Maps of Music

Axis: Bold as Love (1967)

Where the lyrics of Axis: Bold as Love take you, and where it was really made.

Hendrix left the master tape of side one in the back seat of a London taxi, and the side had to be remixed in a single overnight session to meet the deadline.

Key places

Olympic Studios, London (1967)

Recording site Olympic Studios — The band returned to Olympic Studios in London on 4 May 1967 to begin composing material for the follow-up album. The session of 9 May started work on Burning of the Midnight Lamp. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Axis: Bold as Love is the second studio album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience
• Released in the UK by Track Records on 1 December 1967
• In the US, Reprise Records delayed the release to the following month
• The album reached the top ten in both countries
• It came out only seven months after the debut album Are You Experienced
• Every song was written by Jimi Hendrix, except "She's So Fine" by Noel Redding
• The cover shows the band as forms of Vishnu and drew controversy over its Hindu religious iconography

Background

• Are You Experienced was completed at the end of April 1967
• The band returned to Olympic Studios in London on 4 May 1967 to begin material for a follow-up LP
• "Spanish Castle Magic" and "Little Wing" are two Hendrix compositions drawn from his rhythm and blues band roots
• Both songs stayed in his live repertoire for the rest of his career
• Critics saw the album as a demonstration of Hendrix's growth as a songwriter

Recording

• Chas Chandler returned as producer, Eddie Kramer as engineer, and George Chkiantz as second engineer
• The first session worked on Noel Redding's "She's So Fine", which reached a working master on the 23rd take
• Early recordings of "If 6 Was 9" were made under the working titles "Section A" and "Section B"
• Hendrix played recorder on the track despite having no formal training on the instrument
• On 9 May Hendrix sat at a harpsichord in Olympic's Studio A and began writing "Burning of the Midnight Lamp"
• A June session for "Cat Talking to Me" ran 17 takes before the second was chosen
• The side one master tape was lost, and most of the side was remixed overnight

Cover

• The cover was designed without Hendrix's approval, and he publicly voiced his dissatisfaction
• The painted image of the band was superimposed on a mass-produced religious poster
• The Malaysian government's Home Ministry banned the album's artwork in response to complaints

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Born James Marshall Hendrix in Seattle on November 27, 1942; began playing guitar at age 15 in 1958.
• Enlisted in the US Army in 1961 and was discharged in 1962; then played on the Chitlin' Circuit with bands in Tennessee and Nashville.
• Moved to England in late 1966 after Chas Chandler of the Animals became his manager, and formed the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

Members

• The Jimi Hendrix Experience consisted of Hendrix on guitar and vocals, bassist Noel Redding, and drummer Mitch Mitchell.
• Hendrix later worked with Billy Cox in the Band of Gypsys and the Cry of Love tour lineup.

Career

• The Experience achieved three UK top-ten hits in 1967: "Hey Joe", "Purple Haze", and "The Wind Cries Mary".
• Hendrix became famous in the US after his performance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival.
• Electric Ladyland (1968) was his most successful album and his only US Billboard 200 number-one album.
• He headlined the Woodstock Festival in 1969 and the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970.
• He died in London in September 1970 at age 27 from barbiturate-related asphyxia.
• Hendrix is ranked by Rolling Stone as the greatest guitarist of all time and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 as part of the Experience.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Rolling Stone's Nick Jones called the album at times shatteringly beautiful and highlighted "Spanish Castle Magic" in his preview
• Jim Miller, reviewing it in Rolling Stone, hailed it as the finest voodoo album any rock group had produced to date
• Q magazine's retrospective review said the album dazzles and creates a genre probably short-lived
• AllMusic's Cub Koda read it as a demonstration of Hendrix's remarkable growth and depth as a songwriter
• Critics praised its mixture of hard rock, rhythm and blues, and jazz

Reappraisal

• Some critics found it the least memorable of the Experience's three studio releases
• Richie Unterberger called it the least impressive album from the Experience
• Kris Needs called it a transitional, but often overlooked, masterpiece
• In a 2005 Blender review, Robert Christgau criticized the music's spaced-out lightness and the brevity of some tracks

Records

• UK: peaked at number five and spent 16 weeks on the chart
• US: charted at number three in February 1968
• US: RIAA platinum certification
• UK: BPI silver certification
• Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000): number 147
• Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2020): number 92
• Guitarist magazine's most influential guitar albums list: number 7
• Included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
• Received the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 2006

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Hendrix left the master tape of side one in a London taxi, and the lost mix of "If 6 Was 9" could not be matched in the overnight remix.
• Noel Redding's "She's So Fine" was his only contribution to the album as a writer.
• Hendrix doubled his vocal with a guitar line played one octave lower during the verses of the side one remix.
• The Rolling Stones were recording Their Satanic Majesties Request in the neighbouring studio and sometimes came to watch the Axis sessions.
• Hendrix's harpsichord session at Olympic on 9 May produced a rough demo of about a minute and a half for "Burning of the Midnight Lamp".

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org

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