Album
Are You Experienced
1967 · Rock, Blues
255 collectors on Gatefold own this
Are You Experienced is a Rock album by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, originally released in 1967. On Gatefold: 444 pressings tracked, owned by 255 collectors.
About
<b>100 Best Albums</b> Around the time he started working on <i>Are You Experienced</i>, Jimi Hendrix met the songwriter-producer Kim Fowley. This was London, 1966. Fowley thought Hendrix was weird and unfashionable, but people had been talking, so Fowley asked: What’s your thing? “Science-fiction rock ’n’ roll,” Hendrix said. It’s not a bad self-assessment. Like science fiction, Hendrix’s futuristic qualities—his use of feedback and noise, the extraterrestrial imagery of “Purple Haze” and “Third Stone From the Sun”—are offset by a groundedness that makes them feel tied to older forms of human expression; a blues for the computer age. He wasn’t experimenting with modern classical music (like The Beatles) or high-minded pop orchestration (like The Beach Boys); he wasn’t even tapping into the more explicitly far-reaching journeys of psychedelia, like Pink Floyd. Instead, he took the simple, gut-level sounds of the Muddy Waters and Little Richard he grew up on and transfigured them into something new, an innovation that made him a precursor both to Black psychedelia like Prince and Outkast, and the radical ordinariness of punk, not to mention almost everything blues-related that came in his wake. In the consolidation of the cultural narratives of classic rock, it’s easy to let his innovations wash over you: Hear how great and revolutionary something is often enough, and you stop hearing it at all. But of all the endlessly sanctified albums that came out of the late 1960s, <i>Are You Experienced</i> is one of the few that still feels like a dynamic, living thing—at the very least, the concept of hummable, three-and-a-half-minute songs tricked out with sound effects is as good a definition of 21st-century pop as it was of Hendrix’s music 50 years earlier. And that’s the real magic of good science fiction: No matter how foreign it seems, it’s always talking about now.
via Apple Music
The Clerk says
The Clerk knows this whole record — the pressing quirks, the credits, the take.
Tracklist
Side A
- A1Foxy Lady
- A2Manic Depression
- A3Red House
- A4Can You See Me
- A5Love Or Confusion
- A6I Don't Live Today
Side B
- B1May This Be Love
- B2Fire
- B33rd Stone From The Sun
- B4Remember
- B5Are You Experienced
Sound DNA
- Rock
- Psych Rock
- fuzzy
- euphoric
- psychedelic
The debut album by The Jimi Hendrix Experience (opens in a new tab) and the first album on the Track Record (opens in a new tab) label, Are You Experienced was initially issued in mono and then 'enhanced stereo' on later issues. Recordings had already begun in late October 1966, with the band producing material that does not appear on this album, but was released as singles leading up to its release (A common marketing practice at that time); (Hey Joe/Stone Free [Polydor, Dec 66], Purple Haze/51st Anniversary [Track, Mar 67] & The Wind Cries Mary/Highway Chile [coinciding with album issue].
These tracks appear on later releases.
The Sleeve & Tracks:
The UK Track cover photography was by Bruce Flemming (opens in a new tab). This design was used in Australia, New Zealand & Japan by Polydor (opens in a new tab), all mono. Polydor (opens in a new tab) releases in Europe had the words "Jimi Hendrix" placed above the title. This text was Green in Germany, Red in Italy & Yellow in Spain. These later issues were 'enhanced stereo', with tracks listed on the back. The Polydor (opens in a new tab) issue in South Africa, conscious of apartheid at that time, is simply text on a red background. The Barclay Records issue (France) employed a French TV show image of Hendrix on the cover, with a question mark after the title & psychedelic graphics.
The USA & Canadian issues were released by Reprise Records (opens in a new tab) after the band appeared at the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967, along with Track Record compatriots The Who. Art directed by Ed Thrasher this August '67 release cover uses a Karl Ferris (opens in a new tab) infra-red fish-eye photo, with purple psychedelic text on yellow. There is a key difference to the tracks on this album, with some removed and replaced by the singles, plus a change to the running order. Released in mono & a remixed & remastered stereo version. The spelling "Foxey Lady" appears in some of these issues. The 'controversially produced' Alan Douglas issue on MCA in 1993 presented the tracks chronologically and two subsequent MCA reissues in 1997 each had differing track order. The editing of the Hendrix Family's MCA 1997 vinyl is more faithful to the original than its CD counterpart.
In South Africa the album was released by Polydor on 12 May 1967 in mono. At the time (during the Apartheid Government of the National Party) the South African censors periodically censored releases where the covers contained images of Black artists or where the songs were anti - apartheid or contained sexual innuendo. No tracks on the album were replaced or left out, but Polydor did not put an image of Jimi Hendrix on the sleeve because the record company feared that this might lead to the banning of the LP and result in a financial loss. The LP was released with a pink and black cover and with no photographs or drawings on either side. See SA Release (opens in a new tab)
The Recording:
Ex The Animals musician & entrepreneur Chas Chandler (opens in a new tab) had brought Hendrix to the UK, teaming him up with drummer Mitch Mitchell (opens in a new tab) (ex Coronets, Blue Flames) and guitarist, turned-bass-guitarist, Noel Redding (opens in a new tab) (ex The Loving Kind). Early recordings were done at De Lane Lea Studios (opens in a new tab), London [engineer Dave Siddle* (opens in a new tab) & CBS Studios (opens in a new tab), Bond Street, London [engineer Mike Ross** (opens in a new tab), with the main thrust of work completed at Olympic Studios (opens in a new tab), London - where the future working relationship between engineer Eddie Kramer† (opens in a new tab) and Hendrix was forged. Chandler (opens in a new tab) was both band manager and producer of the album.
*Siddle: Manic Depression, Can You See Me, I Don't Live Today, Remember, Hey Joe, 51st Anniversary, The Wind Cries Mary, Fire, Love Or Confusion, Purple Haze.
**Ross: Foxy Lady, Red House, 3rd Stone From The Sun.
†Kramer: May This Be Love, Are You Experienced, Highway Chile. Plus additional engineering on the last 3 tracks by Siddle and the last track by Ross.
Credits
The people behind it.
Performers
- Jimi HendrixBAND , GUITAR, VOCALS ELECTRIC GUITAR, LEAD VOCALS GUITAR
- Mitch MitchellBAND , DRUMS DRUMS DRUMS, VOCALS
- Noel ReddingBACKING VOCALS, BASS GUITAR BAND , BASS GUITAR, VOCALS BASS
- The Jimi Hendrix ExperienceBAND, PERFORMER
255 collectors on Gatefold own this · 444 pressings tracked on Gatefold
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