Hey, I bought [i]Axis: Bold as Love[/i] and [i]Electric Ladyland[/i] as an impressionable teenager because he was supposedly great, and [i]Axis[/i] left me cold and [i]Ladyland[/i] bored me to tears, so I only listened to them once and never again.

I’ve got on [i]Axis[/i] right and with more patient and mature ears, the entire first side after the first two tracks are gold. One of the great things about not particularly liking an artist is that you get to hear canonical tracks, like “If 6 Was 9”, for the first time. If I had to pick one best track it’d be “You Got Me Floating”, leading off the second side, but it’s a remarkably even album. Worst would be that song in the middle of the second side that’s sung by the white boy – in fact, the second side, while fine, is a bit of a letdown after the first. The album is more polished than [i]Are You Experienced?[/i] and tighter than [i]Ladyland[/i], so I can see why people (you?) consider it his best work.

[i]Electric Ladyland[/i] – I think my aversion to it as a teenager had to do with not having the patience for “Voodoo Chile” and “1983” (I was into prog, but a 15-minute blues jam is the antithesis of a sidelong epic) and a general lack of strong songs. The long songs [i]still[/i] suck (though the song part of “1983” is good – I was asking myself why I had hated it, and then… oh. Yeah), even when my adult tastes are more amenable to them, and the best songs could have been condensed into a single album. Since I think this, I’m probably not the target audience for this album (and I smoke a lot of weed). “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” was Hollywood Hogan’s entrance music in WCW (he’d strum the championship belt like a guitar) so that’s the one I knew best coming in. The white-boy song is awesome, much better than the one on [i]Axis[/i]. The second side (“Little miss Strange” through “Burning of the Midnight Lamp”) is the best by a country mile: no bullshit, just good songs. I’ve never liked “All Along the Watchtower”. Best song is “Come On (Let the Good Times Roll)” or “House Burning Down”, worst is “Voodoo Chile”.

Take the second and fourth sides, put “Have You Ever Been (to Electric Ladyland)” and “Rainy Day, Dream Away” on there, cut the wankery from “1983”, and throw out “All Along the Watchtower” and the rest of the album and you have perhaps the best Hendrix album. or at least one on par with the others. 42 minutes (plus three or four for “1983”)

Even though I really like the first two albums, I remain lukewarm on Hendrix overall – there’s something about the “groovy” hippie vibe that grates, although it does fit his voice perfectly. I don’t have that problem with garage/psych or the Grateful Dead, perhaps because they didn’t hit their stride until the ’70s.

But he’s better than fucking Led Zep.