The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Axis: Bold as Love
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Written By Moti Kupfer
Album review - The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Axis: Bold as Love
Release date -1.12.67
Label - Polydor/Track (UK) / Reprise (US)
Genre -Psychedelic Rock / Hard Rock / Funk Rock
Imagine you’ve recorded your debut album, you’re at the peak of your creativity, you’re working on another album where your songwriting has become more refined, your guitar playing is getting better, and then you leave half the master tapes of the upcoming album in a random taxi.
Honestly, something like that could have driven anyone to an extreme act, say burning a guitar. But hey, when it comes to Jimi Hendrix, we can forgive him, because the man burned guitars for a living, and he also played guitar behind his back, with his teeth, without even touching the strings. He controlled the guitar with such perfection that he could play it with both hands. So yes, we can forgive him for a half-rushed mix on his second album "Axis: Bold as Love", released on 01.12.67.
Johnny Allen Hendrix was born on November 27, 1942, in Seattle, Washington. At the age of four, his father changed his name to James Marshall Hendrix. After his father returned from military service, he struggled to find work, which led the family into poverty, and both parents into alcoholism.
Jimi had two younger brothers and two younger sisters, and only his brother Leon remained with him under his parents’ custody. The rest were placed in foster homes.
When he was nine, his parents divorced, and he remained in his father’s custody together with his brother.
At age 14 Hendrix began playing the ukulele, and being an autodidact, he taught himself by ear as he listened to Elvis Presley songs like "Hound Dog".
After his mother died of liver cirrhosis, Hendrix bought his first acoustic guitar, at age 15, for five dollars. He trained on it for hours every day, watching and learning from guitarists and blues artists such as Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf, and Robert Johnson.
Shortly after forming his first band, "The Velvetones", Hendrix realized he needed a more dominant guitar, so his father bought him his first electric guitar, a white Supro Ozark.
At age 19, Hendrix was caught twice by police for driving stolen cars. Given the choice between jail time or joining the army, Hendrix chose the army, but was discharged after about a year due to unsuitability for service, according to his commander.
After his discharge, Hendrix formed a band with his fellow serviceman, bassist Billy Cox, in Tennessee. After seeing Butch Snipes play the guitar with his teeth, the idea struck him to play that way himself. "in Tennessee, Down there you have to play with your teeth or else you get shot", Hendrix explained the idea of playing with his teeth.
After playing on the Chitlin’ Circuit, a network of venues in the southeastern United States, and serving as a backing musician for Wilson Pickett, Sam Cooke, Ike and Tina Turner, and others, Hendrix won the amateur contest at the "Apollo Theater" and began playing as the guitarist for the "Isley Brothers’" backing band.
After playing with the "Isley Brothers" and many other artists, while struggling to make ends meet, his long-awaited breakthrough arrived in May 1966, when Keith Richards’ girlfriend noticed him and was mesmerized by his playing. Very quickly, Hendrix found himself teaming up with former "Animals" bassist Chas Chandler, who was interested in artist management and production and became his manager.
Chas Chandler was the one who believed in Hendrix’s ability to create an impressive new version of Billy Roberts’ "Hey Joe".
Immediately afterward, Chandler began recruiting band members whose purpose was to highlight the abilities of the guitar hero. Bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell joined, and together with Hendrix they found a shared interest in rhythm and blues. The power trio they formed was called "The Experience".
In October 66 Hendrix arrived at the Polytechnic in London and met Eric Clapton. In the middle of "Cream’s" warmup, Hendrix walked on stage and played in a frantic manner that left Clapton stunned.
Hendrix and his band began recording and continued performing at an insane pace, sometimes playing twice a day. Hendrix described their playing style as a free feeling, a kind of mix of rock, freak out, rave, and blues.
After the first album "Are You Experienced", which achieved impressive success in the United States and in Britain, Hendrix and "The Experience" cemented their status in the United States when they delivered an unforgettable performance at the Monterey International Pop Music Festival. They went on right after "The Who", watching Pete Townsend smash his guitar at the end of the show. Hendrix went up and delivered a show that ended with burning his guitar.
Riding the wave of admiration from Monterey, Hendrix, Mitchell, and Redding entered the studio to record their second album "Axis: Bold as Love". They were joined by musicians like Graham Nash, Trevor Burton, and Roy Wood who collaborated with "The Move".
Hendrix wrote about science fiction and an alien visiting Earth in "Up from the Skies", about his high school years and his visits to a roadhouse in "Spanish Castle Magic", about an ideal female figure resembling a guardian angel in "Little Wing", and also songs that are a sort of autobiography like "Castles Made of Sand".
The album is sealed with "Bold as Love", whose conclusion is that love comes in many shades, and that creating and maintaining a relationship requires commitment and courage.
The album cover depicts Hendrix and "The Experience" as different forms of Vishnu. According to Hinduism, Vishnu is a deity whose role is to provide salvation to humanity.
And finally, when listening to Jimi Hendrix’s singing voice, it is impossible not to imagine "Thin Lizzy's" vocalist Phil Lynott, who himself drew inspiration from Hendrix.
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music