He and the band were already a hit sensation in the U.K. but at this point were only a small buzz in America. The performance was so big that it set the stage for the release of the Are You Experienced Album in the U.S.
Bassist and backing vocalist Noel Redding (left) and drummer Mitch Mitchell (right)
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Iconic Performance: 1967 Monterey Pop Festival
This was the defining point of Jimi's debut performance in the United States. Jimi takes his guitar and burns it later saying, "It was like a sacrifice. You sacrifice the things you love. I love my guitar. I'd just finished painting it that day and was really into it."
He and the band were already a hit sensation in the U.K. but at this point were only a small buzz in America. The performance was so big that it set the stage for the release of the Are You Experienced Album in the U.S.
He and the band were already a hit sensation in the U.K. but at this point were only a small buzz in America. The performance was so big that it set the stage for the release of the Are You Experienced Album in the U.S.
Are You Experienced in the Library of Congress
Each year, the Library of Congress picks 50 audio recordings to be preserved in the National Recording Registry. These audio recordings are are culturally, historically, or aesthetically important, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States. In 2005, Are You Experienced was chosen to be preserved. Examples of other audio pieces that have been preserved are F.D.R.’s fireside chats radio broadcasting, Kate Smith’s God Bless America, Frank Sinatra’s Songs For Young Lovers, and The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. NPR did a short program on this selection. The link can be found below:
In the NPR clip, there is a story about a young fifth grade girl who when asked why she like the album Are You Experienced, she replied, “it makes me want to go into my room and paint and write things”. This shows why the album is so iconic and is still listened to today. It is not just dancing music, it is not trendy music. The music is an entire experience which brings out the creativity in a person. It makes them not only think, but also makes them feel and desire to feel more. It makes a person dig deep into their own artistic and creative abilities and wish to exploit them. Generations
The song 51st anniversary can be seen as a song directly addressing the generation gap between the hippies and their parents. The song first discusses the happiness of the older generation with their marriages, their lifelong commitments saying “fifty years they been married and they can’t wait for their fifty first to roll around”. This static ideology is at first ironic sounding as for much of the album, Jimi talks about going through life day by day, with no commitments, stone free, constantly changing depending on his personality of the day. In the middle of the song however, Jimi changes his entire perspective talking about the down sides of marriage, about the adulterous lovers and makes it seem as if the responsibilities of children are overwhelming. Hendrix discusses this aspect of marriage however when talking about the newer marriages, the marriages between lovers of his generation. Therefore, The Jimi Hendrix experience suggests that while marriage and lifelong commitments worked wonderfully for their parents and the older generation, they are impossible to put up with for the younger generation, a group of youth that is free and without a chain. At the end Hendrix says “I and ready, Let me live”. This takes his point to the extreme suggesting that marriage marks the end of living, and therefore, that the older generation, while they seem to be happy, it not really living at all.
The Ups and Downs of the Experience - The Bipolar Nature of the Album
The Are You Experienced album is all about extremity, exaggerating on every aspect to ensure that the listener understands the point that is trying to be made. Listening to the album takes you on a journey through the soaring highs and the bleak lows of the album, seemingly with no middle ground in between. It is a non-stop rollercoaster that does not slow down until the very end.
This suggestion of life in the extreme is first seen in Purple Haze as Jimi Hendrix sings “am I happy or in misery?” It seems as if Hendrix feels so much but has a difficult time analyzing and understanding his feelings. This can be seen in the song Love or Confusion where the lyrics state “my heart burns with feeling, but my mind, it’s cold and reeling”. This adds to understanding the purpose of the album: to experience. When experiencing, it does not matter that you do not understand your emotions. All that matters is that you go into the experience and obtain the burst of feeling you get from it.
Of course not understanding your emotions can be a very confusing thing to live with, and can be frustrating at times. Jimi expresses this frustration in manic depression, a bipolar disorder where one experiences intense spurts of emotion, of both extreme highs and scary lows. This bipolar nature is seen throughout the album as often the songs alternate where a happy and dreamy song is juxtaposed with a frustrating and chaotic one. The fourth song on the album, Love or Confusion is very tense and chaotic, while the next song, May This Be Love, is peaceful, relaxing, and an emotional high. The listener is brought right back down however as the next song is I Don’t Live Today, a fast paced and altogether confusing song. The song then changes, again abruptly changing tone, as the next song is The Wind Cries Mary, the most conventional sounding love song on the album. It is beautiful and fast, nothing like the next song, Fire.
Purple Haze Throughout the Decades
Purple Haze, the first song on the Are You Experienced Album, is one of Jimi's most iconic and remembered songs. These are a few clips of the covers of the songs. They show its versatility and its appeal to a diverse group of people with various musical interests and taste. Purple Haze is truly a classic.
In 1989, this heavy metal cover was played by Ozzy Osbourne and Zakk Wylde.
This cover of Purple Haze was made at the turn of the century by the Vitamin String Quartet. This version is without drums but still has the consistent beat that is so prominent in the song. It is an energetic, yet beautiful version.
This 2010 cover of Hendrix's song captures the trendy electronic sound of this decade. It is done by Benny Benassi, a Grammy award winning DJ
There are many more covers of this song that can be found. When Purple Haze is searched on youtube, over 6,000 versions come up. Here is one that is played with a seven string acoustic guitar. In your free time, search Purple Haze. See what cover you like the best!
Journeying Through the Guitar Solos
Jimi’s first solo can be heard in the middle of Purple Haze. This first solo eases us into Jimi’s guitar skills as it is impressive, but not extremely crazy. Jimi’s next solo in Manic Depression on the other hand is overwhelming. This song is all about the frustration built from bipolar feelings, the soaring highs and the desolate lows. The solo goes along with the feeling of two personalities as in the beginning it sounds like there are two guitars playing it, one that is clean and crisp, and one that is angry and fuzzy. The tension builds in the beginning as Jimi climbs up a scale slowly. It then explodes with a fast and furious sound that is non-stop. The solo then goes back to a slow part. There is never a medium. The solo in Hey Joe also goes with the tone of the song as it is very bluesy and syncopated just as the rest of the song is.
The entire song changes pace during the solo of Love or Confusion. The rhythm speeds up and the chaotic nature of the music interlude takes the listener through the cold and reeling mind of the artists. While the lead guitar draws the attention during the interlude (perhaps because of the sheer magnitude of the volume), the backup guitar (also recorded by Hendrix), drums and bass have large parts as well. All play a steady rhythm but together create a chaotic tone about the music. The backup guitar does so by mixing with the lead guitar, making the listener unable to focus on any one part. The bass plays with a consistent rhythm but plucks at different notes each time making the listener unable to decide which note will come next. For the drum part, only specific drums are played, making the sound the instrument makes very consistent, but the actual beat is constantly changing. Altogether, the music both very appealing to listen to, but can also be unbearably confusing.
In I Don’t Live Today, Jimi talks about being unable to live happily. The lyrics are depressing and bleak, and seem hopeless. The doomed situation goes deeper down as Jimi plays the wah-wah pedal into a desperate solo. The solo is frenzied and crazy as if it is a final attempt to live. The song closes with Jimi asking to get experienced, to leave the darkness for a new life tomorrow.
Jimi’s versatility on the guitar is shown in his solo in the wind cries Mary, where he forgets his crazy rocker feedback sound for a more clean and crisp Santana-like sound. It is a beautiful touch to a beautiful song.
The fact that the solos are very methodical and go along with the tone and purpose of the song shows how much the musical aspect of the songs meant to Jimi. As crazy and chaotic as the solos sound, they were very carefully planned out by Jimi prior to recording. This was necessary as complete segments of the songs were dedicated to musical interludes.
Even when he is not playing an “official” guitar solo during a time designated to showcase the guitar, Jimi’s guitar can be heard playing riffs throughout the whole song.
Even when he is not playing an “official” guitar solo during a time designated to showcase the guitar, Jimi’s guitar can be heard playing riffs throughout the whole song.
Cover Art
Fuzz, feedback, and distortion resonated with feeling of controlled chaos in the early 1960's. The Jimi Hendrix Experience's first album debut exemplified sound that brough color and shapes into the imagination due to the sound as well as the creatively coordinated lyrics. The art which went along with the music of the album conveys clearly the ideas presented.
The original album cover was produced by Bruce Fleming in Europe and it aired in Britain release May 12th, 1967. Later, Barclay Records in France produced the more famous cover with swirling colors and psychedelic shapes showing a photo of the band performing on a French show. The bright yellow cover that was created under track records for the United States had lage purple letters where the the colors are distorted just as the music. The band looks cooler than ever in the center of the album cover, as they exude a sense of energy through their clothing and demeanor. While Jimi Hendrix is the starring figure head of the album, the cover shows that the band is a unified front that together as one created sounds that changed the world.
The feeling of the cover is one of ease as well as excitement. The shapes are trippy. The letters are spaced and shaped to allow the onlooker to begin the experience which the album truly is. It is the first impression of the music that the consumer has and it does a good job of conveying the wild and colorful beauty of the music. The album cover is one of the most memorable ones of the era as it exemplifies the drug culture which existed and shocked the population (often in a positive way). Everybody has to listen to the album that conveys a unique vibrancy.
The UK Album cover
The US album cover. As time passed, the Jimi Hendrix Experience took a turn for the psychedelic. This can be seen in their change in album art in just a few short months.
The original album cover was produced by Bruce Fleming in Europe and it aired in Britain release May 12th, 1967. Later, Barclay Records in France produced the more famous cover with swirling colors and psychedelic shapes showing a photo of the band performing on a French show. The bright yellow cover that was created under track records for the United States had lage purple letters where the the colors are distorted just as the music. The band looks cooler than ever in the center of the album cover, as they exude a sense of energy through their clothing and demeanor. While Jimi Hendrix is the starring figure head of the album, the cover shows that the band is a unified front that together as one created sounds that changed the world.
The feeling of the cover is one of ease as well as excitement. The shapes are trippy. The letters are spaced and shaped to allow the onlooker to begin the experience which the album truly is. It is the first impression of the music that the consumer has and it does a good job of conveying the wild and colorful beauty of the music. The album cover is one of the most memorable ones of the era as it exemplifies the drug culture which existed and shocked the population (often in a positive way). Everybody has to listen to the album that conveys a unique vibrancy.
The UK Album cover
The US album cover. As time passed, the Jimi Hendrix Experience took a turn for the psychedelic. This can be seen in their change in album art in just a few short months.
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