The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced (Remastered Hybrid SACD) (1967/2020)

Are You Experienced on Hybrid SACD from Analogue Productions! Newly remastered by Bernie Grundman, from the original analog master tapes!

"Are You Experienced appeared in the U.K. in May of 1967, one week before Sgt. Pepper hit the charts. This U.S. version dropped four months later. The game-changing debut spawned the hits 'Purple Haze' and 'Hey Joe' and shook up the pop world. Raw and rowdy, this visionary blast of rock ecstasy, rife with fantastical lyrics and futuristic fretwork unrivaled even today, commanded respect. The spacey 'Third Stone from the Sun' threw down the gauntlet with the declaration 'And you'll never hear surf music again.' 'Fire' delivered incendiary proto-funk. And the backward guitar solos of the title track, the innovative guitar-doubling on 'Purple Haze,' the rhythmic turmoil of 'Manic Depression,' the feedback-laced 'I Don't Live Today,' and the anti-hippie anthem 'Love or Confusion' were harbingers of hard rock. Newly remastered by Bernie Grundman from the original analog master tapes, the much-anticipated hybrid SACD has a 36-page booklet, and both stereo and mono mixes. This gem brilliantly captures the detailed layers of Hendrix's mind-bending soundscapes. Are You Experienced in pure DSD (or high def PCM, depending on your system)? It doesn't get any better." — Music = 5/5; Sonics = 5/5 — Greg Cahill, The Absolute Sound, April 2021.

"One forgets how weird, nay bizarre, was the stereo mix of this album in places, but the music transcends the extreme separation. This SACD — the sleeve and track listing follow the U.S. issue — includes the stereo version on both layers, with the mono mix a bonus solely for the SACD layer. Hendrix's debut still sounds radical and otherworldly over a half-century on, and every track is magnificent, with a surfeit of what would become his signature tunes, including 'Foxey Lady,' — yes, U.S. spelling with an 'e'! — 'Purple Haze,' 'Hey Joe' and my all-time Jimi fave, 'The Wind Cries Mary.' If you don't already own a copy, Analogue Productions' SACD will do the trick." — Sound Quality = 85% - Ken Kessler, HiFi News, March 2021

"Highlights for me at HiRez sit with 'The Wind Cries Mary,' and while it may have taken a couple of plays, '3rd Stone From The Sun' is incredibly detailed in a way I never heard or experienced before … As per usual again with Grundman, Jimi's vocal is detailed and rich in tone and so real. Probably why I like Grundman's mastering on the Harbeth speakers so much as I know just how close to being real they reproduce vocal. If it is on the recording it will be delivered … critical listening will always find fault especially with this recording. I'm just so pleased that those issues were not enough to prevent this Super Audio Compact Disc release. … $35 for this set is a bargain and I cannot find any reason not to have this available to play for anyone interested in this record." Are You Experienced Hybrid SACD review, Gordon Johnson

Analogue Productions presents the SACDs Jimi Hendrix fans have asked for: Hybrid SACDs of both Axis: Bold As Love, as well as Are You Experienced, the 1967 debut full-length studio release by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Newly remastered by Bernie Grundman from the original analog master tapes, each disc contains the mono and stereo mixes for each of these historic albums. This is pure DSD sound to applaud!

When first released in 1967 in the U.S., Are You Experienced turned the music world upside down as Hendrix showed everyone exactly what it meant to be "experienced." This SACD returns to the original 11-song version that was originally released in August 1967. It contains such eternal classics as "Hey Joe," "Purple Haze," "The Wind Cries Mary," "Fire," and the title song, whose backward drum and guitar tracks and otherworldly guitar work still sound innovative almost a half-century later.

As Rolling Stone states, Jimi Hendrix was the most innovative instrumental genius the rock era produced, a wizard guitar player whose sense of technique never overwhelmed the blues and rock 'n' roll spirit that was the underpinning of his genius. He improvised with the fervor of a born jazzman; he philosophized like the most cosmic rocker, but ultimately his basics were rooted in soul, a reflection of the chitlin circuit, where he cut his teeth. With the possible exception of Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience was debatably the world's finest-ever power trio. Axis and Are You Experienced showcased the grasp that Jimi and his cohorts — Mitch Mitchell on drums and Noel Redding on bass — had on the studio technology at their disposal, and the lyrical beauty of Hendrix's guitar playing.

Tracklist
1. Purple Haze (02:46)
2. Manic Depression (03:30)
3. Hey Joe (03:23)
4. Love Or Confusion (03:15)
5. May This Be Love (02:55)
6. I Don't Live Today (03:55)
7. The Wind Cries Mary (03:21)
8. Fire (02:34)
9. Third Stone From The Sun (06:40)
10. Foxy Lady (03:15)
11. Are You Experienced? (03:55)