Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced (1967), Music

Are You Experienced is the debut album by Jimi Hendrix Experience. Released in 1967, it was the first LP on the new Track Records label. The album highlighted Jimi Hendrix's R&B based, psychedelic, feedback-laden electric guitar playing, with an imaginative song writing style and launched him as a major new International star and later fame in the USA and Canada.

The album is also known as Are You Experienced?, which Barclay Records of France used for their original 1967 release and subsequent re-releases. Although all other covers of the album list the title without the question mark. Also, some tracklists of the album display the title track with a question mark.

After being taken under Chas Chandler's wing and arriving in England in September 1966 , they formed The Jimi Hendrix Experience with Mitch Mitchell on drums and Noel Redding on bass. The group signed with Track Records, newly formed by The Who's managers Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp. However the group's debut single appeared on Polydor Records, their distributor, because Track was not fully operational. The group released three classic Top 10 hit UK singles produced by Chas Chandler : "Hey Joe"/"Stone Free" (December 1966), "Purple Haze"/"51st Anniversary" (March 1967, the 1st release by the new Track Records label, on a special white label) and "The Wind Cries Mary"/"Highway Chile" (May 1967). The overdubs for Purple Haze were Jimi's first session at the recently opened Olympic studios with the engineer Eddie Kramer, although they continued to record tracks with engineer Dave Siddle at De Lane Lea studios, for a while. During the making of these singles, The Jimi Hendrix Experience also cut the tracks that became their debut album, which Chas Chandler also produced with the Olympic Studios Engineer Eddie Kramer (some tracks were recorded with engineers Dave Siddle at De Lane Lea & Mike Ross at CBS studios). Released in England that May without the three singles - as was the custom in the UK at that time - Are You Experienced and The Jimi Hendrix Experience quickly became a sensation all across (non communist bloc) Europe, with the album reaching #2 in the UK, behind The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Track Listing
Originally released only in mono & "enhanced stereo" (German Polydor bogus stereo from mono effect) Alan Douglas' re-mastered CD replaced Red House (mono) with the USA stereo (different take) and all other tracks (except 51st Anniversary & Highway Chile have been replaced by the USA stereo mixes

1. Foxy Lady – 3:22
2. Manic Depression – 3:46
3. Red House – 3:53 (mono)
4. Can You See Me – 2:35
5. Love Or Confusion – 3:17
6. I Don't Live Today – 3:58
7. May This Be Love – 3:14
8. Fire – 2:47
9. 3rd Stone from the Sun – 6:50
10. Remember – 2:53
11. Are You Experienced – 4:17

-Alan Douglas re-master CD Bonus tracks:
12. Hey Joe (Billy Roberts) – 3:34
13. Stone Free – 3:39
14. Purple Haze – 2:54
15. 51st Anniversary – 3:18 (mono)
16. The Wind Cries Mary – 3:24
17. Highway Chile – 3:35 (mono)