CD Odyssey Disc 1928: Jimi Hendrix

As of today I am on holiday! My first official act (my second if you count that rum and coke last night) will be to do one of my favourite things – write a music review.

Disc 1928 is…Are you Experienced

Artist: The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Year of Release: 1967

What’s up with the Cover? Trippy convex mirror action. This reminds me of Thin Lizzy’s first album (reviewed back at Disc 1251) although with people in fancy clothes instead of cars.

It also reminds me of the mirror on the blind corner of my parking lot to let you know if any cars are coming before you pull out.

Good for both the art world and the real world - all hail the flexibility of the convex mirror! But I digress…

How I Came To Know It: Everyone knows the songs off this iconic record, although I didn’t buy it until it was re-released about 15 years ago in a fancy new CD package. That’s how it was in the golden age of CDs, where the wise were out buying records at garage sales for $5 and the unwise were still collecting tapes and hoping for a comeback.

How It Stacks Up: I have three Jimi Hendrix studio albums, which is – sadly – all of them. Of those three, “Are You Experienced” is the best. There are people who may dispute that, but those people are wrong.

As this is the final Jimi review for my collection, here’s a full accounting*

1. Are You Experienced: 5 stars (reviewed right here)
2. Axis: Bold as Love: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1638)
3. Electric Ladyland: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 766)

*If you go and look at these reviews, you’ll see that I stubbornly put “Axis” in third, but if it is 4 stars, and Ladyland is 3, then that just makes no sense whatsoever. The Odyssey is a fluid experience, dear reader, and the final determination of how a record stacks up is at the end of each journey, so despite the err…er…’discrepancy’, the list above is the definitive one.

Ratings: 5 stars, but only because my ranking system only goes to 5.

“Are You Experienced” is one of the greatest records ever made. It reinvents what can be done with rock and roll, fearlessly blending genres sounds, and melodic structures, all the while showcasing some of the finest performances ever recorded in a studio. This is what perfect sounds like, and it sounds good.

Where do you start with one of the most iconic records ever recorded? Well, for starters, you probably know half these songs already from hearing them in a hundred places. When one of those hits comes on (“Purple Haze”, “Hey, Joe”, “Foxey Lady”) you never think “oh, no – not this one”. You might be at a diner, you might be at a pub, or you might be watching a movie that has (wisely) grabbed one of these for the soundtrack, but wherever you are, you will not blithely move along. You will stop, take notice, and think once again, ‘wow – great song’.

We’ll get into the “deep” cuts in a second, but let’s start with these songs. “Purple Haze” launches the record (at least the North American release as well as the blended/extended CD version that I am reviewing here). That opening guitar riff is as famous as “Smoke on the Water” and a lot more interesting. Jimi could’ve just let that be the song and it would still be a classic, but nope – he switches it into second killer riff (a third if you count that two note intro tag) and then morphs into a crazy psychedelic solo.

He does all of this in two minutes and fifty seconds. In under three minutes, Hendrix reinvents rock and roll, shows off on the guitar and makes every human for fifty years after look across the table at their lunch companion and sing “Purple haze!” with their best sneer.

At the other end of the spectrum you get “Hey Joe,” where Hendrix shows off his deep literacy with the blues in all its forms. The list of “man kills his woman” blues songs is long and illustrious, and yet this is the best of them. As is the case on a few of the songs on “Are You Experienced”, “Hey Joe” fades out with the musicians still going off. Usually this is the sign of a melody that doesn’t know to resolve but with Jimi, all is forgiven. The song is too awesome to know how or where to end and besides – if you heard the whole extended riff your brain would probably explode in ecstasy. That fade out isn’t a cop out– it’s a safety feature.

As for “Foxey Lady” believe it or not, it didn’t even originally chart above 67. But when I put it in the “three big hits” section earlier you didn’t question it for a second, did you? That’s how great it is. The third top ten hit is actually “The Wind Cries Mary” which is fucking awesome, but I’m running of space here and we need to move along.

Every listen to this record brings me a new joy and new favourite song. This time I enjoyed the warm bath of Jimi’s slow jam “May This Be Love” and the discordant glory of “Manic Depression”. The structure of this song bounces high and low and skips the connective tissue in between, making it a deeply evocative depiction of the subject matter. This approach would make a lesser song unlistenable, but instead it pulls you into discomfort and makes you like it.

“Manic Depression” is also one of many songs showcasing the record’s drummer, Mitch Mitchell. Mitchell’s drumming on this song (and this record) is as great an individual performance as you will hear on any record. Blending jazz and rock and hitting beats that don’t just fill space with interesting flourishes, but rewrite ways you can keep the beat. There aren’t many musicians that can go toe to toe with Hendrix’s guitar. Mitchell not only holds his own, he’s a big part of what makes the record great.

OK, we’re almost done with all this fanboy action (for which I am unapologetic), but on a personal note, it was very cool while I was grooving through the meandering but masterful “3^rd Stone from the Sun” to hear Jimi use the expression “superior cackling hen”. This is the title of one of my favourite early nineties albums by the Bourbon Tabernacle Choir. (Disc 320). Yet one more brick in the road of inspiration this record has laid down for generations of musicians that have followed.

The iconoclast in me wanted to throw shade on this record – it’s my nature. Maybe the extended 17 track version was too much, or one of the songs was over-indulgent. Sadly, there were no gaps in the “Are You Experienced” excellence.

They forgot to punctuate the title? That’s all I got.

Best tracks: all tracks

CD Odyssey Disc 1638: Jimi Hendrix

Upon arriving at home today there was a CD in the mail! While my favourite way to buy albums is from my local record store (support local business!) there is also something fun about ordering things that arrive at random times days or weeks later. A little delayed gratification of the musical variety.

Today’s arrival was the new album from the Brother Brothers. Last week two Rick James and a Pat Benatar arrived (I was feeling old school). Some of these old albums can be hard to get on CD, and often the way they become available is through Japanese re-issues. For whatever reason Japan continues to embrace the CD. Yay, Japan!

Disc 1638 is…Axis: Bold as Love

Artist: Jimi Hendrix

Year of Release: 1967

What’s up with the Cover?  My edition of “Axis” Bold as Love” had two covers. One was a Giant Head cover, with Jimi looking all mysterious and artful. The other side of the booklet was the original art, which features a bunch of Indian religious iconography. According to Wikipedia (which as we know is never wrong) Jimi was disappointed in the Indian-inspired art, and so out of respect for his memory, I’ve opted for the Giant Head version.

If you want to see the original (warning – as noted above, this version takes liberties with Hindu religious iconography, so only look with that understanding), you can see it here

How I Came To Know It: Sheila doesn’t buy many albums, but many years ago she did a deep dive into Jimi Hendrix, buying all three of his classic albums. I’m glad she did!

How It Stacks Up: As just noted, we have all three of Jimi Hendrix’s studio albums. My friend Randall insists that “Axis: Bold as Love” is the best of these. With apologies to Randall, I rank it…third. Hopefully the fact that I still liked it a lot will salve any resulting offence.

Rating: 4 stars

There were many times listening to “Axis: Bold as Love” where I felt singularly unqualified to write about it. There is just too much going on here that I don’t fully understand. My musical vocabulary falls short. In summary this record is a panoply of musical styles and influences that leaves no stone unturned.

In lesser hands this “do whatever” attitude would have created a hot mess, but Jimi’s brilliance steers all the craziness safely home. His ecstatic love of music manages to fuse high art with the power of rock, then liberally sprinkling the resulting concoction with groove-juice. The result is a tossed salad of musical inspiration, heavily dressed.

It would be easy to focus on Hendrix’s mastery of the guitar. “Spanish Castle Magic” has reverb crunch and a perfect riff (and later an exquisite solo) and “Wait Until Tomorrow” has a light funky groove that shows Jimi can take any style and make it to his own.

Later Jimi will work a sixties hippy vibe on tunes like “You Got Me Floatin’” where he channels early Kinks and the Who and then brushes his guitar mastery all over the tune. Hendrix’s compositions are like an Impressionist painting of what rock and roll sounds like. It isn’t any single distinct image, or even collection of images, but the whole pastiche leaves you with something greater than the sum of its parts.

The record also features one of my favourite Hendrix tunes, “Castles Made of Sand”. If there is a better song about how the random universe can sometimes suck, I can’t think of it. This tune is a bummer about how things don’t always work out and where everything emphatically does not happen for a reason. That’s OK though. The song may make you confront an uncaring universe, but never was that meaninglessness groovier.

The album is not perfect, mostly because as brilliant as Jimi is, sometimes he’s too clever for his own good. The opening skit “EXP” is a goofy exploration of “alien appears on a radio station”. Ten years later the Carpenters would make this idea work (kind-of) on their cover of “Calling Occupants” but Hendrix’s “EXP” is before its time in a not-good way.

Also, some of the songs descend into a noodle so overcooked that even Jimi can’t get it to stick to the wall. Case in point is the overrated “If 6 was 9”. The first half of this song is all kinds of awesome, and vintage Jimi. The second half is a Doors-worthy journey into self wankery, culminating in some sort of flute/whistle that sounds like someone throttling a songbird. Proof that even the great Jimi Hendrix can overdo it.

However, that is a very small moment in what is overall a very great record by someone who helped change rock and roll for the better. Thanks for all the awesome stuff, Jimi. This record is bold as love, and I’d have it no other way.

Best tracks: Spanish Castle Magic, Wait Until Tomorrow, Castles Made of Sand, One Rainy Wish, Little Miss Lover

CD Odyssey Disc 766: Jimi Hendrix

After an enjoyable long weekend it was back to work – but that also meant it was back to getting some walking time in, so I was able to finally finish listening to this next album.

Disc 766 is….Electric Ladyland

Artist: Jimi Hendrix

Year of Release: 1968

What’s up with the Cover? The U.K, release of this record had a cover with a bunch of naked ladies on it, but I had to settle for this American cover of Jimi’s Giant Head.

How I Came To Know It: Sheila saw the special edition of this album and “Are You Experienced” and bought them both.

How It Stacks Up: We have all three of Hendrix’s studio albums – he died before he could make any more. I’d put “Electric Ladyland” right in the middle at #2.

Ratings: 3 stars

“Electric Ladyland” is a three star album on the strength of its artistry, even though at times it felt like a chore to listen to it from start to finish.

The talent of Hendrix and his supporting band (“The Experience”) is on full display. These guys can really play, and in terms of rock guitar, Jimi not only invented a style, he did is so well no one has ever successfully emulated it.

That said, a bit of restraint here and there might be called for. I know it is 1968 and everything, but it feels like this record is about getting really high and then challenging yourself to still make amazing music. The band is incredibly talented for sure, but they also sound like they got really really high. The struggle for direction that results is beautiful a lot of the time, but painful for the rest of it.

Being that high (or at least channeling the idea) leads to a lot of musical meandering – enough to stretch the recording to a double album – but not all that meandering needed to make it onto the finished product. The cutting room floor of the studio was probably so clear of litter you could’ve eaten dinner off of it.

After a strange and pointless intro number, the first real song is the sexy-as-hell “Have You Ever Been to (Electric Ladyland).” This song is just two minutes long because as the Flying Concords teach us, “two minutes in heaven is better than one minute in heaven.”

And a few songs later, you get fourteen minutes of aimless but brilliant noodling on “Voodoo Chile.” This song just goes on and on like the swaying drunk late at a party who just doesn’t have sense enough to call himself a cab and go home. About 11 minutes in I thought it was going to end when the guitar amp starting kicking up some feedback, someone calling for it to be turned down. They don’t stop the song because of this, though. Hell no, they aren’t going to waste 11 minutes of perfectly good noodle.

And that’s the worst part of this record; the noodling and the excess are so masterfully done they encourage a generation of rockers who follow to try to accomplish the same. Most will spectacularly fail. Hendrix was the noodler that shook the world.

Despite the brilliance of “Voodoo Chile” I much prefer the stripped down four minute version, “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” which shows up as the last song on the collect three album sides later. I don’t just like it because it is spelled correctly, either (although that doesn’t hurt). I appreciated that it has a modicum of focus to its brilliance.

Maybe after the sexy slow number and the acid-fuelled noodle you think you have a handle on this album’s sound. Nope. Jimi throws you for a loop again, with “Little Miss Strange,” a song that sounds like a cross between Buddy Holly and the Who which is a goofy little song that has been Jimi-fied with guitar brilliance. Jimi has no business sounding this good on a track that pointless, but he does it anyway.

The album’s greatest song is a Hendrix classic (and Sheila favourite) “Crosstown Traffic” which is a perfect rock song despite Jimi’s insistence on experimenting with stereo. (“Check it out – the traffic is in your left ear – and now your right ear! Far out!”). “Crosstown Traffic” perfectly blends the frustration of a traffic jam with the frustration of not being able to communicate in a relationship. It is a masterpiece of rock and roll.

Later, Jimi and the boys (presumably after smoking/dropping some more of whatever they are smoking/dropping) give us the album’s second epic, this one the thirteen and a half minute “1983…A Merman I Should Turn Out to Be” which is apparently how Jimi sees the future. 1983 was sadly not nearly as interesting as Jimi’s marine adventure imagined it would be. This song has strange percussion, odd whistles, fun with stereo (again!) and all manner of other bat-shit craziness. I kind of liked it, but I don’t think I’d want to sit around and listen to it very often.

With all this innovation – good, bad and crazy – I am loathe to even mention the appearance of a cover song, but it would be wrong to ignore Hendrix’s classic cover of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower.” Better than the original (which is great) there is a reason this song is forty-seven years old and still sounds fresh and new. Jimi may never have played the guitar better, which is a frightening prospect.

This album is a great example of Jimi Hendrix doing whatever the hell he wanted. At every turn his genius is on full display. I’d like to cut the whole thing down to one record and 40 minutes but maybe that would just wreck it.

Best tracks: Crosstown Traffic, Gypsy Eyes, House Burning Down, All Along the Watchtower, Voodoo Child (Slight Return), 

CD Odyssey Disc 365: Jimi Hendrix

With this next album I have finally escaped the run of pop music I've been on. I like some pop music (obviously) but it is rock and roll that recharges my batteries.

Disc 365 is...Experience Hendrix: The Best of Jimi Hendrix
Artist: Jimi Hendrix

Year of Release: 1997 but with music from 1967-1968

What’s Up With The Cover?: A picture of Jimi looking cool, as he often does. I like this cover, but it doesn't lend itself to a lot of editorial comment, and so...

How I Came To Know It: If you don't know who Jimi Hendrix is, I can only assume you live under a rock. I do not live under a rock. That said, I went many years before I finally bought some Jimi for my collection - probably about fifteen years ago, shortly after this album came out.

How It Stacks Up: This is a 'best of' so it doesn't stack up. Those are the rules of the Odyssey, jerky! That said, it is also the only Jimi in my collection, although I've been meaning to pick some individual albums up.

Rating: n/a. I don't rate 'best of' records, because they are compilations and by their nature, not as the artist intended. This blog rates albums only, not compilations.

If you are going to break down and get a compilation album - and we're all guilty of that sin from time to time - then I've got a few helpful hints for you.

First, make sure you get a good recording. There are a lot of suspect records out there, with cheap production values that were pumped out in the early nineties when there was a rush to switch format from tape and record to CD. One thing to generally avoid is any CD that has the songs listed in block letters on the back in a white box, surrounded by some washed out colour. Instead, look for a later release (late nineties is good) when companies were remastering their recordings in to sound better on disc (and to sucker folks into buying them a second time as well).

Second, avoid those albums where there is only ten to twelve songs. I'm not saying you have to buy a 5 CD boxed set, but look for something with a good 20 songs, even if it is on a couple of discs and costs a few dollars more. Even though you won't know these extra songs as well as the recognizable hits, they are going to give you a much better and well-rounded sense of the artist. Cheap compilations are marketed at people who don't really care about music and just want something to go camping with. The larger, slightly pricier versions are for people looking for something beyond "Purple Haze" and that's you. How do I know that's you? Well, you're still reading, aren't you?

This particular compilation of Hendrix passes both tests. There are twenty songs (usually a cardinal sin, but acceptable on a greatest hits package) which is a goodly number. The front half of the record is heavy with Jimi's hits: "Purple Haze", "Fire," "Hey Joe," Foxey Lady" etc.

The hits are excellent, and testament to how famous Hendrix became despite his very short career (only three studio albums before his untimely death). I'm not going to dwell on them because lots has already been said about them.

The latter half of the album is laden with some interesting deeper cuts, at least to a casual fan like me. The bluesy "Red House," the lascivious "Bold As Love" and the incredible guitar on "Nightbird Flying" where Jimi demonstrates yet again that he is an undisputed master - the second greatest practitioner of that black and eldritch instrument that is the electric guitar. Sorry, Jimi - I've got to give the title to Mark Knopfler, although listening to him wail on "Nightbird Flying" my confidence in that judgment call was sorely tested.

Hendrix would have revolutionized guitar rock if he'd played these songs in 1978. The fact that he was doing it ten years earlier blows the mind. Into the usual rock and blues mixture he adds in elements of jazz and soul to make a sound that is unique to him.

For me, his rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" is second only to Leonard Cohen's "Democracy" in wrapping all of the great and not-so-great things about the USA into a big ball that is both indictment and love song. Cohen does it with lyrics, but Jimi lets his guitar do all the talking.

Vocally, Jimi does gets short shrift, but only because his virtuosity on the guitar overshadows his voice. However, like Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy, Jimi pour every ounce of himself into these songs. When he sings "Hey Joe, where you goin' with that gun in your hand?" you can feel the yearning, and the ominous feeling that something terrible is going to happen. He takes Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower" all his own, to the point that nowadays most people think it is his song.

My favourite deep track on this record is "Dolly Dagger," a character study of a passionate and self-confident woman:

"Here comes Dolly Dagger
Her love's so heavy gonna make you stagger.
Dolly Dagger, she drinks her blood from the jagged edge
Aah...drink up baby!

"Been ridin' broom sticks since she was fifteen
Blowin' out all the other witches on the scene
She got a bullwhip just as long as your life
Her tongue can even scratch the soul out of the devil's wife."

That is some dirty stuff, and Jimi lays it down with a fervour that leaves you seeing Dolly walking down the sidewalk toward you. You want to take a good look and give her a smile, but ultimately you lose your nerve in the face of such a woman and stare at your feet as she walks by.

Of course, Jimi never walked by the subject of a good song without looking it in the eye. He wrote a ton of them in his short life, and this compilation is a worthy example of that work.

He's only got three studio records and I'll probably get them all before I'm done, but even when I'm finished, many of these tracks are one-offs from other sources, and having them all in one place is a good thing. Even if it means breaking with my usual low opinion of compilations.

Best tracks: So many, but here goes: Purple Haze, Fire, The Wind Cries Mary, Hey Joe, All Along The Watchtower, Stone Free, Crosstown Traffic, Foxey Lady, Bold As Love, Castles Made of Sand, Voodoo Child, Nightbird Flying, Dolly Dagger, Star Spangled Banner. If you're keeping track, that's 14 of the 20 tracks, but what can you do? It is a best of...