The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced

As emblematic of its time as of its sorcerer-like creator, 1967's Are You Experienced unleashed Jimi Hendrix onto a world in the midst of such cultural and musical shakeups that it really didn't seem as "far out" as it actually was. It wasn't just Hendrix's virtuosic skill as a pure player that was so impressive; it was, even more, the range and scope of sheer sound that he coaxed, cajoled, and ripped out of his instrument. "Purple Haze," "Manic Depression," and "I Don't Live Today" filled ears with indelible sonic images, and songs like "Foxey Lady" and "Fire" pointed the way toward a new brand of rock-charged soul music. And how about a hand for drummer Mitch Mitchell? --Billy Altman Amazon.com essential recording

 aaahhhooo there ain't no life nowhere...
The question of how Jimi Hendrix came by his revolutionary approach to electric guitar playing is so often asked, but the question is almost always merely rhetorical with no clue of how to even approach answering it. I think the main reason why the question still seems so mysterious and impenetrable has to do with the fact that even though Hendrix has such enduring and widespread fame, the essential characteristic of Hendrix the artist is facilely dismissed just as often as that question is asked. I am referring to the fact that Hendrix was a psychedelic artist and all things psychedelic have become to so many people just a joke. But it was not a joke to Hendrix and if you don't understand this then you can't understand how he created his way of guitar playing or the real essence of his greatness.
Hendrix developed his skill on the guitar in an environment that was dominated by blues, R&B, soul, and evolving pre-psychedelic rock music, and he absorbed and totally mastered all these ways of playing, but none of them really reflected the sounds and voices he heard deep inside himself. As that seed of his artistic vision began to open and flower he was driven to find ways to reflect it with his chosen artistic tool, the guitar. The rock groups that are often categorized as early psychedelic, such as The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, Country Joe and The Fish, and The Beatles of Sgt. Pepper's have some legitimacy in being so categorized in terms of the overall thrust of their work, but there is no true psychedelic guitar in any of these bands. Hendrix was the first with a vision of psychedelic guitar and it actually dominated his sensibility before he knew how to express it. As he learned how to express it, psychedelic guitar music came into existence. Hendrix mastered blues guitar and rock guitar, but he wasn't a blues artist or an ordinary rock artist. The blues did not express the artistic vision that Hendrix carried inside himself and neither did pre-psychedelic guitar rock. And again it must be remembered that Hendrix wasn't influenced by psychedelic guitar art because it didn't really exist yet, he was the primary creator of it. The closest thing to the psychedelic guitar before Hendrix was the work that Jeff Beck did during his eighteen months with The Yardbirds in '65 and '66, the work Pete Townshend was doing in `66, and there was a Texas band called The 13th Floor Elevators who also developed a guitar sound that somewhat approached what Hendrix would completely open up. But Hendrix was the first with a full vision of psychedelic electric guitar art and his realization of this vision is what makes Hendrix great, it is not his skill as a blues guitarist or a blues-rock guitarist. Only people who think of Hendrix as primarily a blues or a blues-rock guitarist are baffled by the question where he got his approach to the electric guitar and these are the people who tend to dismiss everything psychedelic.
What makes ARE YOU EXPERIENCED such an important recording is that its ground, its foundation, is not the blues and rock elements that are contained in it. Those elements have been completely swallowed by the psychedelic vision that has found manifestation here. Without this vision there is no ARE YOU EXPERIENCED, no AXIS: BOLD AS LOVE, no ELECTRIC LADYLAND. These are all examples of great psychedelic art, not blues art or mere rock art.
So what did psychedelic mean to Hendrix? It meant creating patterned musical sounds by means of the electricity running through a guitar that could penetrate into and help open up into consciousness deeper psycho-somatic realities of the human being than were ordinarily allowed into consciousness by the habits, rituals, and laws of "straight" society, that dreary domain where "there ain't no life nowhere." It meant crossing over into what Hendrix called "experience" and really learning that the love of power needs to be replaced by the power of love. If this psychedelic vision of art makes you wince with embarrassment then you don't really know or understand Jimi Hendrix who asks, ARE YOU EXPERIENCED?, you only know what you have remade in your own mind for your own comfort, that hallucination of "straight" society called the greatest blues-rock guitarist. Forget that guy, he's a lifeless figment. Instead, tilt the axis, take the hand of the Voodoo Child, the Merman, and come across into Experience, into Electric Psychedelic Land. Do I hear laughter? "Let them laugh..." May this be love.
April 5, 2008

 CLASSIC JIMI HENDRIX: AM I EXPERIENCED? YES
Are You Experienced is classic Jimi Hendrix and am I experienced? Yes. Is Metallica experienced? Yes. Is even Joe Satriani experienced? Yes. All of them are experienced. He experienced a lot of guitarists. Just the other day I got this album on the original LP to frame and it was still in nice condition from over 40 years ago. These days, I've been loving this CD and singing Purple Haze along with the lyrics, by now I know all the words to Purple Haze and I can sing even better than him, I was going to record that song on a tape eventually. I also sang songs to The Wind Cries Mary, Fire, and Foxey Lady. Fire is a lot harder for me to sing though, it's faster lyrics. Hey Joe is a great song, but I don't like the lyrics, the lyrics contain a lot of violence and I don't sing that song but I like the beat and it is still really great. 3rd Stone From the Sun is almost a Jimi Hendrix instrumental which if you close your eyes, you can feel like your going out in space. If you are experienced, you must add this album to every collection, this and Electric Ladyland are excellent. This legendary guitarist is awesome and we all really loved him. Happy Easter, Hendrix! March 22, 2008

 RU Serious?
Cr@$#!!! "Chris" CRADDOCK, the Honky Tonk Starbucks Realtor, says:
"1967 was quite a year for music, and no one had as much impact as guitar virtuoso and song writing genius, Jimi Hendrix. He was a super nova who would blaze across the sky, leaving much too soon, but leaving some wonderful music behind."

Electric Ladyland

Axis: Bold as Love

Band Of Gypsys

Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix - Signature Licks

Jimi Hendrix - Volume 2: A Step-by-Step Breakdown of His Guitar Styles and Techniques (Guitar Signature Licks)

Jimi Hendrix Experience - Smash Hits: Guitar Play-Along Volume 47 (Hal Leonard Guitar Play-Along)

Jimi Plays Berkeley

Jimi Hendrix - Band of Gypsys (Live at the Fillmore East)

Jimi Hendrix - Rainbow Bridge

Excuse me while I kiss the sky.
March 7, 2008

 This album will expand your mind
I hate people that say, "Hendrix wasn't a good guitar player, my friend can play his stuff." (Or something similar.) The thing was that JH was much more than a great guitar player, he was also an amazing song writer; and song writing and guitar playing are totally different. You can feel his emotions on this album without listening to the words being sung. It's like the music is playing him in a way. Most of my friends prefer "Electric Ladyland" to this album, but I think this has sort of a "heavier" sound to it, which is what I prefer. I would also recommend this if you are new to Hendrix. If you are a guitar player, they also sell the transcribed score book if you're up for a challenge and want to play along. March 5, 2008

 Why this is one of the greatest rock albums of all
By far one of the greatest rock albums ever even made and i'll tell you why. Its one of those few albums that come with no bad songs or no songs that need something else too it. Are You Experiecned is also one of the few debut albums that came out with a lot of his most known songs for example, Purple Haze, Hey Joe, Foxey Lady, Fire, and The Wind Cries Mary. Therefore this album is great for beginning rock fans or people who want a good decent rock album worth the money,
1. Purple Haze, perhaps the most known song by Jimi Hendrix its one of the greatest on the whole album a song thats really about whatever you want it to be but Jimi Hendrix claimed that it was based of a dream he had when he walked under the sea. With a very heavy psychedelic kind of beat its a true gem way, 5/5 stars
2. Manic Depression, a great classic heavy song when Mitch Mitchell(Drummer) and Jimi Hendrix both are just playing a really heavy kind of fast beat too, and Noel Redding is keeping the beat possible. Its a great song, 5/5 stars
3. Hey Joe, the song that got Jimi Hendrix all started out when he went out to England because his producer Chas Chandler was there. Its actullay a tribute song but Jimi Hendrix really made the song his own. One of the more lighter songs on here it still is a great song and one of the all time classic Jimi Hendrix songs of all time, 5/5 stars
4. Love or Confusion, a more psychedelic song than the other three it still is a great song with a really good 60s beat to it, it may last only 2:35 but it still is a great Hendrix song, 5/5 stars
5. May This Be Love, a great beat on the tom tom drums on this song, Mitch Mitchell really keeps a steady good beat going and Jimi Hendrix is singing and playing the guitar and everything and Noel Redding just playing the bass, the guitars are the icing on the cake with this song. Another lighter song on this album it still is a great song and along with Love or Confusion its one of the less known songs but everyones heard these songs if they listened Are You Experienced. 5/5 stars
6. I Don't Live Today, a great song, cool drum beat to it and great vocals. It has a very classic sound to it its just a great all around song, 5/5 stars
7. The Wind Cries Mary, this is like the sister to Hey Joe anyways this one of the other more softer songs by Jimi Hendrix but it still is a classic song. It has a great upbeat beat to it and is really kind of soft a true classic song. To check out a really good version of this song check out live at monterey, that CD has a really great version of it, 5/5 stars
8. Fire, this song is a great classic Hendrix song. First off this shows how fast Mitch Mitchell was as a drummer and shows really fast crazy rudiment beats or whatever. The guitar is good but it dosent show any solos so you can say this song is more drums than guitar but the guitar is like the icing on the cake with this song, a true classic, 5/5 stars
9. Third Stone From The Sun, this song shows Jimi Hendrix's intrest in UFO's and space. A great jam song, it starts off with a really interstellar beat to it and than towards the last 2 minutes it goes into a part where the drums sound really cool and Jimi Hendrix is making these really cool weird noises with his guitar, probaly about the aliens in this song, and its the longest song on the album clocking in at 6 minutes and over, 5/5 stars
10. Foxey Lady, another hard rock song by the one and only Jimi Hendrix. This has a very heavy beat to it and has a great sound to the song with the cool guitar and the drums are good on this too. Great song theres nothing else to say, 5/5 stars
11. Are You Experienced, the most psychedelic song on the whole album this song is a very late 60s drug influenced type of song(hint:for more psychedelic hendrix check out electric ladyland) Anyways this song is a great song having weird guitar noises and a very steady beat on the drums. A great song though they only played it live a few times. A great classic 60s rock song way, this song is a great one a true classic you have to hear this song if you listen to jimi hendrix, 5/5 stars
All in all Are You Experienced is a must have for any rock fan alike wether you just have it on your iPod or just have it on a CD-R whatever it is it dosent matter as long as you have access to this album, and trust me you have to hear this stuff.
R.I.P. JIMI HENDRIX 1942-1970 March 2, 2008

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