The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Axis: Bold As Love

Axis: Bold As Love is the second studio album by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, released on December 1, 1967 by Track Records in Europe and Reprise Records in America.

The Experience returned to Olympic Studios on May 4, 1967 to begin recording the follow-up to Are You Experienced?. The first track they tackled was Noel Redding’s “She’s So Fine”, which he sang and Hendrix and Mitchell provided backing vocals. On the same day, the initial performances of “If Six Was Nine” took place, and the following day they added the rhythmic foot-tapping of Graham Nash and Gary Lynch to its second part. On the same day, they recorded “EXP”, returning to the studio on 9 May, with Jimi Hendrix playing harpsichord for the single “The Burning Of The Midnight Lamp”.

The band returned to the studio on 5 June, recording the unreleased Cat Talking To Me after 17 attempts. At the end of the month, the band entered Los Angeles’ Houston Studios, where they worked on “The Burning Of The Midnight Lamp” and Hendrix’s new composition, “The Stars That Play With Laughing Sam’s Dice.” However these recordings were not used due to poor studio quality and the Experience returned to London and Mayfair Studios on 6 and 7 July.

The original tapes of the album were lost by Hendrix when he left them in the back seat of a London taxi, and in order to release the album by the end of the year, as stipulated by their contract, Hendrix, Chas Chandler and the sound engineer Eddie Kramer, they re-mixed the first side of the record in one night. The rush of the whole process frustrated the perfectionist Hendrix, who said it could have been done better if they had more time.

Recordings were completed in October, with Hendrix infuriating the band members and production by demanding that they retake the effort multiple times. On the last day of recording, October 29, the album’s second and final single, titled “Up From The Skies”, was completed.

The album cover features the Experience in various guises of the Indian deity Vishnu, created by Roger Lowe, from a photograph by Carl Ferris. Hendrix expressed his displeasure with the cover saying that it would have been better if it emphasized his Indian heritage.

“Axis: Bold As Love'” on its first day of release in Great Britain, climbed to the fifth position of the charts, while a month later it was released on the opposite side of the Atlantic climbing to No. 3 on the Billboard.
The album was ranked 83rd on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and seventh on Guitarist magazine’s “50 Most Influential Guitar Records” in 1994.

“Little Wing”, which I select, was one of the songs from the album that was included in the set list of the band’s live shows. Hendrix was inspired by it at the “Monterey Pop festival” and wrote about the atmosphere of that three day likening it to a woman. At the same time as the drums, a metallophone is heard, an instrument usually used by marching bands.

Tracklist

1. Exp 01:55
2. Up From The Skies 02:57
3. Spanish Castle Magic 03:03
4. Wait Until Tomorrow 03:02
5. Ain’t No Telling 01:48
6. Little Wing 02:25
7. If 6 Was 9 05:34
8. You Got Me Floatin’ 02:48
9. Castles Made of Sand 02:48
10. She’s So Fine 02:38
11. One Rainy Wish 03:41
12. Little Miss Lover 02:21
13. Bold As Love 04:11