Are You Experienced (album)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Professional reviews
Are You Experienced

Studio album by The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Released	May 12, 1967 (UK) August 23, 1967 (US)
Recorded	October 26, 1966-April 3, 1967
Genre	Psychedelic rock
Length	40:12 (61:24- with bonus tracks)
Label	MCA
Producer(s)	Chas Chandler
All Music Guide link Rolling Stone link
The Jimi Hendrix Experience chronology
	Are You Experienced (1967)	Axis: Bold as Love (1967)
Alternate cover

US album cover. The cover on top is the UK album cover.

Are You Experienced is the debut album by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, released in 1967. The album highlighted Jimi Hendrix's psychedelic, feedback-laden electric guitar mastery, and launched him as a superstar.

The album is also generally known as Are You Experienced?. Although both covers of the album list the title without the question mark, some LPs of the album do list it as such. Also, some tracklists of the album display the title track with a question mark. [1]

After arriving in England in September 1966 and being taken under Chas Chandler's wing, they formed The Jimi Hendrix Experience with Mitch Mitchell on drums and Noel Redding on bass. After signing with Polydor Records and quickly switching over to Track Records, newly formed by The Who's managers Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, the group released three classic Top 10 hit UK singles: "Hey Joe"/"Stone Free" (December 1966), "Purple Haze"/"51st Anniversary" (March 1967) and "The Wind Cries Mary"/"Highway Chile" (May 1967). During the making of these singles, The Jimi Hendrix Experience cut their debut album, with Chas Chandler producing. Released in England that May without the three singles - as was the custom in the UK at that time - Are You Experienced and The Jimi Hendrix Experience quickly became a sensation all across Europe, with the album reaching #2 in the UK, behind The Beatles' immovable Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

It was after the band's show-stealing performance at the Monterey Pop Festival that June that his US label Reprise Records prepared the album for release, but with some significant changes. The UK cover, admittedly, was not sensational, so a more psychedelic design was devised by Jimi's photo designer Karl Ferris. Secondly, and more crucially, "Red House", "Can You See Me" and "Remember" were all removed - in order to make way for the three UK hit singles, with the running order being shuffled in the process. This time the running order was selected by Hendrix himself, but "Red House" was excluded from the album against his wishes. He was told that "America does not like the blues". In August, the US version of Are You Experienced saw issue and became a strong and enduring seller. Indeed, Jimi's own follow-up, Axis: Bold As Love, out that December in the UK, had to be detained for 6 weeks due to his debut's stellar sales (and it still wouldn't reach its peak of #5 until October 1968).

After Jimi's father, Al Hendrix won back the rights to his son's musical catalogue, Are You Experienced was re-issued, now on Universal Records worldwide, preserving the UK and US versions in their respective territories and including the extra tracks missing from the respective editions.

Long considered by many to be perhaps the greatest debut album of the rock era, the TV channel VH1 named Are You Experienced? the 5th greatest album of all time in 2001. In 2003, the album was ranked number 15 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, having been ranked as number 5 in their twentieth anniversary listing The Best Albums of the Last Twenty Years published in 1987. In 2005 it was selected for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress.

1 Track listing
2 Personnel
3 Production
4 Songbooks
5 Miscellanea
6 See also

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by Jimi Hendrix, except where stated otherwise.

[edit] UK version

"Foxy Lady" – 3:19
"Manic Depression" – 3:42
"Red House" – 3:42
"Can You See Me" – 2:33
"Love or Confusion" – 3:11
"I Don't Live Today" – 3:55
"May This Be Love" – 3:11
"Fire" – 2:43
"Third Stone From the Sun" – 6:44
"Remember" – 2:48
"Are You Experienced?" – 4:14
- Bonus tracks:
"Hey Joe" (Billy Roberts) – 3:30
"Stone Free"
"Purple Haze" – 2:51
"51st Anniversary"
"The Wind Cries Mary" – 3:20
"Highway Chile"

[edit] US LP version

Side 1

"Purple Haze" – 2:46
"Manic Depression" – 3:30
"Hey Joe" (Billy Roberts) - 3:23
"Love or Confusion" – 3:15
"May This Be Love" – 2:55
"I Don't Live Today" – 3:55

Side 2

"The Wind Cries Mary" – 3:21
"Fire" – 2:34
"Third Stone From the Sun" – 6:40
"Foxy Lady" – 3:15
"Are You Experienced?" – 3:55

[edit] US CD version

"Purple Haze" – 2:52
"Manic Depression" - 3:46
"Hey Joe" (Billy Roberts) - 3:33
"Love Or Confusion" - 3:18
"May This Be Love" - 3:11
"I Don't Live Today" – 3:55
"The Wind Cries Mary" – 3:20
"Fire" – 2:42
"Third Stone From The Sun" – 6:51
"Foxey Lady" – 3:19
"Are You Experienced?" - 4:15
"Stone Free" - 3:41
"51st Anniversary" - 3:19
"Highway Chile" - 3:36
"Can You See Me" – 2:34
"Remember" – 2:51
"Red House" – 3:57

[edit] Personnel

Jimi Hendrix – guitar, vocals, piano, voice of "Star Fleet" on "Third Stone From The Sun"
Noel Redding – bass, additional vocals
Mitch Mitchell – drums
Chas Chandler - voice of "Scout Ship" on "Third Stone From The Sun"

[edit] Production

Producer: Chas Chandler
Engineers: Eddie Kramer, Mike Ross, Dave Siddle
Remastering supervisor: Janie Hendrix, John McDermott, Jr.
Remastering: Eddie Kramer, George Marino
Photography: Karl Ferris,
Cover design: Karl Ferris,
Liner notes: Dave Marsh

[edit] Songbooks

Instrumental parts for 17 songs: ISBN 0-7935-2694-9
Drum parts for 17 songs: ISBN 0-634-00920-6

[edit] Miscellanea

The Get Fuzzy book, The Get Fuzzy Experience (ISBN 0-7407-3300-1) is a spoof of the album cover.
The title track was covered by Devo in 1984 for their album Shout, and was released as a single.
The song "Manic Depression" was covered by Carnivore (band) in 1987 for their second album "Retaliation."
Composer David Lang authored a piece titled "Are You Experienced?" for amplified tuba, orchestra, and narrator. The title is a tribute to Hendrix's album.
The album was named the greatest "Guitar" album of all time by the DigitalDreamDoor website.