Every six months or so I feel the need for some Jimi Hendrix. People are making a lot out of various records from 1967 being fifty years old this year and some of them sound fifty years old in a way, but Jimi's stuff doesn't. In 1967 The Jimi Hendrix experience released two albums, the debut Are You Experienced and then a follow up Axis: Bold As Love. Axis is a step on from the burning hot debut, an exploration of sound and the studio, of Jimi's development as a writer and of psychedelia. Many of the songs on Axis have a confidence to unfold more slowly, to unwind a little. Castles Made Of Sand has long been a favourite of mine- a backwards guitar part, a lazy guitar riff, a laid back groove and Jimi's vocals about impermanence and all things being temporary.
'And so castles made of sand
Fall to the sea
Eventually'
Castles Made Of Sand
6 comments:
Ah yes, totally agree with you about Hendrix and this album. 'Axis Bold As Love' was the first Hendrix album I'd ever heard, and I heard it a lot, thanks to my sister buying it in the early '70s (although she had the 'Backtrack' reissue in a plain green sleeve, sadly no lovely cover artwork to pore over). It's so good in its own right but I think it's extra evocative for me in that way things are when they've seeped into your consciousness as a child.
'Castles In the Sand' is wonderful...' 'Little Wing' also a favourite of mine.
I find that I tend to listen to the live albums more than I do the studio ones but when I do listen to the studio ones it tends to be Electric Ladyland. I do love Axis and maybe it's time to dust it down and give it an airing. The last thing I listened to was the BBC sessions, there is some great stuff on there.
I haven't listened to Hendrix in a very long time, not quite sure why. Think I'll have a listen or two to Axis this evening, thanks for the reminder Adam.
Good choice.
This really is a great tune, from a great LP. Of all the tragic rock losses Hendrix is, to me, one of the absolute worst. The amount of ground he covered in just a few years is staggering. Everything he did was groundbreaking on so many levels. The material he was working on with Band of Gypsies when he died was going in yet another direction entirely. No telling what could have been with the funk, soul and fusion genres just getting going.
I listened to Little Wing today on the way to work- what a tune it is
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