Are You Experienced

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Lore & Background

By May 1966, Hendrix struggled on the R&B circuit as a backing guitarist until Linda Keith noticed him at New York's Cheetah Club. She referred him to Chas Chandler, who was leaving The Animals and wanted to manage an artist capable of hitting with his song "Hey Joe." Impressed by Hendrix's live performance of the track, Chandler brought him to London on September 24, 1966. To showcase Hendrix's talents, Chandler recruited Noel Redding as bassist after meeting him at a New Animals audition and Mitch Mitchell as drummer following a rhythm-and-blues-focused rehearsal. After being rejected by Decca Records in late October, the trio signed with Track, a new label formed by The Who's managers. From that point, Chandler intentionally minimized input from Mitchell and Redding to prevent creative compromise, directing bass parts himself and pre-arranging chord sequences for the drummer before sessions began.

In Their Own Story

The album was recorded over five months, from October 23, 1966, through early April 1967, across 16 sessions at De Lane Lea, CBS, and Olympic Studios. Tensions flared early on; during the first session for "Hey Joe," Chandler asked Hendrix to turn down his Marshall twin stack amplifier due to rattling noises. Hendrix threatened to return to New York, but Chandler countered by placing his immigration papers on the console, telling him to leave if he couldn't play as loud as desired. Hendrix laughed and called off the bluff. Later at CBS Studios in December 1966, engineer Mike Ross recalled that the volume was so intense one could not stand in the room, yet this power created a unique sound captured by placing a Neumann condenser mic twelve feet away in a large room. Despite limited budgets, Chandler encouraged multiple takes to find the perfect performance rather than splicing parts together, ensuring the final tracks remained live and organic.

Reader's Guide

Released in the UK on May 12, 1967, the album spent 33 weeks on the British charts, peaking at number two. The US version followed on August 23 via Reprise Records, reaching number five on the Billboard Top LPs chart and staying there for 106 weeks. Notably, the US release included three top-ten UK hits omitted from the British edition: "Purple Haze," "Hey Joe," and "The Wind Cries Mary." The US cover featured a more psychedelic design by photographer Karl Ferris at Hendrix's request. Decades later, Rolling Stone ranked the album 15th on its 2003 list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time," maintaining that spot in 2012 before dropping to 30th in 2020. In 2005, the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry for being culturally and historically significant.

Did You Know?

• Hendrix threatened to leave England during the first recording session over an argument about amplifier volume, but Chas Chandler defused the situation by placing his immigration papers on the mixing console.
• Engineer Mike Ross placed a microphone twelve feet away from Hendrix's guitar in a large room at CBS Studios to capture the unique power of the Marshall stacks.
• The US version of the album included three top-ten hits—"Purple Haze," "Hey Joe," and "The Wind Cries Mary"—that were omitted from the original British edition.
• Chas Chandler deliberately minimized creative input from Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell to ensure no compromises diluted Jimi's vision, pre-writing bass parts and chord sequences before sessions started.