Axis: Bold As Love

The songs cannot be faulted and many people will find them more enjoyable if they find endless experimentation less important than a great song.

This album mixes the two aspects perfectly to make a very listenable record. I especially enjoy Bold as Love (Which finishes the album on an incredible high), Wait until tommorow and of course little Wing.

The Band are Great as Always and really work as a unit.


Riffs that blow your freaky mind   January 11, 2004
15 out of 17 found this review helpful

I bought this album in the christmas. And i immediately fell in love with it. I am a dedicated Hendrix fan, even at the ripe old age of 16 and if you are a boy of my age do not write off this music as 'stuff my dad listens to' because in fact you will find that this is some of the best music of the last century. If you are a guitarist like me, you will admire this playing. This album has some of the best riffs of the time, even though they are not too well known, Spanish Castle Magic, one of the best on the album, could be passed as a modern retro-rocker tune. It has enormous power. 'you got me floatin' ' is another of those brilliant riffs that you, guitarist or not will long to play. this album is a striking and frightening cosmic display of awesome composition that cannot afford to be missed by any age or era of people.


An under-rated classic   September 20, 2008
Shaolin_monkey (Cardiff, UK)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

It could be that this was my first introduction to Hendrix, but I maintain to this day it is the best of the 'Jimi Hendrix Experience' studio albums. I say this for a great number of reasons.

First of all, lets assume you've never heard an 'Experience' album before, and want to dip your toe in the water. This album is a great place to start, as it eases you in with a nice gentle, yet sublimely funky number, before it crushes your head with Spanish Castle Magic. The album is like a gentle roller coaster ride of funky rocky highs, and gentle mellow dips, with an ease of access missing from the other two studio albums.

So that gets you into it, and opens your mind to the possibility of exploring Hendrix further. At this point you may be drawn to purchasing 'Are You Experienced' and 'Electric Ladyland'. However, you're going to be torn between two extremes; the former is hard, fast and in your face, and the latter segues into many experimental meanderings.

I found myself reeling away from those two, a bit stunned, back to this album, and finding solace in the 'inbetweenness', in which you have both hard paced tracks of the first, and the beginnings of experimentation of the third. That is by no means a bad thing though - in fact, to the contrary you come to the conclusion that while Hendrix can maintain the hard innovative edge, he can also provide enough structure and control to make a tight album that still sounds fresh and original.

Over the years I have also found it is a very layered album. Different stereo systems and even different headphones have revealed nuances I have not been able to detect previously. As a result of this, I have come back to this album again and again. I have owned it on tape, vinyl, CD and now MP3. I wish the same could be said of the other two.

So, in summary, this is both the best album for newcomers, and also, in my opinion, his best album.


not the first but the best   September 29, 2007
Msp Khan (chelmsford, england)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

one day i woke and discovered that axis was the best hendrix album.I got fed up with the riff based songs on 'are you experienced'. Most of that album seems really commercial to me,it does not work as whole album but a collection of songs where as axis is cohesive as whole. It opens with a jarring insrumental ipersonationg a flying saucer and seques into 'up from the skies'. It is great song that predicts global warming decades before anyone else. It has superb jazz feel.Next is 'spanish castle magic' with great lyrics and a rocker of amazing frenzy. One song follows another till we reach the masterpiece 'little wing'.The opening by even hendrix standard is superb as well as a great love song . If six was nine is three songs in one and ends with an inredible freak out ending with not guitar but flutes. The energy is maintained on the hard and poppy 'you got me floating'. the song is an amazing feel good song which makes the next song feel so unusal on this album.'castles made of sand' makes you come down to earth with three stories of ironies of life. Noel redding song is another piece which grounds the album. the remaining songs lift it up again particularly 'bold as love' which is one of the great hendrix tracks.What makes this album so special among hendrix albums is that no singles were released. I think it is the greatest hendrix album. buy it.


Loud, challenging, but controlled   January 22, 2001
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

On this second album, the Experience begin to slightly stretch out, getting a little bit more control of their own music. Perhaps the strongest album in terms of composition with Little Wing and Castles Made of Sand being particularly melodic. For sheer guitar magic - the title track is unbelievable. Mitch Mitchell performs outstandingly, as always - even his quirky intro to the album is appropriate. Noel's song (She's So Fine) is good and the album benefits from being produced before the inner band tensions became obvious. Chas Chandler (producer) keeps the band under control just enough to stop over indulgence and ofcourse we musn't forget the engineering of Eddie Kramer - a leader in his field.

A first rate album - different from the other Experience albums, and equally worthy in its own way.