(Album ©1967, Reprise Records)
Jimi’s second album was also
the second one he recorded in 1967 alone! While it is the most abstract of his three albums with the Experience, it is one of the coolest album covers of all time. It’s so of the time – so stereotypically ’60’s. Unfortunately, it had nothing to do with Hendrix, who took exception to it for just that reason. In a biography titled Room Full of Mirrors (Charles Cross, ©2005), it was reported that he would have rather had Native American artwork to reflect his own heritage. But Indian culture was all the rage by the late ’60’s, and so this is what the label wanted. And what they wanted, they got.
The artwork is a painting by the artist Roger Law, and it was based on a Kal Ferris photograph of the three band members’ heads composited onto the imagery from a traditional Hindu painting of Vishnu (Krishna) known as Viraat Purushan-Vishnuroopam. The songs within reflect the imagery on the album cover – they are a stoner’s dream. Lots of semi-nonsensical lyrics and backwards loops to get lost listening to. However, it does have my favorite Hendrix tune of all, “You Got Me Floatin'” on it, and another of my favorites, “Little Wing.” Most of all, once you see this cover, it sticks with you.
