Released awhile after Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Axis: Bold As Love is still a very important album in its genre.

Like Sgt. Pepper, Axis: Bold As Love typifies its era by having a Hindu album cover and psychedelic imagery spread throughout its sounds.

Here are some of my favourites:

Spanish Castle Magic has that signature Hendrix sound that makes you wonder at what he could've achieved if he'd lived longer. A drugged up sort of song with 'it's all in your mind' seeming to sum up the idea.

Little Wing is like a beautiful moment in time. A relatively simple instrumental work coupled with Hendrix's captivating, airy, voice.

Groovy flying, look here: Castles Made Of Sand. It's not the first track on Axis in which the drums are heard more clearly than anything else. That was one of their experiments. It's all right, like a heartbeat behind and in front of everything.

Little Miss Lover is rocking.

Apart from the obvious great sound, what's also amazing is that it was a four-track recording (although most of the Beatles stuff was done with two tracks, Sgt. Pepper had four and Abbey Road had eight). Try and put some of the commercial shit nowadays to four tracks.

Axis, most importantly, is a very enjoyable listen. Hendrix's lyrics conjure up a kind of surreal landscape, but the music speaks for itself…

Reviewed by

4.5/5