So why is Jimi Hendrix’s Axis: Bold As Love on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
Let’s starLet’s start at the back, which I think is as appropriate as anything else with a tripped out exotic treasure of an album such as Axis: Bold As Love.*
* I’m reminded of one of my favorite oddball throwaway lines from the masterpiece that is Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs. Nice Guy Eddie (who, let’s face it, ain’t so nice), played by Chris Penn, kicks off a line of questions with, “All right, first things fucking last.” Incredible stuff, right?
The bluesy psychedelic rocker, “Bold As Love,” closes the album, and it’s just incredible. You can hear the seeds of the fantastic “Burning of the Midnight Lamp,” which would be released on Electric Ladyland a year later in 1968.
Each twist and turn through Axis: Bold As Love’s 13 tracks offers a new trippy surprise, some new jaw dropping revelation of Hendrix’s guitar playing mastery.
I’ll continue with another relative deep cut: “Ain’t No Telling” is phenomenal hard rock psychedelia. There are all kinds of wild things going on that sound perfectly calibrated and executed.
“Wait Until Tomorrow” has always been one of my favorite Jimi songs. It’s bright and hopeful and bluesy and soulful at the same time, with a flat-out gorgeous chorus.
I was a little surprised that “Little Wing” has about 10x more plays (265 million+ as of this writing) on Spotify than the second-highest song (“If 6 Was 9”). They’re both really good, but I prefer the kind of crazy, nearly experimental latter. This is a song that tells you you’re into The ‘60s of 1967, dig?
“Spanish Castle Magic” is Jimi Hendrix doing psychedelic hard rock like no one has ever done before or since.
Personal stuff that has something to do with Jimi Hendrix’s Axis: Bold As Love
I’ve mentioned before that I was deeply into “classic rock” in high school, a time of life when certain kinds of music and sounds get hardwired into one’s musical tastes and sensibilities for the rest of your life.
There was a period of time when I defined “classic rock” by a very small number of bands, including Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Cream, Jefferson Airplane, and Mr. Jimi Hendrix and that Experience of his.
I had scrambled together a collection of CDs and mix tapes, but I did not own Axis: Bold As Love back then. Through best of and live albums, and some other collections, I was very familiar with some but not all of the songs on this album during my peak period of classic rock obsession.
So therefore when I did finally get my hot hands on Axis, the deeper cut tracks sounded like miracles to my ears.
Some stats & info about Jimi Hendrix – Axis: Bold As Love
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, Psychedelic Rock, Blues Rock, Hard Rock, Album Rock
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – #92
- All Music’s rating – 5 out of 5 stars
- When was Axis: Bold As Love released? 1967
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #275 out of 1,000
Jimi Hendrix’s Axis: Bold As Love on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Jimi Hendrix’s Axis: Bold As Love that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
If a six turned out to be nine, I don’t mind, I don’t mind.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.