How Axis Bold as Love (1967) Proved Hendrix Was From Another Planet (Musically, Anyway)

Axis Bold as Love (1967) – Jimi Hendrix’s Psychedelic Middle Finger to Boredom

If Are You Experienced was Hendrix walking into the party with a Molotov cocktail and Electric Ladyland was him setting fire to the furniture while riding a unicorn made of sound, then Axis Bold as Love is the bit where he pauses to make eye contact, smirks and whispers: “By the way, I can play anything.”

Released in December 1967 – yes, that’s right, the same year the Beatles dropped Sgt. Pepper’s, the Velvet Underground were confusing everyone and Jim Morrison was threatening to whip it out on stage Axis arrives like an acid-soaked transmission from a distant galaxy. Clocking in at just under 39 minutes, it’s shorter than your average corporate PowerPoint presentation and infinitely more enlightening.

So let’s plug in, crank the amp and dissect why Axis Bold as Love remains a face-melting, soul-tickling masterclass in doing things your own way preferably upside down, left-handed and through a stack of Marshall amps taller than a giraffe on stilts.

Setting the Stage: A Quick Trip Back to ’67

By late ’67, Hendrix was no longer the mysterious virtuoso with a suspiciously fireproof guitar. Are You Experienced? had already detonated on both sides of the Atlantic, turning Hendrix from a Chitlin’ Circuit secret into a global acid god. But success brings expectation and expectation is boring – so Hendrix did what all geniuses do when presented with pressure: he ignored it completely and made something weird, ambitious and glorious.

Axis Bold as Love isn’t just a sequel, it’s a sideways leap into colour, texture and emotional range. Less smash-your-face-off rock and more “what if a soul record got lost in a lava lamp?” It’s Hendrix unshackled from the “are you experienced?” bravado and leaning into ballads, sci-fi dreamscapes and even – you might want to sit down – feelings.

Track-by-Track Breakdown: Axis Bold as Love

1. EXP

Opens like you’ve butt-dialled NASA during a mushroom trip. A bizarre radio interview melts into screeching feedback and sci-fi chaos, Hendrix doesn’t so much start the album as abduct you.

2. Up from the Skies

Hendrix channels his inner Martian, coasting on jazzy drums and a wah pedal that sounds like it’s flirting with you. It’s smooth, curious and slightly judgmental – like a space alien disappointed by 1967 Earth.

3. Spanish Castle Magic

A filthy, fuzzed-up rock jam inspired by a real club, but it sounds more like a barfight in Mordor. Hendrix’s guitar practically punches you in the throat – with love, of course.

4. Wait Until Tomorrow

Boy meets girl, girl isn’t ready, boy dies. Classic tale. Sounds cheerful until you clock the lyrics, like a sitcom theme written by someone holding a switchblade.

5. Ain’t No Telling

Ninety seconds of pure, chaotic groove. It’s like James Brown dropped acid and forgot to finish the song. Brief, punchy and unfairly overlooked.

6. Little Wing

Two minutes of heart-wrenching beauty, like Hendrix bottled the feeling of staring into the void and finding it strangely comforting. A lullaby for cosmic orphans.

7. If 6 Was 9

The counterculture anthem for anyone who’s ever screamed “sod off” at society. Rebellious, surreal and smugly defiant, it flips convention the bird while tuning down half a step.

8. You Got Me Floatin’

A chugging, sugar-rush rocker that feels like Hendrix kicking down the doors of a sock hop. Not deep, but fun – like a cartoon motorcycle chase scored by a fuzz pedal.

9. Castles Made of Sand

Bleak, beautiful and devastating. Three sad little vignettes drift by on a tide of dreamy guitar – it’s existential dread with a groove.

10. She’s So Fine

Bassist Noel Redding takes the mic and it… happens. Like The Kinks got drunk and stumbled into a Hendrix session. Slightly out of place, but charming in its chaos.

11. One Rainy Wish

A surreal, romantic fever dream where Hendrix turns moonlight into melody. Think Shakespeare with distortion and a serious case of insomnia.

12. Little Miss Lover

A strutting, funky riff machine, Hendrix’s guitar scratches like it’s got a rash. Sleazy, slick and possibly wearing velvet trousers.

13. Bold as Love

The grand finale: a psychedelic colour wheel set to music. Hendrix waxes poetic about emotion like a tripping oracle then obliterates everything with a legendary outro solo that sounds like it split time in half.

The Cover Art: Technicolour Carnage or Cultural Misfire?

Because nothing screams “psychedelic soul from Seattle” quite like Jimi Hendrix awkwardly Photoshopped into a Hindu deity. The UK version of Axis Bold as Love features Hendrix and the Experience as multi-armed avatars, which is equal parts trippy and mildly offensive. Hendrix himself reportedly hated it. Apparently, having your face superimposed onto a religious icon without being consulted was frowned upon, even in the ‘60s.

Still, in the great tradition of rock albums, the artwork makes exactly zero sense, but looks phenomenal when you’re on mushrooms. Or staring at your Grandma’s old lava lamp.

The Experience: More Than Just a Backup Band

Let’s give credit where it’s due. The Jimi Hendrix Experience wasn’t just a one-man fireworks display. Mitch Mitchell’s drumming is as tight as a Tory budget, while Noel Redding’s bass – when he’s not singing about girls in miniskirts – is surprisingly foundational.

Mitchell especially shines on Up From the Skies and Bold as Love, injecting swing into Hendrix’s celestial wanderings. Together, the trio weren’t just tight, they were surgically fused. It was like watching three brains fire in sync, only one of them was constantly on fire and hallucinating.

The Production: Kramer and Chandler in the Lab

Engineered by Eddie Kramer and produced by Chas Chandler (formerly of The Animals), Axis is sonically dense. Not in the “can’t hear the vocals over the bassline” modern pop way, but in the “you might taste colours” kind of way.

There’s tape flanging, reversed guitar, Leslie speaker trickery, stereo panning and enough reverb to make Phil Spector blush. It’s like Kramer and Hendrix were using the studio like an extra band member – one who happened to be made of LSD and soldering wire.

What Modern Musicians Can Learn (and Probably Won’t)

Let’s get brutally honest: if Hendrix were alive today, he’d either be exiled from Spotify for exceeding their compression algorithm or booked to headline Glastonbury three years running while making your favourite guitarist cry into their pedalboard.

Axis: Bold as Love is a reminder that soul, imagination and actual skill beat auto-tuned, algorithm-approved sludge every time. Imagine dropping If 6 Was 9 into a modern A&R meeting. They’d ask him to trim the flute section and add a feature from Post Malone.

Reception Then vs Now: The Cult of the “Middle Child”

At the time, Axis Bold As Love was seen as a bit of a breather between the chaos of Are You Experienced? and the epic sprawl of Electric Ladyland. It hit #5 in the US and #6 in the UK, which is great if you’re a normal band – but Hendrix wasn’t normal. He was Zeus with a guitar.

Today, the album’s been reassessed by everyone from critics to bedroom guitarists to stoned TikTokers. It’s considered essential listening – arguably the most cohesive Hendrix record, if not the most expansive. It may not blow the doors off like Ladyland, but it does quietly redecorate your brain.

The Influence: Everyone Ripped This Off And That’s Fine

The blueprint Hendrix laid down here – psychedelia meets soul meets blues with guitar playing that makes angels cry – can be heard in everything from Prince and Lenny Kravitz to Tame Impala and Thundercat. Even John Mayer has openly admitted to trying (and mostly failing) to capture that Little Wing magic.

And let’s not forget Stevie Ray Vaughan, who practically built a second career covering Hendrix tracks with the kind of reverence usually reserved for religious relics.

Top 5 WTF Moments on Axis: A Breakdown

1. EXP’s Alien Interview – Nothing says “serious rock musician” like pretending to be a Martian named Paul.
2. The Reverse Guitar on ‘Castles Made of Sand’ – It’s like Jimi invented a time-travelling guitar effect and just… casually used it on a ballad.
3. The Time Signatures on ‘One Rainy Wish’ – A 3/4 to 4/4 switch that’s smoother than your last breakup text.
4. That Flute in ‘If 6 Was 9’ – Suddenly, you’re in a medieval tavern… if the tavern was collapsing under sonic destruction.
5. The Sudden British Invasion Sound of ‘She’s So Fine’ – Redding crashes the party with a song that sounds like it wandered in from a different band’s album.

Should You Listen to It in 2025? Spoiler: Yes, Unless You’re Dead Inside

In a world where your Spotify algorithm tries to convince you that Coldplay’s latest track is “genre-defying,” Axis Bold as Love is an unapologetic slice of everything music used to be – dangerous, beautiful, unpredictable and played by someone whose guitar wasn’t just an instrument, but an extra limb.

Put it on. Loud. Preferably with good headphones or very forgiving neighbours. Because this isn’t background music. This is what background music is afraid of in the dark.

My Final Thoughts: Hendrix’s Technicolour Middle Finger to Musical Mediocrity

If Are You Experienced? was Hendrix kicking the door in and Electric Ladyland was him setting the building on fire, Axis Bold as Love is the dream he had while floating above the smouldering ruins. Often dismissed as the “in-between” record, it’s actually the most emotionally nuanced and sonically precise album he ever made. Forget the cosmic chaos for a second – this is where Hendrix turned inward, writing songs that weren’t just about blowing your head off with guitar heroics, but gently whispering into your third eye while rearranging your molecular structure.

If You Like Axis Bold As Love, I Recommend These Albums:

The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Electric Ladyland (1968) – Hendrix redecorates the cosmos and invites you to drown in fuzz-drenched madness.

Pink Floyd – The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967) – Syd Barrett leads you through a psychedelic nursery where the walls breathe and the clocks judge you.

Funkadelic – Maggot Brain (1971) – Funkadelic summons the ghost of Hendrix to scream through a wah pedal for ten glorious, soul-obliterating minutes.