Are You Experienced [Import]

From the pulsing notes that open "Purple Haze" to the backwards guitar tracks of the title track, Jimi takes the listener on a whirlwind of impressive musical stylings that stays fresh with multiple listens. The Jimi Hendrix Experience would not have been complete without bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell, two wonderful yet underrated musicians who may be the only musicians on earth who are able to keep Jimi's mind-blowing guitar work down to earth, and these three play together extremely well.

The style most commonly found on this album is one of an artsy psychedelic, yet hard-biting rock style, in which all of Jimi's various blues, rock, and jazz influences are molded together into a coherent whole. "Purple Haze" and "Manic Depression" bludgeon the ears until Jimi quiets things down a bit with his beautiful rendition of "Hey Joe." Then, from here on, Jimi sequences various types of songs so that they alternate from one song to the next, giving the album a sense of variety and thereby showing Jimi's true songwriting eclecticism. From the hard bite of "Fire" and "Foxy Lady" to the soft, tender "The Wind Cries Mary" to the art-rock brilliance of "Third Stone From the Sun," Jimi's outta sight guitar playing really shines alongside the controlled frenzy of Mitch's drumming and Noel's sure-and-steady-yet-ready-to-kick-out-at-a-moment's-notice bass playing, yet it is really the stellar songwriting that holds it all together. To sum it up, I can't put this into words without being redundant, the entire album is just spectacular. Also, the CD reissue adds several early singles as well as non-album cuts; I highly recommend that you check out "Stone Free," "Red House," and "Highway Chile." "Red House" is one of Jimi's best blues workouts and proves yet again why he was a master of the blues genre, "Highway Chile" contains a memorable melody backed up with some great guitar stings, and "Stone Free" just plain rocks (I would recommend playing this one quite loudly).

Another reason that I love this album so much is because it succeeds on multiple levels. First off all, the guitar feedback and histrionics can sound grating to some when turned up loud, but there was sheer blissful beauty in all that volume and distortion (literally, I find it beautiful). Also Jimi offers up some great lyrical poetry, which is especially showcased in the slower numbers like "The Wind Cries Mary" or "May This Be Love." I've dicussed the eclecticism of the songwriting already, but another overlooked quality of Jimi is that he was also a supreme art-rocker. Check out "Third Stone" and the title cut for proof of this; he would later showcase this tendency to even greater effect on what is arguably his best album, 1968's "Electric Ladyland."

Well, I must say that I love this album to death and it is one of my all-time favorites (even though "Ladyland" was ultimately his best one). Jimi Hendrix was truly a unique talent, but unfortuantely his drug addictions killed him far too soon, leaving us with only speculation as to what greater music he could have bestowed upon us. This album is wonderful, and I love it to death. Don't hesitate for a second to add "Are You Experienced" to your music collection; I can tell you that you truly aren't experienced until you've heard this.

Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Pete Townshend were rock icons then, but in terms of guiotar, they represented the evolution from blues-based rhythm to rock and roll. It would take an authentic blues band backup player from the US to revolutionize the rock vocabulary.

This album represents the first shot, the first battle, and a complete victory over the evolution of rock. To put it another way, there exists a permanent *gap* between where rock was going, and where Hendrix's Experience emerged. People are still trying to figure it out.

You've never heard anything like "Purple Haze" in your life. Doesn't matter who you dug, doesn't matter what planet you *thought* you inhabited. Hendrix came from Mars, or Venus, and chunked up his notes and fed them through some psychedelic blender in his head. And this is just "Purple Haze"! Can you believe this album also gave us "Foxey Lady", "Manic Depression", "Hey Joe", "The Wind Cries Mary", and the rippin' "Fire"? I can't. The UK release even had "Red House" on it. Imagine that, the playlist for any classic rock radio station contained on one album.

You start with this album, and if you had to pick one, just one, you could pick this and no one would dispute it.