Heavy psychedelic hendrix

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I'm currently not that into Hendrix, but the only album I've heard is 'Are You Experienced' which features relatively short songs that I don't really think are all that great.

I hear there's some heavy, psychedelic, extended exploratory instrumental jams (basically electric guitar translations of heady acid trips) out there but I don't know what to throw down money on.

I seek the knowledge of all the gurus here because apparently no one at my school knows anything about hendrix. thanks in advance

― buyabiznatch, Thursday, 10 May 2007 17:01 (nineteen years ago)

you definitely want to get Electric Ladyland, for "1983 ... A Merman I should Turn to Be". that's a pretty good electric guitar translations of a heady acid trip.
but what, "Third Stone From the Sun" doesn't do it for you?

― Stormy Davis, Thursday, 10 May 2007 18:04 (nineteen years ago)

"love or confusion" is totally an electric guitar translation of someone's mind...ON ACID

― pretzel walrus, Thursday, 10 May 2007 18:11 (nineteen years ago)

Band of Gypsys

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 10 May 2007 18:14 (nineteen years ago)

Stormy's right, it's all about Electric Ladyland. I just recently read that Chas Chandler (from the Animals), who produced Hendrix's first two albums and managed the group, broke his professional relationship with Hendrix around the beginning of Electric Ladyland's recording, and this had a big effect on the direction of the music. Apparently, Chandler strongly preferred the standard pop format: songs meant to be released as singles (rather than parts of albums), quick recording sessions, and shorter song lengths.

With Chandler out of the picture, Hendrix apparently was able to labor over his songs more and play around a lot more with structure/sonic effects, etc., giving the album a much more psychedelic feel. There are still some shorter, punchier songs, but esp. with "1983" it's a lot more out there. (But there's definitely a lot of blues on the album, too., see the 15 minute "Voodoo Chile" on the first side).

It's definitely my favorite Hendrix album and the one I listen to most. Highly recommended!

― Mark Clemente, Thursday, 10 May 2007 19:17 (nineteen years ago)

xpost, Band of Gyspys is great too. It's a live album, crazy exploratory jams but I think the overall feel is bluesy rather than pyschedelic.

― Mark Clemente, Thursday, 10 May 2007 19:23 (nineteen years ago)

The Woodstock gig with the Gypsy Sun & Rainbows group is somewhere in-between. But I can't think of anything that quite fits the bill as much as Electric Ladyland. The posthumous studo-scraps compilations of recent years don't really approach the level of expansiveness or the fullness of production on that LP, but they may be worth investigating.

― Sparkle Motion, Thursday, 10 May 2007 19:35 (nineteen years ago)

Axis Bold as Love blew my mind in a very heavily psychedelic way (especially since I couldn't listen to anything else for a period of about 4 months because nothing else was good enough). Far more so than Are You Experienced, which was far more blues-oriented. I like Electric Ladyland, but it can become tedious in its jazz-love at some points. I'd say psych=Axis.

― Andi Mags, Thursday, 10 May 2007 19:47 (nineteen years ago)

band of gypsys is ehhh, and not at all psychedelic, i think.

― 69, Thursday, 10 May 2007 21:11 (nineteen years ago)

I agree that BoG is flawed, but it's worth owning for the great guitar work on it, if nothing else. It's not psychedelic in the twee, corny sense of much late '60s music - though it's certainly heavy at times. I'm not sure if "psychedelic" is the right word to describe things like the "Machine Gun" solo, though it's certainly "out" - for one thing, it hasn't aged as badly as a lot of "psychedelic" music from that era.

― o. nate, Thursday, 10 May 2007 21:31 (nineteen years ago)

band of gypsys is ehhh, and not at all psychedelic, i think.

true!

― GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ, Thursday, 10 May 2007 23:09 (nineteen years ago)

Heavy psychedelic Hendrix = Electric Ladyland

― kornrulez6969, Thursday, 10 May 2007 23:13 (nineteen years ago)

I can't speak to the expanded Fillmore set, but Band of Gypsies is def. not ehhhh. It's a fucking jam--There are only 6 tracks and 5 of them are great!

― Sparkle Motion, Thursday, 10 May 2007 23:14 (nineteen years ago)

stormy is 1000% OTM. that song is the best hendrix song... and i'm actually writing a thinkpiece for MTV online on how "1983's..."s artistic success was in fact, the revenge of the invicibility of surf music (the genre). let's not forget that the Surf Punks "Shark Attack" was a heavy player on the billboard charts in 1983 before being replaced by "PacMan Fever".

― Steve Shasta, Thursday, 10 May 2007 23:19 (nineteen years ago)

'the burning of the midnight lamp'!!!!

― stevie, Thursday, 10 May 2007 23:25 (nineteen years ago)

I've mentioned this before in regards to the Grateful Dead: that in my lazy, limited one-dimensional opinion, "psychedelic" music is (by its very nature) dependent on studio effects, technology, that sort of thing. Meaning that Electric Ladyland and Anthem of the Sun ARE psychedelic, whereas Band of Gypsies and Live/Dead are not. (Which doesn't mean they aren't great, of course.)

That's just my own personal definition, understand - I'm not gonna do a Hongro and insist that my opinion is absolute verifiable fact, and that's all there is to it, case closed, etc.

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Thursday, 10 May 2007 23:26 (nineteen years ago)

BoG's not being 'psychedelic' in the term-of-art sense is what makes it good

― gabbneb, Thursday, 10 May 2007 23:30 (nineteen years ago)

xpost - I fucking LOVE "Midnight Lamp" (wah-wah harpsichord! Double-speed mandolin-picked guitars! the Sweet Inspirations!) but I jsut wish a little bit more care was put into the mixing or mastering or whatev, cause it's just a MESS. Like a buffet table overloaded with all your favourite foods but you're only allowed ONE plate/one visit, so you gotta pile everything on at once.

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Thursday, 10 May 2007 23:42 (nineteen years ago)

"BoG's not being 'psychedelic' in the term-of-art sense is what makes it good"

It seemed that once the guitars started to get more heavy that labeled more as acid rock, which might be a more accurate description of late period Band of Gypsies live Hendrix. It seems that I remember reading an old interview with Grace Slick in the late 60s bemoaning all of the heavy guitars and vibe becoming more prevalent.

Whatever it is called, I think it is OK by me, I love all Hendrix but probably listen to the later live recordings the most these days.

― earlnash, Friday, 11 May 2007 02:25 (nineteen years ago)

'1983 (A Merman I Should Turn To Be' is the main course on a quite staggeringly good Side 3 (the 'rain' sequence). Side 4 (as everyone knows) is almost as good. Sides 1 and 2 are really quite mediocre by comparison (give or take 'Midnight Lamp' and 'Crosstown Traffic').

1983 is his best song by miles.

― Just got offed, Friday, 11 May 2007 03:19 (nineteen years ago)

first rays of the new rising sun

― Frogman Henry, Friday, 11 May 2007 07:57 (nineteen years ago)

I actually find his new energy drink to be very heavy and psychedelic - not a bad place to start really.

― Mark Rich@rdson, Friday, 11 May 2007 11:10 (nineteen years ago)

ElecLad: Have they sorted out the "Which 'side' follows which" on CD yet?

― Mark G, Friday, 11 May 2007 11:16 (nineteen years ago)

To me, it seems like the "Anthem Of The Sun" stuff is less psychedelic again, with less weird studio effects than on "Electric Ladyland".

I'd count "Axis: Bold As Love" as highly psychedelic though, only it isn't as good as "Electric Ladyland".

I agree with Andi that the debut is a more classic blues rock effort. Although the roots of heavy rock may well lay there (plus there's the title track, which is surely an early psych number)

― Geir Hongro, Friday, 11 May 2007 11:20 (nineteen years ago)

Hmm, I mean "The Cry Of Love".

― Geir Hongro, Friday, 11 May 2007 11:50 (nineteen years ago)

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