In early 1970, the Experience re-formed and disbanded again shortly afterward. He closed Woodstock with a sprawling, shaky set, redeemed by his famous machine-gun interpretation of 'The Star Spangled Banner.' The rhythm section of Mitchell and Redding were underrated keys to Jimi's best work, and Band of Gypsies ultimately couldn't measure up to the same standard, although Hendrix did record an erratic live album with them. He disbanded the Experience in 1969, forming Band of Gypsies with drummer Buddy Miles and bassist Billy Cox to pursue funkier directions.
He was embroiled in enough complicated management and record company disputes (some dating from ill-advised contracts he'd signed before the Experience formed) to keep the lawyers busy for years. The final two years of Hendrix's life were turbulent ones musically, financially, and personally. Not that these albums were perfect, as impressive as they were the instrumental breaks could meander, and Hendrix's songwriting was occasionally half-baked, never matching the consistency of Are You Experienced (although he exercised greater creative control over the later albums). On Electric Ladyland in particular, Hendrix pioneered the use of the studio itself as a recording instrument, manipulating electronics and devising overdub techniques (with the help of engineer Eddie Kramer in particular) to plot uncharted sonic territory. Axis: Bold as Love and the double-LP Electric Ladyland were more diffuse and experimental than Are You Experienced.
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Are You Experienced was psychedelia at its most eclectic, synthesizing mod pop, soul, R&B, Dylan, and the electric guitar innovations of British pioneers like Jeff Beck, Pete Townshend, and Eric Clapton.Īmazingly, Hendrix would only record three fully conceived studio albums in his lifetime. He was also an excellent blues interpreter and a passionate, engaging singer (although his gruff, throaty vocal pipes were not nearly as great an asset as his instrumental skills). But Hendrix was also a first-rate songwriter, melding cosmic imagery with some surprisingly pop-savvy hooks and tender sentiments. What caught most people's attention at first was his virtuosic guitar playing, which employed an arsenal of devices, including wah-wah pedals, buzzing feedback solos, crunching, distorted riffs, and lightning, liquid runs up and down the scales. after Hendrix created a sensation at the Monterey Pop Festival in June of 1967.Īre You Experienced was an astonishing debut, particularly from a young R&B veteran who had rarely sung, and apparently never written his own material before the Experience formed. These tracks were also featured on their debut album, Are You Experienced, a psychedelic masterwork that became a huge hit in the U.S. The trio became stars with astonishing speed in the U.K., where 'Hey Joe,' 'Purple Haze,' and 'The Wind Cries Mary' all made the Top Ten in the first half of 1967. There a group was built around Jimi, also featuring Mitch Mitchell on drums and Noel Redding on bass, that was dubbed the Jimi Hendrix Experience. The first lineup of the Animals was about to split, and Chandler, looking to move into management, convinced Hendrix to move to London and record as a solo act in England. It was in a New York club that Hendrix was spotted by Animals bassist Chas Chandler.
The logical step was for Hendrix to go out on his own, which he did in New York in the mid-'60s, playing with various musicians in local clubs, and joining white blues-rock singer John Hammond, Jr.'s band for a while. But the stars didn't appreciate his show-stealing showmanship, and Hendrix was straitjacketed by sideman roles that didn't allow him to develop as a soloist.
Occasionally, he recorded as a sessionman (the Isley Brothers' 1964 single 'Testify' is the only one of these early tracks that offers even a glimpse of his future genius). During the early and mid-'60s, he worked with such R&B/soul greats as Little Richard, the Isley Brothers, and King Curtis as a backup guitarist. When Hendrix became an international superstar in 1967, it seemed as if he'd dropped out of a Martian spaceship, but in fact he'd served his apprenticeship the long, mundane way in numerous R&B acts on the chitlin circuit. His frequent hurricane blasts of noise and dazzling showmanship - he could and would play behind his back and with his teeth and set his guitar on fire - has sometimes obscured his considerable gifts as a songwriter, singer, and master of a gamut of blues, R&B, and rock styles. Hendrix was a master at coaxing all manner of unforeseen sonics from his instrument, often with innovative amplification experiments that produced astral-quality feedback and roaring distortion. In his brief four-year reign as a superstar, Jimi Hendrix expanded the vocabulary of the electric rock guitar more than anyone before or since.