Jimi Hendrix: "Are You Experienced"

Jimmi Hendrix is definitely an original artist of his time. I think that he efficiently incorporated the electric guitar as a staple in the rock and roll industry and he showed that it was successful. Not that it hadn’t been done before, but I think his pure guitar skills stretched the electric guitar to new limits. In this way, he was able to add flavor to his songs. Through listening to this album, I could tell that he was first a guitarist and then a full-fledged singer/songwriter. All of his songs heavily rely on guitar and a beat. While he has a very passionate and soulful voice, I think what makes Hendrix stand out, especially in this era, was the fierce instrumentals and beats he chose to accompany his songs. When the album first started playing I was jazzed. I could hear Chuck Berry, Otis Redding, and a dash of Elvis with every strum of the guitar, belted out lyric, or wild beat. Jimi Hendrix had the wild side of the old rockers like Chuck Berry and Elvis and the soulful passion vocally as Otis Redding. Not to mention a guitar skill almost unmatchable before him.

With Jimi Hendrix entering the stage, I think I’m starting to see some more early classic hard rock. I think Hendrix was probably a launch pad from the Beatles and Beach Boys to harder rock groups relying on guitar. The electric guitar made all of Hendrix’s songs sound ten times cooler and more bad-to-the-bone than any Beatles hit. Personally, I think his style made the Beatles and Beach Boys sound like a young Justin Bieber.

But I do have mixed feelings about this album. There were definitely many high points throughout the album with some insanely wild guitar solo and epic beats that carried an otherwise soulful melody. At other times, however, the album dragged on and on and on. I felt myself getting increasingly bored as the songs just kept cycling through. I’m surprised I stayed awake for the entire album! There were so many songs and, while I enjoyed the refreshing style of harder rock, many sounded very similar. While this almost lulled me to sleep, it was too long of an album. I added up all of the song lengths and I think it totaled just under an hour! Insanity!

Despite this, I still want to give you my highlights from the “Are You Experienced” album because it really is a strong debut album that I think deserves a place on my blog. I started getting really tired of blogging about just Beatles music. That all changed instantly when Hendrix struck that first note of “Purple Haze”! The guitar lead is strong as always and I feel myself banging my head to the powerful beat. Soul oozes out of his gravelly voice, which just enhances the epic countermelodies. Not to mention that the electric guitar breaks in the middle of this song are phenomenal. You definitely need to hear this (by the way, skip to about 20 seconds into the video):

Next is “The Wind Cries Mary”. This song is not one of my favorite on the album but it has a pretty catchy little diddle that carries the main countermelody. This song shows the little versatility of Hendrix. He still sounds the same but instead of hard rock, this offers a more soft tone to the song. The instrumental is almost country-sounding to me. It is unique, but this was probably one of the songs I felt my eyelids closing on. But, this softer, jazzy sound may be just what you’re looking for:

This last song is off the hook. I think this is definitely one of Hendrix’s best songs on his first album. “Foxy Lady” starts off soft but quickly escalates into Jimi Hendrix’s classic electric guitar. This song also emphasizes Hendrix’s voice. This is one of the few songs that I actually feel some attitude coming from him. Hendrix has several vocal ticks and seems to sing pretty groovy. I can just imagine him having a sly grin when singing this song. The main reason this song stands out to me, though, is that it has a very memorable guitar part. Because I appreciate this aspect the most in Jimi Hendrix’s songs (which is to be expected) this is one of my favorites. Check it out below:

Overall, while Jimi Hendrix was a very talented guitarist, I think he illustrated his musical capacity to become a strong singer and song-creator. I am impressed by his development of skill set and that he had never before written songs. For a first-timer, I’d say he did pretty well and implemented many good assets that I appreciate in songs. While it may have been a tad long, I found this album refreshing and exciting to see where rock takes us next!