After the release of the monumental debut album Are You Experienced, America was conquered by The Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1967 via the Monterey Festival. In the meantime, another record had to be released in England for contractual reasons that year. That just worked because Axis: Bold As Love was in British stores in December. The proven team of producer Chas Chandler, technician Eddie Kramer
… and the band, had to completely redo the mix of a record side in one night after Hendrix forgot the master tape of this in a taxi. Yet all involved look back with pleasure on Axis: Bold As Love. Hendrix and his band were closer than ever and worked with proportional input on the songs that were mostly created in the studio. There was also a lot of experimentation with studio and guitar effects and the pleasure in this already splashes from the corny intro in which Hendrix depicts a low transcending UFO on guitar. In addition, it contains classics such as the dashing rocker Spanish Castle Magic and the fragile Little Wing, the only titles that also became live favorites afterwards. Guitar fans in particular will leave with this sturdy and tidy album full of magical strings. (MR)more
