Are You Experienced

Background

By May 1966, Jimi Hendrix was struggling to earn a living playing the R&B circuit as a back-up guitarist. During a performance at one of New York City's most popular nightspots, the Cheetah Club, he was noticed by Linda Keith, the girlfriend of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. Shortly after, Hendrix relocated to the city's Greenwich Village and began a residency at the Cafe Wha? fronting his own band, Jimmy James and the Blue Flames. Keith recommended Hendrix to Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham and producer Seymour Stein. They failed to see Hendrix's musical potential, and rejected him. She then referred him to Chas Chandler, who was leaving the Animals and interested in managing and producing artists. Chandler liked the Billy Roberts song "Hey Joe", and was convinced he could create a hit single with the right artist. Impressed with Hendrix's live version of the song with his band, he brought him to London on September 24, 1966, and signed him to a management and production contract with himself and ex-Animals manager Michael Jeffery.

Immediately following Hendrix's arrival in London, Chandler began recruiting members for a band, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, designed to showcase the guitarist's talents. Hendrix met the guitarist Noel Redding at an audition for the New Animals, where Redding's knowledge of blues progressions impressed Hendrix. Chandler asked Redding if he wanted to play bass guitar in Hendrix's band; Redding agreed. Chandler then began looking for a drummer and soon after, he contacted Mitch Mitchell through a mutual friend. Mitchell, who had recently been fired from Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, participated in a rehearsal with Redding and Hendrix where they bonded over their shared interest in rhythm and blues. When Chandler phoned Mitchell later that day to offer him the position, he readily accepted. In late October, after having been rejected by Decca Records, the Experience signed with Track, a new label formed by the Who's managers Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp.

Recording

Are You Experienced and its preceding singles were recorded over a five-month period from October 23, 1966, to April 4, 1967. The album was completed in 16 recording sessions at three London locations, including De Lane Lea Studios, CBS, and Olympic. Chandler booked many of the sessions at Olympic because the facility was acoustically superior and equipped with most of the latest technology, though it was still using four-track recorders, whereas American studios were using eight-track.

Chandler's budget was limited, so in an effort to reduce expenditures he and Hendrix completed much of the album's pre-production work at their shared apartment. From the start, Chandler intentionally minimized the creative input of Mitchell and Redding. He later explained: "I wasn't concerned that Mitch or Noel might feel that they weren't having enough—or any—say ... I had been touring and recording in a band for years, and I'd seen everything end as a compromise. Nobody ended up doing what they really wanted to do. I was not going to let that happen with Jimi." When the Experience began studio rehearsals, Hendrix already had the chord sequences and tempos worked out for Mitchell, and Chandler would direct Redding's bass parts.

October to December 1966

Chandler and the Experience found time to record between performances in Europe. They began on October 23, recording "Hey Joe" at De Lane Lea Studios, with Chandler as producer and Dave Siddle as engineer. The song featured backing vocals by the Breakaways. Soon after the session began, Chandler asked Hendrix to turn his guitar amplifier down, and an argument ensued. Chandler commented: "Jimi threw a tantrum because I wouldn't let him play guitar loud enough ... He was playing a Marshall twin stack, and it was so loud in the studio that we were picking up various rattles and noises." According to Chandler, Hendrix then threatened to leave England, stating: "If I can't play as loud as I want, I might as well go back to New York." Chandler, who had Hendrix's immigration papers and passport in his back pocket, laid the documents on the mixing console and told Hendrix to "piss off". Hendrix laughed and said: "All right, you called my bluff", and they got back to work. Redding wrote in his diary that they completed two songs during the October 23 session, but the second one has never been positively identified. Author Sean Egan speculated that it might have been Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor" or Wilson Pickett's "Land of a Thousand Dances". Chandler decided that they should use an Experience original for the B-side of the single, so he encouraged Hendrix to start writing; he composed his first Experience song, "Stone Free", the following day. Chandler, in an effort to minimize studio expenses, purchased rehearsal time at the Aberbach House in London. He abandoned this practice after realizing how quickly the group could learn songs while warming up in the studio. On November 2, 1966, the Experience returned to De Lane Lea to continue work on their first single. During the session, they recorded "Stone Free" and a demo version of "Can You See Me". This marked the first time that the Experience recorded a song that was eventually included on the original UK release of the album.

Chandler had been dissatisfied with the sound quality at De Lane Lea, so he took the advice of Kit Lambert and booked time at CBS Studios. On December 13, 1966, after taking a five-week break from recording while they performed in Europe, the Experience reconvened at CBS. Assisted by engineer Mike Ross, the band were especially productive during the session, recording instrumentation and vocals for "Foxy Lady" and basic instrumental tracks for "Love or Confusion", "Can You See Me", and "Third Stone from the Sun". Ross recalled the impact of Hendrix's Marshall stacks: "It was so loud you couldn't stand in the studio ... I'd never heard anything like it in my life." When Ross asked Hendrix where he would like the microphone placed Hendrix replied: "Oh, man, just put a mic about twelve feet away on the other side of the studio. It'll sound great." Ross agreed, and with a Neumann condenser mic he recorded Hendrix's guitar playing in a large room that, according to Ross, "was absolutely vital to the uniquely powerful Experience sound." Ross noted that input from Mitchell and Redding was minimized, and he asserted that Chandler was clearly "the one in charge" of the sessions. The band played together live at CBS; the lead and backup vocals were overdubbed. Despite his dwindling finances, Chandler encouraged the Experience to record numerous takes of a song, affording them the luxury of repeated attempts at a satisfactory recording. With a live instrument track as the foundation of the recordings, they eschewed the common practice of piecing together parts of several takes to make one continuous piece. After the December 13 recording session, the band made their television debut, on Britain's Ready Steady Go!

January to April 1967

After a three-week break from recording while they played gigs in England, including a December 29 appearance on Top of the Pops, the Experience reconvened at De Lane Lea on January 11, 1967. As "Hey Joe" was gaining chart momentum in the UK, they began working on their second single, which featured Hendrix's second songwriting effort, "Purple Haze", as its A-side. The track presented a more complex arrangement than the band's previous recordings, and required four hours of studio time to complete, which Chandler considered extravagant. The session was the first time that he and the group had experimented with guitar effects. Acoustic engineer Roger Mayer introduced Hendrix to the Octavia, an octave-doubling effect pedal, in December 1966, and he first recorded with the effect during the guitar solo of "Purple Haze". When Track Records sent the master tapes for "Purple Haze" to Reprise for remastering, they wrote on the tape box: "Deliberate distortion. Do not correct."

At the same January 11 session the Experience worked on the single's B-side, "51st Anniversary", a song that marked their first use of overdubbing in lieu of retakes as a method of achieving a satisfactory track. Chandler explained: "There were five guitar overdubs all linking in together to sound like one guitar." The song, which Redding and Mitchell had not yet heard before that day, was completed during the session. Chandler had decided that they should discard the rough version of "Third Stone from the Sun" from December 13 and re-record the song; they completed a basic track for the piece, but were unable to achieve a finished master. The group also managed to produce an acceptable live recording of the basic track for "Fire" after seven takes. Next, they attempted Hendrix's newly written ballad, "The Wind Cries Mary". Without the benefit of rehearsals, the band recorded the song in one take, to which Hendrix added several guitar overdubs; Chandler estimated that they spent approximately 20 minutes on the completed rhythm track. According to Chandler, by this time Redding and Mitchell had begun to complain about their limited input. Chandler explained that financial considerations influenced the creative dynamic: "[They] were sort of fighting the fact that they had no say during recording sessions ... they were starting to come up with suggestions, but ... We didn't need to be arguing with Noel for ten minutes and Mitch for five ... We just couldn't afford the time."

Between January 12 and February 2, 1967, the Experience took a break from recording while they played 20 dates in England, including a second appearance on Top of the Pops, on January 18. Chandler was dissatisfied with the sound quality of the January 11 recordings and frustrated by the large number of noise complaints that they had received from people living and working near De Lane Lea. He explained: "There was a bank above the studio ... and it was at the time when computers were just coming in ... we would play so loud that it would foul up the computers upstairs." Brian Jones and Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones encouraged Chandler to try Olympic Studios, which was considered the top independent London studio. Despite the growing chart success of their first single, Chandler's financial problems persisted. Olympic required advance payment for studio time, but Polydor had not yet released any funds to Track for disbursement. When Chandler went to Polydor asking for relief they responded by guaranteeing him a line of credit at Olympic.

Music and lyrics

According to Hendrix biographer Harry Shapiro, the music on Are You Experienced incorporates a variety of music genres from rhythm and blues to free jazz; author Peter Doggett noted its "wide variety of styles", while journalist Chris Welch said "each track has a different personality". Musicologist Gilbert Chase asserted that the album "marked a high peak in hard rock", and music critic Jim DeRogatis characterized the LP and its preceding singles as "raw, focused psychedelic rock," which he compared to the music on the compilation album Nuggets. In congruence, Michael Gallucci Ultimate Classic Rock assessed the album as defining the psychedelic rock genre more than any other. A contemporary review published in Newsweek in October 1967 identified the influence of soul music on the Experience and the album. In 1989, Hit Parader magazine ranked it number 35 in a list of the top 100 heavy metal albums. In 2006, writer and archivist Reuben Jackson of the Smithsonian Institution wrote: "it's still a landmark recording because it is of the rock, R&B, blues ... musical tradition. It altered the syntax of the music ... in a way I compare to, say, James Joyce's Ulysses."

Included on the UK edition of Are You Experienced were two tracks that represented the music Hendrix had played in the US before the formation of the Experience: the blues track "Red House" and the rhythm and blues song "Remember". The album's psychedelic title track, which author Sean Egan described as impressionistic, featured the post-modern soundscapes of backwards guitar and drums that pre-date scratching by 10 years. Musicologist Ritchie Unterberger considers the lyrics to "I Don't Live Today" to be more at home in a gothic rock setting than in psychedelia, however; he describes the music as being "played and sung with an ebullience that belies the darkness of the lyrics." The song's tribal rhythms served as a platform for Hendrix's innovative guitar feedback improvisations. Whereas "Fire" is a funk and soul hybrid driven by Mitchell's drumming, "May This Be Love" and "The Wind Cries Mary" are soft ballads that demonstrate Hendrix's ability to write thoughtful lyrics and subtle melodies. The influence of raga rock can be heard in his sitar-like guitar solo on "Love or Confusion". "Can You See Me" is an uptempo rocker that features Hendrix's double tracked vocals and his use of a one-note bend in the style of Hank Marvin. Although "Hey Joe" is a folk song, and the only cover on the album, it would become one of Hendrix's most requested tracks.

The UK edition of Are You Experienced opened with "Foxy Lady", a track that, with the exception of a few overdubs, was recorded in one session at CBS. Hendrix wrote the song about Heather Taylor, a London socialite who later married the Who's Roger Daltrey. It begins with the fade-in of an F note that Hendrix is bending-up to F sharp while applying generous finger vibrato. Using his guitar's control knob, he slowly increases volume until an audio feedback loop develops and he slides into the song's implied dominant seventh sharp ninth chord. Hendrix used a combination of natural amplifier overdrive and fuzz box effects units to create the song's razor-sharp guitar tone. Its blues–inspired solo—his fourth since arriving in England—used pentatonic scales while showcasing his innovative approach to melody; by exploiting the increased sustain created by overdriving his amplifiers, he moved seamlessly between the middle and high registers with a fluid, singing tone. Author Peter Doggett compared its slow beat to Memphis soul; David Stubbs described the track as a prototype for heavy metal bands such as Black Sabbath.

Album cover

Chris Stamp designed the cover of the UK version of Are You Experienced, which featured a picture of Hendrix, Mitchell, and Redding by Bruce Fleming. The image shows Hendrix wearing a long dark cape while standing over Mitchell and Redding, striking what Egan described as a "Dracula-esque pose". Chandler contacted Fleming based on the photographer's previous work with the Hollies, the Dave Clark Five, and the Animals. The photo shoot took place in February after Fleming had attended several recording sessions and Experience gigs. Chandler made a point of requesting that the band member's faces be clearly visible in the photograph; Fleming explained: "[Album covers] got much more esoteric as time went on, but to establish the artist we had to get their faces across so the kids would recognize them." He took monochrome and color shots of the band; Track selected an image from the latter group. Fleming had indicated which picture he preferred they use, marking the shot with a cross, but after the album's release he realized that they had selected another, less desirable image. According to Fleming, the shot that he chose was "more sinister; more interesting". Stamp hired graphic artist Alan Aldridge to design the sleeve's psychedelic lettering. Track inexplicably put only the album's title on the cover, omitting the band's name; Polydor issued the release throughout Europe with Hendrix's name printed at the top in matching font. The cover art's combination of dull green and brown tones, juxtaposed with the jocular nature of the subject's pose, created a weak overall visual impression; Stamp commented: "It's not a great cover at all. Hopefully, we made up for that in all the other covers."

Hendrix disliked the UK cover of Are You Experienced, so arrangements were made for a photo shoot with graphic designer Karl Ferris. Hendrix wanted "something psychedelic", so he requested Ferris because he appreciated the photographer's sleeve-work on the Hollies' June 1967 release Evolution. During a meeting with the band, Ferris told Hendrix that he wanted to hear more of their music from which to draw inspiration. They accommodated his request by allowing him to attend several sessions for their second album, Axis: Bold as Love. Ferris brought home tapes from the sessions, which along with Are You Experienced he listened to intently. His first impression of the music was that it was "so far out that it seemed to come from outer space", which inspired him to develop a backstory about a "group travelling through space in a Biosphere on their way to bring their unworldly space music to earth." With this concept in mind, he took color photographs of the band at Kew Gardens in London, using a fisheye lens which was then popular in Mod sub-culture. Ferris used what Egan described as "an infrared technique of his own invention which combined color reversal with heat signature", further enhancing the exotic nature of the image. Ferris was an experienced fashion photographer, and his interest in the finer details of his covers led him to choose the band's wardrobe. After seeing Hendrix with his hair combed away from the scalp, Ferris requested that he wear it that way during the photo shoot. Hendrix's girlfriend, Kathy Etchingham, trimmed his hair to improve its symmetry, forming an afro that became the basis of a homogenized Experience image. Redding and Mitchell liked Hendrix's new hairstyle, so Ferris hired a hairdresser to style their hair in a similar fashion. After purchasing clothing for Redding and Mitchell at the boutiques on King's Road—Hendrix wore clothes from his wardrobe, including a psychedelic jacket with a pair of eyes printed on the front which had been given to him by a fan—the Experience travelled to Kew Gardens. In an effort to focus on Hendrix's hands, Ferris shot the band at a low angle. The daylight faded soon after their arrival at the garden, so they returned the following day for a second shoot, which was not needed; the image selected for the US cover of Are You Experienced was the first shot taken the previous day. Ferris chose the cover's yellow background and its surreal lettering, and he intended for a textured gatefold jacket that Reprise, as a cost-saving measure, did not approve.

Release

Europe

The third Experience single, "The Wind Cries Mary" backed by "Highway Chile", was released in the UK on May 5, 1967, while "Purple Haze" occupied the number three spot in the charts. The management's decision to release the single while the previous one was still present in the UK charts was unorthodox, as was the choice of "The Wind Cries Mary", which differed greatly from "Purple Haze". Stamp recalled: "We did that on purpose ... We wanted musically to show who this person was." Egan wrote: "It alerted the public to the fact that the so-called Wild Man of Borneo was capable of songs of delicacy and sensitivity." "The Wind Cries Mary" reached number six in the UK in May.

Track Records released Are You Experienced in the UK on May 12, 1967. It entered the charts on May 27, where it spent 33 weeks, peaking at number two. It remained in the charts long enough that it was still present when the Experience released their second album, Axis: Bold as Love. The album, which was released in the UK without the first three singles, was prevented from reaching the top spot by the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

In France and the Benelux countries, Hendrix's recordings were released by Barclay Records in a distribution deal secured by Jeffery.

North America

Although popular in Europe at the time, the Experience's first US single, "Hey Joe", failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100 chart upon its release on May 1, 1967. The group's fortunes improved when Paul McCartney recommended them to the organizers of the Monterey Pop Festival. He insisted that the event would be incomplete without Hendrix, whom he called "an absolute ace on the guitar", and he agreed to join the board of organizers on the condition that the Experience perform at the festival in mid-June. During the climax of the festival, which was filmed by D. A. Pennebaker for the documentary Monterey Pop, Hendrix burned and smashed his guitar on stage for dramatic effect.

After the show-stealing performance, Reprise Records agreed to distribute Are You Experienced. However, despite the increased awareness that the Experience's performance at Monterey provided, the second Experience single, "Purple Haze" / "The Wind Cries Mary", released in the US on August 16, 1967, stalled at number 65 on the Billboard Hot 100. Although the single performed poorly in the US charts, its presence on underground FM radio stations, which were transitioning from easy listening and classical music formats to album cuts, significantly aided sales of the LP. Reprise allocated a $20,000 promotional budget for the LP, which was an unprecedented amount for an unproven artist. Released in the US on August 23 by Reprise, Are You Experienced reached number five on the Billboard Top LPs chart. The album remained on Billboard's album chart for 106 weeks, 76 of those in the Top 40. The North American edition of Are You Experienced featured a new cover by Karl Ferris and a new track list, with Reprise omitting "Red House", "Remember", and "Can You See Me", and including the first three A-sides omitted from the UK release: "Hey Joe", "Purple Haze", and "The Wind Cries Mary".

Reception and legacy

Are You Experienced was an immediate commercial success, selling more than one million copies within seven months of its release. Reviewing the album in 1967, Melody Maker praised its artistic integrity and the Experience's varied use of tempo. NME's Keith Altham said it is "a brave effort by Hendrix to produce a musical form which is original and exciting". However, not all contemporary writers gave the LP a favorable review; in November 1967, Rolling Stone's Jon Landau wrote that although he considered Hendrix a "great guitarist and a brilliant arranger", he disapproved of his singing and songwriting. He criticized the quality of the material and described the lyrics as inane: "Above all this record is unrelentingly violent, and lyrically, inartistically violent at that."

Many music critics have since named Are You Experienced as one of the greatest debut albums in rock music and of all time. According to Associated Press writer Hillel Italie, it was among the notable debuts in a year that marked rock music's transition into the album era. Journalist Ritchie Unterberger described it as "one of the definitive albums of the psychedelic era", while author Chris Smith said the release was "a landmark in a summer of landmark albums". Noe Goldwasser, the founding editor of Guitar World magazine, called it "a veritable textbook of what a musician can do with his instrument" and "the measure by which everything ... in rock and roll has been compared since." Michael Gallucci of Ultimate Classic Rock wrote that "by the end of the senses-rattling title track, it pretty much set up a template on which an entire music movement was based." According to music journalist Charles Shaar Murray, the album "completely changed notions of what a guitar could sound like, or indeed, what music could sound like", while the Miami Herald credited Are You Experienced with introducing acid rock, classic rock, and the guitar aesthetic of heavy metal. Critic Robert Christgau called it a "bombshell debut" in his review for Blender and said its songs were innovative for how they utilized three-minute pop structures as a medium for Hendrix's unprecedentedly heavy and turbulent guitar and loud, powerful hooks, which greatly appealed to young listeners.

Rolling Stone includes the album and several songs on various "best of" lists, such as:

500 Greatest Albums of All Time – No. 30, calling it an "epochal debut", and praising Hendrix's "exploitation of amp howl", and characterizing his guitar playing as "incendiary ... historic in itself". (2020)

Track listing

Since the first release of Are You Experienced in 1967, there have been six different track listings. Since 1997, compact disc editions in the US and UK feature 17 tracks, including all songs that appeared on either the original UK/international edition of the album or the original North American edition, as well as the Experience's first three singles ("Hey Joe" b/w "Stone Free", "Purple Haze" b/w "51st Anniversary", and "The Wind Cries Mary" b/w "Highway Chile").

Original UK and international edition

The original UK Track album did not list running times for the songs. Instead, they are taken from the original international Polydor edition. All tracks written by Jimi Hendrix.

Original North American edition

The listings are taken from the original US Reprise album. All tracks written by Jimi Hendrix, except where noted.

CD releases

Are You Experienced was first issued on the Compact Disc Digital Audio or CD format in 1985 by Polydor Records (Track's successor) in Europe and Reprise in the US. These early CDs essentially copied the original LP record albums and used the same tracks, sequencing, and cover art as their 1967 counterparts. Both were reissued with minor changes in 1989–1991 and the Reprise release CD sleeve included "Digital re-mastering by Joe Gastwirt, assisted by Dave Mitson using the Sonic Solutions NoNoise System, under the supervision of Are You Experienced? Ltd."

In 1993, Alan Douglas, who managed Hendrix's recording catalogue, reached an agreement with MCA Records for the future releases of Hendrix material. He also announced plans for new reissues of the three Experience albums: "Everything in the present catalogue is a budget release ... They're all 25-year-old packages. I want to take it high-level ... with all these new elements". Along with new artwork and liner notes, the MCA reissue was remastered with only one track selection and order for both the European and America markets. The 17-track CD included the first three Experience British singles (both A-sides and B-sides), followed by the 11 songs as they appeared on the Track/Polydor UK album release.

The 1993 Douglas reissues were short-lived; in 1997, his tenure as the overseer of Hendrix's catalogue was taken over by Experience Hendrix (the Hendrix family-controlled company). By April 1997, a new reissue was released, which restored the original artwork and sequencing for both the US and UK releases. However, both reissues included an additional six tracks, which provided the same 17 tracks (all the original singles and album tracks) in the UK and US, although in a different order. Since 1997, these have been the official authorized CD versions of the original albums. In 2010, Sony's Legacy Recordings became the exclusive distributor for the recordings managed by Experience Hendrix.

Personnel

The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Jimi Hendrix – guitars, vocals; piano on "Are You Experienced?"

Noel Redding – bass guitar (except on "Red House"); rhythm guitar on "Red House"; backing vocals on "Foxy Lady," "Fire" and "Purple Haze"

Mitch Mitchell – drums; percussion on "Stone Free" and "Can You See Me"; backing vocals on "Fire"

Additional personnel

The Breakaways – backing vocals on "Hey Joe"

Chas Chandler – producer

Dave Siddle – engineering on "Manic Depression", "Can You See Me", "Love or Confusion", "I Don't Live Today", "Fire", "Remember", "Hey Joe", "Stone Free", "Purple Haze", "51st Anniversary", and "The Wind Cries Mary"

Eddie Kramer – engineering on "The Wind Cries Mary", "Are You Experienced?", and "Red House"; additional engineering on "Love or Confusion", "Fire", "Third Stone from the Sun", and "Highway Chile"

Mike Ross – engineering on "Foxy Lady", "Red House", and "Third Stone from the Sun"