Music
Store

With this CD release, the classic has been given its due. The remastered sound brings out every whine and whistle of Hendrix's guitar, every reverberation of Mitch Mitchell's drums, every "plunk" of Noel Redding's bass, restoring to the sound the layers it was intended to have.

Marsh trips over himself to praise the album -- at one point, he suggests the Universe was created for the sole purpose of producing it -- but in his four pages he adequately places the album in its historical context.

In selecting the six songs (Tracks 12-17) to add to the album's original 11, MCA and Experience Hendrix did a bang-up job of adding to the classic without breaking up the flow. The casual observer who's never heard the original vinyl would barely notice anything was changed, which is quite a feat, given how carefully crafted the album was.

Rock fans will groove to Hendrix's vision and guitar-playing. Die-hard Hendrix fans and music historians will love the CD, making it a must-have for anyone's collection.


Get Experienced   June 8, 2001
 33 out of 36 found this review helpful

Are You Experienced? is the debut album from the original guitar god, the late, great Jimi Hendrix. Along with drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding, he created one of the most original sounds in music and laid down guitar work that has yet to be duplicated. The album opens with one of the most instantly recognizable guitar riffs in music history, the opening line to "Purple Haze". The song became an anthem of the psychedelic rock sound and coupled with "The Star Spangled Banner", punctuated Mr. Hendrix's performance at Woodstock. "Hey Joe" is a cover song that Mr. Hendrix adds a subtle yet powerful guitar. "The Wind Cries Mary" is a quiet, reflective song that is followed up by a complete 180, the manic and reckless "Fire". "Stone Free" is rollicking song while "Foxy Lady" has a start stop, punchy sound. The album's finest song, and probably the best thing he recorded, is the title track. A swirling, shuffling, cornucopia of sounds with a razor blade guitar, the song is everything that makes Mr. Hendrix great. Are You Experienced? spent almost a year in the top ten and brought the Seattle born artist world wide acclaim.


The debut that lit the world on fire   October 26, 2002
 26 out of 27 found this review helpful

Many artists have released excellent debut albums, but this is probably the debut that stunned the music world the most. It introduced the world to a 24-year-old gypsy named Jimi Hendrix, and his rather unique mix of blues, Bob Dylan, avant-garde experimentations and the Beatles. ARE YOU EXPERIENCED? definitely is one of the most essential albums in rock history. A lot of the songs are still played on the radio to this day ("Purple Haze," "Hey Joe," "Wind Cries Mary," "Fire," etc.) and it has influenced a countless amount of people to pick up guitars and just rock out.

In terms of songwriting, a few rival with Hendrix. From the beauty of "may this be love" to the chaos of 'i don't live today' and the On The Road-esque 'highway child,' Hendrix, besides being probably the best guitarist of all time, was an excellent and prolific writer, who used sound effects and chords at all of the right times.

My personal favorite track on this album is the 7-minute psychedelic/avant-garde jam "Third Stone From the Sun." With the experimentation of weird voices, weird poetry, jazz, and of course, Hendrix's legendary guitar distortion, it's an underrated track, but embodies basically everything Hendrix could do.

If you want to get into Hendrix, this is the place to start, and in my opinion, this is his best album. Now with music worse than ever, where's Hendrix when you need him?


MTV Supporter, There's A Reason Why Nobody Likes Your Reviews!   November 6, 2005
 19 out of 19 found this review helpful

This album was released 15 years before MTV came into being so its a no brainer why there were no videos made of these songs. I hope you're just a joker because if you're not you need serious psychological help.

With that out of the way, There is nothing overrated about this album whatsoever. Jimi Hendrix's guitar playing has yet to be matched by anybody else. "Purple Haze", is the ultimate acid rock anthem. It is still played on countless movies and T.V. shows. Hendrix redefined what the guitar could do with his use of distortion and feedback and lightning fast hammer ons, pull offs and bends. He even plays with his teeth and behind his back. Can Good Charlotte do That! One of the best things about Hendrix is that he didn't release any visual representations of his songs(or at least none that I know of). In other words, he didn't release any proto-MTV videos that would have watered down his work and made him less serious as an artist. Now don't get me wrong, some videos are legendary. Just look at Madonna's, "Like A Prayer", or Peter Gabriel's, "Sledgehammer", to see how good videos are made. I'm off subject so back to Hendrix.

Like I said before, the album opens with the legendary acid rock anthem, "Purple Haze", featuring one of the most recognizable guitar riffs in rock history and one of Hendrix's best solos. "Manic Depression" is another catchy acid rock tune with Mitch Mitchell on drums as the driving force of the song. "Hey Joe", is an instant classic. A familiar ditty about a jealous husband who shoots his wife dead after finding her having an affair and then fleeing to Mexico. The album never lets up. "The Wind Cries Mary", is a classic blues rock song and, "Third Stone From The Sun", is six minutes of crazy and erratic guitar playing(has a very psychedelic feeling to it).
"Foxey lady", is one of the first libido driven songs and who can forget, "Fire", one of the most classic anti-love songs ever.

Extremely good album that is a must have by lovers of classic acid and psychedelic rock. Very accessible so it shouldn't be hard to find. After you listen to this, be sure to check out his other two albums; "Axis Bold As Love", and, "Electric Ladyland".

P.S.
I know MTV Supporter and other MTV loving
losers are going to say this review isn't helpful
but I don't care. As long as I get my point through.


The most influential guitar album of all time.   October 8, 1999
 17 out of 20 found this review helpful

First off, to clear up any confusion, Red House WAS released on the British LP. Well, with that out of the way, let's get to it. Jimi Hendrix was the greatest guitarist of all time, and if you are more into blues-based-rock than soul or jazz, this is the Hendrix album for you. Purple Haze, Manic Depression, Hey Joe, Love or Confusion, Fire, Foxey Lady, and Are You Experienced are all serious rockers. And this CD's last track, Red House, is the best studio example of Jimi's blues work that you will find, and it places him not only among the rock greats but the all time blues-masters, too. He was just as "bayou" as Muddy Waters or Willie Dixon, but he was a better guitarist! Incredible! Anyways, this was the most influential guitar album in history because nobody had ever heard feedback, fuzz, octavia, and other crazy techniques blended so dynamically before, and nobody has ever heard it done this well since. If you are a guitarist and can get "Are You Experienced" to sound exactly as on the cd, you are not human, as I wonder if Jimi was sometimes. And for those of you not too particularly interested in the guitar, the album has its deep moments, too. Songs like The Wind Cries Mary and May This be Love take you on an emotional journey and make you feel what Jimi is feeling at the time, as HIS guitar was the greatest tool ever invented for conveyance of emotions. (Well, him and Jeff Beck) Finally, I'd just like to say that anyone who says that you have to be stoned to listen to this CD is the consumate example of the idiot, and is too stoned to think about their review of this CD. You can't hear everything when you're stoned! To fully appreciate this kind of music, you need to listen deeply and hear everything. And this is one of those CDs where you will be amazed at that which is hidden amongst the many layers of sound, such as incredible little idiosyncracies in Jimi's technique: the way he chooses to slide rather than hammer on, or vice versa, or his subtle vibrato, etc. If you are a fan of the guitar or good rock music, you REALLY need to buy this.