls to engage him in conversation :mental:

I was on the side of the stage for his performance later in the night, oh the memories.
:cool: Alan

[Macca]

My favourite Hendrix studio album. 10 out of 10, no question about it.

[Tim]

Can't really be anything other than 10/10 for me, Little Wing and If 6 was 9 are two of my favourite JH songs. I did have a listen this afternoon before scoring, but is was never going to be anything else TBH.

Nice shout John :)

[Rare Bird]

Chaps:
please bear in mind this is JH & the experience.

[Audioman]

After due consideration I had to give this 10 even though ELL and ABAL are arguably superior. Perhaps that suggests the need to adopt the Spinal Tap scale of marking !

[Barry]

After due consideration I had to give this 10 even though ELL and ABAL are arguably superior. Perhaps that suggests the need to adopt the Spinal Tap scale of marking !

But we are talking about ABAL ('Axis Bold as Love') :scratch:

[MartinT]

For me, the inclusion of Little Wing alone would be enough to give it full marks. An iconic and absolutely stellar song. You get some idea of its status by the number of very high quality covers that exist: Stevie Ray Vaughan, Snowy White and Sting's versions come to mind.

The rest of the album merits concentrated listening as there is so much going on. In fact, I keep hearing new things despite first listening to it as a teenager.

10/10, of course.

[Rare Bird]

All the three JHE fuzzies are superb, '1983' from 'Electric Ladyland' is one mean arse track. but as Chris the wazoo'd one pointed out 'Axis' need a more in depth discusion..

Im not a geetar fan but JH was a fookin legend

[John]

Cool stuff Andre
Noel for me allowed both Jimmy and Mitch to stretch out a bit

[lurcher]

Jimi is still writing good songs and as you say it is not as guitar driven as the first album

I would argue that ABAL was probably a more important recording in the history of the guitar than the first one, maybe less fiery that the first one, but guitar wise there was not much on the first one that others were not doing at the same time, it was just Hendrix was better at it. But with Little Wing and the title track a whole new vocabulary was added to the instrument (IMHO).

I have mixed feeling about Noel and Mitch, they were certainly perfect for the moment, as they were the ones that made the records, and I can't help thinking that the fact that Noel was somewhat limited on the bass was part of why Hendrix became as great as he did, there was no question who was "the man", and I think if (for example) Jack Bruce had got the job we would never have got to Electric Ladyland. I think by EL, Hendrix had outgrown the other two and was looking for players with a bigger pallet to bring to the table.

As for the poll 10/10 of course, BTW, I have yet to hear a CD of recording that was anywhere close to the original vinyl.

[John]

Agree with you view on Noel but Mitch was a good drummer and like you say they both were a important part of the band
I guess what I meant was it not as flashy on guitar as the first LP I love the chord voicing on Little Wing

[lurcher]

Agree with you view on Noel but Mitch was a good drummer and like you say they both were a important part of the band
I guess what I meant was it not as flashy on guitar as the first LP I love the chord voicing on Little Wing

Oh yes, don't get me wrong, Mitch was a very good drummer, but he wasn’t a "great" drummer compared to say (first names I thought of) Bonnom, Moon or Bruford.

[John]

Yes agree some great drummers

[WOStantonCS100]

Oh yes, don't get me wrong, Mitch was a very good drummer, but he wasn’t a "great" drummer compared to say (first names I thought of) Bonnom, Moon or Bruford.

I respectfully, totally, disagree. I do actually view Mitch as a great drummer. But, it takes fully knowing where he was coming from (ie. Elvin Jones and the jazz school) to appreciate it, in my view. We more readily accept it the other way 'round. Jazz/rock in the case of Jack DeJohnette (Miles) or Lenny White (RTF) seems okay because "jazz" is ?first?; it's supposed to be experimental and improvisational. When it's Rock/jazz (or whatever), as in the case of The Experience, it's less accepted because "rock" is ?first?. This is evident in the broader acceptance of the Band of Gypsies. It doesn't get much more straight up and down than Buddy Miles. Funky... powerful... rockin'... most definitely; but, imaginative and improvisatory; I don't think so. I love both iterations; but, I think there is a reason why Hendrix ultimately continued with Mitchell. Mitch was capable of moving with Hendrix' music in a free and organic manner that wasn't confined to the idiom of "r-n-b", "blues", "jazz" or "rock" for that matter, which I believe is exactly what Jimi wanted. A perfect example of how Mitchell moved with Hendrix would be to listen to his playing in the AYE days, bombastic in a sense and raw, just as Hendrix was... but the FROTNRS days... different story. IM?H?O it takes none other than a great drummer (yea, musician)with the skills and imagination that he had to follow a musical innovator such as Hendrix.

[Bazil]

Liked Castles Made of Sand and the Noel Redding track after, thats when it dawned on me why I'm not keen on JH , I don't like his voice.
No doubt he can play geetar, but bluesy guitar Clapton included is not my bag.

5/10

[Macca]

Hendrix didn't like his voice either, he wanted to get a singer in but Chas Chandler convinced him otherwise.

[John]

I actually like his voice I think it suits his music.

[MartinT]

Just listen to Hey Joe; no-one else could have sung that so well.

[Bazil]

Just listen to Hey Joe; no-one else could have sung that so well.

Well of course there are always exceptions, Hey Joe is a timeless classic and I certainly wouldn't want anybody else to sing it.

[The Grand Wazoo]

Plenty of others did sing it - The Leaves & Tim Rose, The Music Machine, Love, The Byrds and Standells, for example, all did it before Jimi - there were two ways of playing it:


Fast, like The Leaves:

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Or slow, like Tim Rose:

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[MartinT]

Interesting examples, thanks Chris. I far prefer Tim Rose's version but it still doesn't have the soul and sheer connection that Hendrix' version has.

[lurcher]

Its a diversion so I won't add a ink, but can't help but think of Zappa's Flower Punk now :-)

[Bazil]

Well of course there are always exceptions, Hey Joe is a timeless classic and I certainly wouldn't want anybody else to sing it.


Excuse my total ignorance of JH I assumed he wrote it and it was the original :doh:
That Tim Rose version is very good, I'll leave it there ;)

[Rare Bird]

I much prefer the Deep Purple version

[John]

Yes great version Love Ritchie playing on this and Jon keyboard playing

[MartinT]

That is a good version, Andr'e. Thanks for sharing.

[Canetoad]

I do love Hendrix! An 8 for me! :)