"…Little
Wing…"
The first decent reissue of "Axis: Bold As
Love" turned up 28 April 1997 on MCA Records/Experience Hendrix MCD11601
(Barcode 008811160128) as part of 'The Hendrix Family Authorised Editions
Series'. It was a Remaster of Jimi's second studio album carried out by the
LP's original engineer Eddie Kramer aided and assisted by Audio/Restoration
boffin George Marino.
That was superseded by another Kramer/Marino
Reissue/Remaster on the 8 March 2010 which put "Axis: Bold As Love"
into a card digipak and added on a DVD. Sony Music/Experience Hendrix
88697621632 (Barcode 886976216320) however has been deleted now for some time and
clocks in at around twenty quid on the open secondhand market. Use the barcodes
provided above to locate either issue.
What we're finally left with is what we have
here – a 1CD-only 2012 reissue of that 2010 Remaster put into a standard
plastic jewel case for under six quid. To the Spanish Castle Music and Little
Wing details...
UK released 6 February 2012 - "Axis: Bold
As Love" by THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE on Sony Music/Experience
Hendrix/Legacy 88691938922 (Barcode 886919389227) is a 1CD-only Reissue of the
8 March 2010 Remaster and plays out as follows (39:29 minutes):
1. EXP [Side 1]
2. Up From The Skies
3. Spanish Castle Music
4. Wait Until Tomorrow
5. Ain't No Telling
6. Little Wing
7. If 6 Was 9
8. You've Got Me Floating [Side 2]
9. Castles Made Of Sand
10. She's So Fine
11. One Rainy Wish
12. Little Miss Lover
13. Bold As Love
Tracks 1 to 13 are his second studio album
"Axis: Bold As Love" - released 1 December 1967 in the UK on Track
612 003 (Mono) and Track 613 003 (Stereo) and 15 January 1968 in the USA on
Reprise RS 6281 (Stereo only) featuring Mitch Mitchell (Bass), Noel Redding
(Drums) and Producer Chas Chandler. The STEREO MIX is used for this CD. All
tracks written by Jimi Hendrix except "She's So Fine" written by Noel
Redding. The album peaked at No. 5 in the UK and No. 3 in the USA.
The 24-page colour booklet is festooned with
photos from the archives of Linda McCartney, Eddie Kramer, Bruce Fleming and
Baron Wolman (amongst many) - the great axeman in studio and live mode with his
crew of bushy-haired two. The British LP originally on Track Records was a
gatefold with a 4-page lyric insert and while that fab black and white photo
that dominated the inner gatefold of the three disappointingly isn't here, the
lyrics are. That minor omission is replaced with long and fantastically
detailed liner notes (Pages 11 to 20) from JYM FAHEY that go into the
staggering pace of recording (the "Are You Experienced?" debut barley
finished and the double "Electric Ladyland" on the summer horizon) -
Hendrix's career skyrocketing less than nine months after Chas Chandler has
brought Jimi to England in September 1966. It's a fab read and even goes into
the near disaster with master tapes for Side 1 and "If 6 Was 9" which
were thankfully resolved. The remaster by EDDIE KRAMER and GEORGE MARINO,
supervised by Janie Hendrix and John McDermott on behalf of the Experience
Hendrix Estate, gives oomph and power to every song. Which brings us to the
music...
The 'dodgy subject' of UFOs gets speeded up and
slowed down in the entertaining but ultimately silly "EXP" where
Jimi's guitar gets screeched into the Universe never mind your living room
speakers (panned and all). That's quickly followed by the first real Audio hit
and song - the stunning bass and drums of "Up From The Skies" - that
vocal and flicked guitar sounding so alive it’s frightening. I love that so
cool guitar solo he does as he talks (I can dig it baby). The true Hendrix punk
riffage sound comes roaring into your ears with "Spanish Castle
Music" - just a little bit of magic - and again a fantastic transfer that
captures that lethal double-whammy of power and subtlety.
We trip the light-funky-tastic with his
skip-and-bop "Wait Until Tomorrow" - drums whacking as Dolly Mae
hangs from her window pane - Jimi almost rapping the lyrics as he flicks those
tasty strums. Rapido rhythm burning my eyes in "Ain't No Telling" -
his guitar once again Funk-Rocking as he solos into one of the albums beauties.
There are reasons why so many have covered the gorgeous "Little Wing"
- but to hear it with such power and clarity here is almost too much to bear. I
also think of Stevie Ray Vaughan when it plays - beautiful and ethereal playing
like all the greats. Fantastic stuff even if it’s always felt to me like it
ends too quickly.
There is a very evident hiss element in "If
6 Was 9" but that 'air' surrounding the performance actually lends it even
more power IMO. White collar conservative...pointing their plastic finger at
me... you just have to love the myriad of musical ideas going on here - like
no-one (let alone Producer Chandler) could capture what was going on in Jimi's
head, in turn transmitting down through to his fingers and out onto the
fretboard.
Side 2's "You've Got Me Floating"
(corrected to "You Got Me Floatin'") is another wild Funk-Rock child
that segues into that other LP gem "Castles Made Of Sand". The Bass
and Drums once again so staggeringly clear and present and how cool are those
Indian Brave verses before he goes into that edgy guitar solo. And that
'eventually' ending with that echoed guitar fade out. Always feeling like an
odd-man-out, Noel Redding's "She's So Fine" has all the trademark
Experience sound but his voice is not the 'cool' of Jimi - which is a shame
because they're cool guitar noises going on all around.
Racing towards the finish is the fantastic swoon
of "One Rainy Wish" - a sort of "Little Wing" Part 2 - a
song sleeping peacefully under the tree of song. Both the neck-jerkingly
sock-it-to-me Funky "Little Miss Lover" and the Rock waltz
life-giving-waters of "Bold As Love" finish the album with genuinely
amazing style (that huge fuzzy solo towards the end still drops a jaw or two).
Hendrix would drop the 2LP atomic bomb of
"Electric Ladyland" in November 1968 with "Voodoo Child" and "Crosstown Traffic" - the same month The Beatles
would chuck out their double-album urge-to-splurge "The Beatles" - commonly known of course as 'The White Album'.
Sixties Rock, Blues Rock, Psych... My god
what a year 1968 was and what a good idea for you to start your slight return to it...right here baby...
