helterskelter.ca

HENDRIX, Jimi
1967 - Are You Experienced ?
1967 - Axis: Bold As Love.
1968 - Electric Ladyland.
1969 - Live At Woodstock.
way more Helter Skelter.

May 12, 1967 - 2022: 55 years of: Are You Experienced ?

THE GREATEST GUITAR PLAYER OF ALL-TIME !!!

He has landed, fear him ...and they ALL feared him. Bred from late 50s blues masters: B.B. King, Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix electrified his roots and gave it a boost of boogie and hard rhythm-n-blues to match.

Who is he ?
How does he do it ?
Why is he so dazzling ?
...ALL the top-guitarists of the era were asking themselves these questions and their very purpose. Yet no game-changer goes in without a strong rhythm-section: enter bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell ...the back-bone of THE EXPERIENCE.

Are YOU experienced ?

The incense oil rapidly smokes away in a "Purple Haze", this lovely burning sensation could only mean one thing: we are caught in a "Manic Depression". The mesmerizing title-cut features a reversed rhythm-track, an unheard event at this point in time. The blazing "Fire" rages on, "I Don't Live Today" shakes the ground with it's tectonic-vibrations while the metal-lesque "Foxy Lady" is one, one-night-stand you're not about to forget.

Blunt blues is displayed on the immortal "Hey Joe" reprise and the monumental epicness soulful blues of "The Wind Cries Mary" US track-listing and "Red House" UK track-listing ...are pure tears of the Gods. The year is 1967 and the already iconic Jimi Hendrix is pushing this new technology called stereo into the psyche of millions of experience-hungry youths.

...and now the other experience.

Summer Of Love '67, live at the Monterey Pop Festival under a burning hot California sun, the young Hendrix sat the world afire, literally. In one of rocknroll's most blazing performance he changed the face of music, forever. Closing his set with THE TROGGS's "Wild Thing", things became incendiary wild. In a whirlwind of amplifier-feedbacks, setting his guitar on fire with lighter-fluid and banging the still flaming remains against the floor before throwing it into a stunned crowd ...talk about a nuclear explosion. Out-doing THE WHO, rocknroll history changed that very night ...and Jimi Hendrix was the new king of rock !

The Are You Experienced LP is a full blown cornucopia of sights and sounds. The epitome of psychedelia and free spiritism, deep inside from a tormented global counterculture rebellion. Hendrix inadvertently became the Maestro for this propaganda of rocknroll, love and etherealness.

YOU are now experienced !

RIP Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970)
RIP Noel Redding (1945-2003)
RIP Mitch Mitchell (1946-2008)

*
Are You Experienced ? = full LP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGoDaYjdfSg&list=PLglUu7rOaMDvV15pylVp6iC2Wkkf7q2sy
Afire at Monterey Pop in 1967
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= D4LnpDj24hI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-7toYWFEyk
Live in Sweden in 1967
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzj0AXAMMxk

December 1, 1967- 2022: 55 years of: Axis: Bold As Love.

THE GREATEST GUITAR PLAYER OF ALL-TIME !!!

Still under a thick purple hazed cloud, the scene and accompanying rock-scientists were still in awe after May 1967's explosive Are You Experienced ? LP ...a mere six months later: Round Two.

As soon as the "EXP" intro slides in, you know it's gonna be a wild thing filled ride. The stereo panned flanging-effect goes to 11, as Jimi flies away with his dearest friends. Look high up "Up From The Skies" as the hustle-vibe takes the audience hostage until the crunch built-up of lovely "Spanish Castle Magic".

More hard riff-o-rama on "Little Miss Lover", "You Got Me Floatin" and the pile-driver "If 6 Was 9" punishes with deadly decibel dominance. Delta-blues get a hot dose of wattage on "Little Wing", while "One Rainy Wish" makes esoteric-rock now tangible.

Let's say it again: a six months distance between both ground-breaking LPs. One record would've been enough to qualify as legend, two in the same calendar-year is simply a gift from above.

No artist in history has since pushed this wicked six stringed-instrument into stratospheric overdrive. Sit down and take a deep breath as October 1968 would unleash the iconic hard blues / rock / spatial tour-de-force sense-bending Electric Ladyland LP.

"Are there, or are there not flying saucers, or UFOs ?"

RIP Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970)
RIP Noel Redding (1945-2003)
RIP Mitch Mitchell (1946-2008)

*
Axis: Bold As Love = full LP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rOeELO4v20&list=OLAK5uy_lWur3SpNnxqZ_ad3ovCDjRSTCmjYYR6i8
Interview in 1968
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdQVAy1-LyU
Live in Vancouver in 1968
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhw7UHj6tGk

September 6, 1968 - 2023: 55 years of: Electric Ladyland.

THE GREATEST GUITAR PLAYER OF ALL-TIME !!!

As in: suave, audacious, loud, talented, unpredictable, primal, experimental, humble, lovable and of course always entertaining ...Jimi had it all. Along with THE EXPERIENCE, they managed to release three studio-albums: the mind-blowing 1967 debut Are You Experienced, the eclectic late-67 Axis: Bold As Love and the final magic-trick: 1968's full tour-de-force Electric Ladyland 2LP.

Recorded in Times-Square at the height of the hippie movement by up-and-coming star-producer Eddie Kramer, Ladyland was at the time, the most technologically advanced album ever recorded. Using delayed stereo-choruses, flanging effects, reverbs on the drums, talk-boxes, double-tracking and of course Jimi's trademark wah-wah pedal ...Ladyland is a studio mastery delight.

From the saccade riffs of "Crosstown Traffic", to the pounding rhythms of "House Burning Down", to the eerie harpsichord of "Burning Of The Midnight Lamp", to the talking guitar of "Still Raining, Still Dreaming", to the danceable "Gypsy Eyes", to the heavy pace and heavymetal-lesque solo of "Come On", all the way to the fan-favorite of "Voodoo Child" ...Electric Ladyland is 75mins of pure heavy-blues psychedelic nirvana.

Performing and changing the game live at Summer 1969's Woodstock Festival, the world couldn't look away. Sad member of the 27-Club, Jimi sadly passed away in a year later in September 1970.

Still revered as the greatest of the greats of the electric-guitar, according to: Page, Vai, Lifeson, Malmsteen, Gibbons, Satriani, Clapton, Van Halen, Iommi, Gilmour, Blackmore, Wylde, Slash and White to name a few. Influencing millions of fingers, the master is still the Almighty One standing tall on top of rocknroll heaven.

In eons years from now, in the history-books, three things shall be mentioned to young earthlings:
1- The creation of the Universe via the Big-Bang theory.
2- The discovery of electricity by Benjamin Franklin.
3- Jimi Hendrix sets rocknroll on fire with his guitar.

...and the Gods made love !

RIP Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970)
RIP Noel Redding (1945-2003)
RIP Mitch Mitchell (1946-2008)

*
Crosstown Traffic = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyKiGJ4pauw
All Along The Watchtower = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YoVJJmP_60
Electric Ladyland = full LP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYMTM9oOgnw&list=PLq5iHE5LRc2TOTZKLVn7H2MU-s9o3_IZb
Interview in 1968
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdQVAy1-LyU
Live in Sweden in 1969
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oXvEbtx4L4
The Star Spangled Banner live at Woodstock 1969
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUpI9MeLZkQ

August 18, 1969 - 2024: 55 years of: Live At Woodstock.

A defining / defying moment in history.

Another epic one brought to us by Jimi Hendrix. After setting his guitar afire, his next inferno shall take over a generation ...and the world. Coronating the 60s, from wild parties and counterculture politics, some organizers planned a mega concert. Nine days after the Manson-rampage in Hollywood ...Bethel NY featured: music, art and peace. This three-day gathering was set to open minds and ears to music and American positions on the ongoing Viet-Nam war.

Some of those who provided nirvana: THE WHO, C.C.R., SANTANA, MOUNTAIN and THE GRATEFUL DEAD. Also scheduled were IRON BUTTERFLY, who were gently told their presence was no longer required after travel-logistic arguments between management and the promoter. Giants LED ZEPPELIN, THE ROLLING STONES and THE BEATLES were also intended, but politely declined.

And as the sun dawned on this Monday morning of August 18, 1969, the wake-up call would be the loudest ever heard.

Jimi Hendrix and the GYPSY SUN & RAINBOWS hopped onstage at 9am to a stunned crowd. The few sleepy souls still standing from the intense heat and rough weekend, were hazed by the acrobatics of the maestro. Featuring cuts from all three studio-LPs, Hendrix then blessed the scene. In one of rocknroll's most intense moments, "The Star-Spangled Banner" gets overdriven into spatial territories. Brutal and beautiful, this unorthodox rendition has since become synonymous with the hippie-movement, youth rebellion and anti-establishment.

460000 free-spirits high on three days of hard living and loud music. This unique peace, love and rocknroll feast became a pattern that would later become integral part of the music-industry's play-book during the 90s, with Lollapalooza and it's numerous copy-cats.

RIP Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970)
RIP Larry Lee (1943-2007)
RIP Mitch Mitchell (1946-2008)

*
The Star-Spangled Banner = live
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjzZh6-h9fM
Purple Haze = live
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liG349SoF_U
Live At Woodstock = full CD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyV8fWMH2Lk&list=PLL44kuYYS8ylb1bK-J4QXyUgfxEA8C32V
Woodstock: The Movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II-wxfVl1Fg
The site
https://maps.app.goo.gl/CnaquMVJR4Bxg9q39