Are You Experienced? (The Jimi Hendrix Experience)

Are You Experienced?
The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1967)

Top Tracks: “Purple Haze”, “Foxey Lady”, “Are You Experienced?”

The importance this album had on me as a young guitar player cannot be overstated. I owned it on vinyl in middle school, and once the purple haze got in my brain, I never looked back, and explored this man’s short but incredibly influential musical career in high detail. There’s almost no hard rock guitar playing involving a deep level of expression that doesn’t owe its roots to Jimi, and this was the album that put him on the map (May 2020).

Axis: Bold as Love (The Jimi Hendrix Experience)

Axis: Bold as Love
The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1967)

Top Tracks: “Spanish Castle Magic”, “If Six Was Nine”, “Castles Made of Sand”

So, seven months after Jimi stuns the world with Are You Experienced?, he kicks out Axis. You can already hear him progressing quickly as a composer and guitarist, with more inventive lyrical themes and even deeper and more unique musical output. It’s simply astonishing that he was doing this kind of stuff in 1967 (May 2020).

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Buffalo Springfield Again (Buffalo Springfield)

Buffalo Springfield Again
Buffalo Springfield (1967)

Top Tracks: “Rock & Roll Woman”, “Mr. Soul”, “Expecting to Fly”

This was kind of the quintessential band that became immediately huge and then exploded almost as quickly in spectacular fashion. One thing BS did, beyond putting together some great and distinctive music, is to bring together Neil Young and Stephen Stills. Despite having members from all over North America, this is definitely an LA band (June 2020).