1001 Albums Summary

immaculate vibes actually. This album laid the foundation for so much modern music and it still holds up really well. Sure, not everything here has aged perfectly, and there was a lot of weird, possible fart noises on the outro, but I still had a lot of fun with it

I found myself in a bit of a Jimi Hendrix dive these past few days, after only having heard Are You Experienced a couple years ago, and this might be a hot take, but I'm taking Axis: Bold as Love over the debut. Are You Experienced is an achievement and a masterclass in guitar work, with the highlights to back it up. However, I feel like Jimi and the band took their craft and novelty even further with Axis: Bold as Love, making it more concise, structured, and mature. Despite not having the same immediate impact, the tracklist is incredibly consistent, with highs that easily match its predecessor curiously, before listening to the full thing, I recently discovered and have been bumping Little Wing, which is easily one of Jimi's greatest songs. It's one of his shortest tracks, but also arguably the most human moment in his entire discography, as he moves away from the bravado of the debut into something much more fragile. I love the band’s soulful take on psychedelia here and on Castles Made of Sand, but I also dig their exploration of harder rock. The progressions on Spanish Castle Magic almost feel like a precursor to heavy metal. Then there's the title track, which ends the record on a gorgeous climax, with Jimi Hendrix simply giving one of the best guitar solos I've ever heard while I often say this early psychedelic rock/funk has a "ceiling" for me, where the songs can sometimes blend together a little too much, Axis: Bold as Love is an album I see myself returning to often. The tracklist just flows incredibly well, and there's rarely a section where I find myself wandering or getting lost in its psychedelic layers. Considering this record was famously rushed to capitalize on the success of the debut, the fact that it came out arguably better just goes to show the raw talent these men possessed