Hendrix Part Two: Bold As Love!!!

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen
Welcome to radio station EXP
Tonight we are featuring an interview with a very peculiar looking gentleman who goes by the name of Mr. Paul Caruso on the dodgy subject of are there or are there not flying saucers or UFOs?
Please Mr. Caruso, could you give us your regarded opinion on this nonsense about spaceships and even space people?

Thank you
As you well know you just can't believe everything you see and hear, can you?
Now, if you'll excuse me, I must be on my way

Bu, but, but
I don't believe it

Imagine hearing that short little ditty out of the speakers from your turntable.  In my case it was the cassette player but almost to the same effect.  It was actually the first record I got of Jimi Hendrix.  I was fifteen years old and my mother told me at the local department store where they had cassettes and CD's a few records I could one thing.  This was the opening track of the album Axis: Bold As Love.  There is no music except for the feedback from the "spaceship" from lifting off and going "on it's way."  The second verse is Jimi Hendrix a bit distorted and the first and third is Mitch Mitchell.  I really wonder how many takes did they do without breaking up in laughter.

I was attracted to the cover art.  I had a Jimi Hendrix tape at home, but it was a mix of music from everything he did. There was a few live songs and it was a mix that got me curious.  That pique in curiosity was what what sent me on my Hendrix obsession.  Not soon after that I was on a school trip and I picked up Are You Experienced also on tape and then not soon after that I got a copy of Electric Ladyland.  When I had enough money I picked up Are You Experienced and Electric Ladyland on CD and took full advantage of my new stereo in my room.  The speakers were far apart enough to hear all the cool sounds and feel like I was in the studio hearing them record these gems.

One year in High School I asked my parents for more Hendrix and I pointed out an ad in Rolling Stone magazine promoting a Box Set called Lifelines.  This is the Box Set I wanted. It was three CD's of a radio type show of rare tracks and such.  The best part it included music from his pre famous period. The fourth CD of a live show at the Forum in Los Angeles in 1969.  It's totally out of print and not worth much now, but to me it gave me a better view of Jimi Hendrix and his music.

When hearing some of the story about Axis: Bold as Love my ears perked up.  I also wanted to hear more of the album.  Given the back story of the lost tapes and the disapproval of the cover art by Hendrix was quite interesting.  It did not take long to find LP versions of the Hendrix albums I owned. Sure I had them on cassette, but once again having them on record were the thing to have. Now I could play it on the turntable and subject my parents to the music of the future and the futuristic sounds of Jimi Hendrix.

It's an album like his previous album Are You Experienced that takes advantage of the stereo sound.  It's also available in mono, and I have heard it and own a copy it's also very amazing as well.  Can only imagine how some of these sounds came through just one channel on the speaker.  Songs like "Little Miss Lover" which features the first use of a muted "wah-wah" sound.  Even on "You Got Me Floatin'" has backwards guitar at the beginning missing from the mono mix and also on the missing mix of the album.  The song also includes Roy Wood and Trevor Burton from the exciting band called The Move.  Lastly the song that got me really loving this album as a young teenager was the song "If 6 was 9" not a great recording compared to the rest of the album and how that was recorded, but nonetheless it's full of odd little sounds including a recorder, yes a recorder that still gets me giddy to this day.  Even the ending with the weird guitar sounds and the longest track on the album.

I'm not going to mention that if you don't own this album you should pick it up routine. I will mention if you skipped over any Jimi Hendrix music this is a must.  I will also mention that this album has skipped over me a few times and I turned around and went back to it.  I have many versions of this on CD and on LP.  It's an album that is an excellent followup to Hendrix's Are You Experienced.  It's an album that for me gives me more joy if I just let it sit there for a month or so and then get back to it.  It sounds fresh to the ears and for new Hendrix fans it has that charm.  I feel you can hear his brain working on this.  He was so creative and this led into a very creative time for Hendrix.  It's music that I love going back to.  It's so rewarding hearing what he could do with the guitar.  My reason for posting this now is because I needed to hear it again after about a two year absence.  Yes I did that a few years back and I had a flashback to when I heard it for the first time.  I love it and still do.  Jimi Hendrix is a genius and this cements his intelligence along with his awesome creativity.  Pick it up and play it and you will, like myself love it.  Enjoy!