4/2/13: Jimi Hendrix Experience: Are You Experienced?

This is the way to experience the experience.  If ya ask me, Jimi was one of those talents who required a structure to play off of-- he's a king noodler without a strong melody or time constraint to guide him.  (Jeff Buckley and Van Morrison are the same away.)  This first record is like a jungle gym for his skills.  There are no long, drippy solos, and even in the longer, more improvisational songs, the emphasis is one bending YOUR mind, not Jimi bending his own.  We have structure here, in the form of short, punchy, unbeatable rock songs ("Fire," "Purple Haze," you know), downtempo but forward-moving, gorgeous pop ballads ("May This Be Love," "The Wind Cries Mary"), psychedelic riffing ("Third Stone From the Sun"), and freaky combinations of all three (the clearly made-up-on-the-spot, but still classic, title track; the best version of  "Hey Joe" ever put on tape, etc).  The whole thing rules front to back, even if the sequencing is kinda funny.  Basically, it's a one-of-a-kind record, the finest document of Jimi's singing, guitar playing, and songwriting, with hardly a wasted moment.  (Compare to the multitude of wasted moments on his other two studio albums, and the multitude of wasted moment albums that have been released following his death.)