Hello Classic Rock fans, Napkin Art here…
Seems as though there is no shortage of Jimi Hendrix awesomeness going down this year, as Experience Hendrix and Legacy Recordings continue to celebrate Hendrix’s 70th birthday with two very special mono releases of The Experience’s first two albums, “Are You Experienced” and “Axis: Bold As Love.”
The fine folks over at Experience Hendrix announced recently they would be reissuing the mono mixes of The Experience’s first two albums as special, numbered editions on 200g heavyweight vinyl on March 5th, the same day Hendrix’s posthumous album “People, Hell and Angels” releases.
Both the UK and US mono versions will be available, which feature all original artwork and different track sequences. Taken from the original monaural mixes created by Chas Chandler, Jimi Hendrix and engineer Eddie Kramer in 1967, with all-analog mastering by Bernie Grundman, these much-sought-after mixes of “Are You Experienced” and “Axis: Bold As Love” have been unavailable for decades.
“Are You Experienced,” the mind-blowing debut from the Jimi Hendrix Experience, has been available in two distinctly different editions. The original version, prepared and sequenced by Hendrix and Chandler, was issued throughout Europe In May 1967 and excluded the group’s first three UK singles: “Purple Haze,” “Hey Joe” and “The Wind Cries Mary.” While there has never been a mono release of the U.K. version of “Are You Experienced” in the US, the classic U.S. version, with its iconic fish-eye cover, was only available in mono for a brief period following its original release in August 1967.
“Axis: Bold As Love,” the sophomore release of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, was remastered from the original two-track mixdown master tapes, and the original monophonic mixes for both the U.K. and U.S. editions for “Are You Experienced” were transferred to disc from the original master tapes by noted mastering engineer Bernie Grundman. His all-analog mono mastering process preserves the integrity, while projecting the vitality, of the original recordings.
TRACK LISTING
Axis: Bold As Love
Side 1: EXP, Up From The Skies; Spanish Castle Magic; Wait Until Tomorrow; Little Wing; If 6 Was 9
Side 2: You Got Me Floating; Castles Made of Sand; She’s So Fine; One Rainy Wish; Little Miss Lover; Bold As Love
“Are You Experienced” (U.S. sequence and artwork)
Side 1: Purple Haze; Manic Depression; Hey Joe;
Love or Confusion; May This Be Love; I Don’t Live Today
Side 2: The Wind Cries Mary; Fire; 3rd Stone From the Sun; Foxey Lady; Are You Experienced
“Are You Experienced” (U.K. sequence and artwork)
Side 1: Foxey Lady; Manic Depression; Red House; Can You See Me; Love or Confusion;
I Don’t Live Today
Side 2: May This Be Love; Fire; Third Stone From The Sun; Remember; Are You Experienced