The Jimi Hendrix Experience ‘Bold As Love’ to featured unreleased tracks

The 5 LP and 4 CD/Blu-ray boxes contain the landmark 1967 album with 28 previously unreleased tracks

Experience Hendrix LLC and Legacy Recordings are releasing Bold As Love by the Jimi Hendrix Experience on November 7th. Produced by Janie Hendrix, original Experience recording engineer Eddie Kramer, and John McDermott, this expansive collection is available as a five-LP vinyl plus Blu-ray or four CD plus Blu-ray set. The deluxe box set includes the original stereo and mono mixes of Axis: Bold As Love remastered from the original mixes created by Hendrix, the album’s producer Chas Chandler and original engineer Eddie Kramer. Kramer and engineer Chandler Harrod recently created new immersive Dolby Atmos mixes of the entire 13-song album. The box set presents an additional 40 alternative versions, unreleased studio takes, demos, live tracks, and television appearances from the album’s gestation and recording period, 28 of which have never seen the light of day. One of these tracks, a previously unreleased October 1967 studio demo of “Stone Free/Up From The Skies [Demo],” has been made available now.

By May 1967, the Jimi Hendrix Experience had finalized their groundbreaking debut album, Are You Experienced, at Olympic Studios in London, and immediately began work on their next album. Hendrix arrived in London in late September 1966 and soon amassed three top ten singles in the UK home base, followed quickly by success across Europe, but had yet to conquer the US. In June 1967, the group left for the US to make their American debut at the Monterey International Pop Festival. Their stunning Monterey debut—complete with Hendrix setting his guitar alight at the close of his performance–propelled them across the US throughout the summer of 1967. Before returning to London, producer Chas Chandler recorded the group’s fourth single, “Burning Of The Midnight Lamp” b/w “The Stars That Play With Laughing Dice” at sessions in New York and Los Angeles. Bold As Love showcases previously unreleased versions of both of these songs.

Starting on October 1, 1967, Chandler—the former Animals bassist who served the Experience as its producer—led the group back to Olympic Studios in London to resume work on what would become Axis: Bold As Love. Chandler was determined to help Hendrix make a critical leap forward creatively. He worked closely with Hendrix to prepare his new songs for recording, took the unusual step of same-day, double booking both Olympic and Regent Studios in London so that the group would have a firm handle on the arrangements of Hendrix’s stock of exceptional new material. Surviving two-track demos from Regent include Hendrix’s unique hybrid “Stone Free,” which had been the B-side of his December 1966 debut single, an uptempo rendition of “Up From The Skies.”

Axis: Bold As Love was released in the UK and Europe in December 1967 to great acclaim and commercial success. In the US, where Are You Experienced had only just been issued in late August, Reprise issued the album in January 1968, where it became a best seller. Evergreen favorites such as “Little Wing,” “Spanish Castle Magic,” and “Castles Made of Sand” have been covered by countless artists throughout the world. The iconic “If 6 Was 9” was used with dramatic effect as part of the soundtrack for the film Easy Rider.

The Bold As Love box set encompasses Hendrix’s effort to craft his definitive follow-up to Are You Experienced. In addition to the demos made at Regent Sound, the collection showcases Hendrix’s unique creative approach to recording, drawing upon previously unreleased takes of songs from the Axis: Bold As Love album. These include previously unreleased alternate takes recorded at Olympic (“Spanish Castle Magic,” “You Got Me Floatin’,” “One Rainy Wish,” “Up From the Skies,” “Wait Until Tomorrow” and others) as well as alternate versions of songs, most notably “Castles Made of Sand” with a backwards guitar track, are also represented on Bold As Love. The Experience’s performances on British TV programs Top of the Pops and Dee Time, Dutch TV program Hoepla, and eight songs from a September 1967 concert in Stockholm round off the bonus tracks. Music journalist David Fricke and Experience Hendrix’s John McDermott provide comprehensive liner notes that tell the complete history of this exciting period.

The cover art, a drawing by Hendrix when he was five years old, was hand-selected by his sister Janie. It was kept by their father, giving it added special meaning.

CD 1: Axis: Bold as Love Original Stereo Mix

1. Exp
2. Up from the Skies
3. Spanish Castle Magic
4. Wait Until Tomorrow
5. Ain’t No Telling
6. Little Wing
7. If 6 Was 9
8. You Got Me Floatin’
9. Castles Made of Sand
10. She’s So Fine
11. One Rainy Wish
12. Little Miss Lover
13. Bold as Love

CD 2: Axis: Bold as Love Original Mono Mix

1. Exp
2. Up from the Skies
3. Spanish Castle Magic
4. Wait Until Tomorrow
5. Ain’t No Telling
6. Little Wing
7. If 6 Was 9
8. You Got Me Floatin’
9. Castles Made of Sand
10. She’s So Fine
11. One Rainy Wish
12. Little Miss Lover
13. Bold as Love

CD 3:

1. Mr. Bad Luck (Take 6) [Previously Unreleased]
2. She’s So Fine (Take 4) [Previously Unreleased]
3. Burning of the Midnight Lamp (Take 30) [Previously Unreleased]
4. The Stars That Play with Laughing Sam’s Dice (Paramount Studios) [Previously Unreleased]
5. Burning of the Midnight Lamp (Instrumental) [Previously Unreleased]
6. The Stars That Play with Laughing Sam’s Dice (Instrumental) [Previously Unreleased]
7. Stone Free/Up from the Skies (Demo) [Previously Unreleased]
8. Up from the Skies (Take 2) [Previously Unreleased]
9. Ain’t No Telling (Demo) [Previously Unreleased]
10. Ain’t No Telling (Take 12) [Previously Unreleased]
11. Little Miss Lover (Demo) [Previously Unreleased]
12. One Rainy Wish (Take 1) [Previously Unreleased]
13. You Got Me Floatin’ (Take 1) [Previously Unreleased]
14. Untitled Guitar Experiment [Previously Unreleased]
15. Bold as Love (Take 19) [Previously Unreleased]
16. Castles Made of Sand (Take 16) [Previously Unreleased]
17. Wait Until Tomorrow (Take 2) [Previously Unreleased]
18. Spanish Castle Magic (Take 2) [Previously Unreleased]
19. Little Wing (Take 2) [Previously Unreleased]
20. Untitled Instrumental #1 (Take 3) [Previously Unreleased]
21. Burning of the Midnight Lamp (Original Mono Mix)
22. The Stars That Play with Laughing Sam’s Dice (Original Mono Mix)

CD 4:

1. Little Miss Lover (Alternate Version) [Previously Unreleased]
2. Spanish Castle Magic (Take 4) [Previously Unreleased]
3. Wait Until Tomorrow (Take 14) [Previously Unreleased]
4. Castles Made of Sand (Backwards Guitar) [Previously Unreleased]
5. One Rainy Wish (Alternate Version) [Previously Unreleased]
6. Untitled Instrumental #2 (Take 1) [Previously Unreleased]
7. Burning of the Midnight Lamp (Dee Time)
8. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Sweden)
9. Fire (Sweden)
10. The Wind Cries Mary (Sweden)
11. Foxey Lady (Sweden)
12. Hey Joe (Sweden)
13. I Don’t Live Today (Sweden)
14. Burning of the Midnight Lamp (Sweden)
15. Purple Haze (Sweden)
16. Burning of the Midnight Lamp (Top of the Pops)
17. Purple Haze (Hoepla) [Previously Unreleased]
18. Foxey Lady (Hoepla) [Previously Unreleased]