How do you listen to Hendrix's Are You Experienced?

[irreduciblekoan]

This is a question I've always been interested in, but now that we are doing Rank The Tracks threads for different classic albums and I'm sure Are You Experienced will be done inevitably, I thought I'd ask now.

As many of you probably know, there are several versions of Are You Experienced and it's a messy situation. Mainly there are the original UK/International and US vinyl versions, then there are the current CD versions, each with 17 tracks in various orders (the first 11 tracks on the current discs follow the international and US versions depending on where you buy the CDs, and then you get the various album tracks, singles and B-sides to round out the "track list.")

All of this makes if difficult for purists and those of us (like me) who prefer to listen to albums as albums, and want a definitive version of everything. You see, the "original" UK version of Are You Experienced is missing three tracks that make the album famous. Those would be "Hey Joe," "Purple Haze" and "The Wind Cries Mary," which are arguably Hendrix's most popular songs from the album and three of the main reasons why Are You Experienced makes it onto so many best-ever lists. When Rolling Stone magazine ranked the album #15, they no doubt meant an album that includes those three singles. But that's not how the LP was originally released, yet the US version also leaves off a few excellent songs, "Remember," "Red House" and "Can You See Me."

Confusing matters even more is that all 17 songs (the singles and b-sides and the UK LP) were originally released on mono, so if you REALLY want to be a purist....you shouldn't even listen to it in stereo.

Here is how I listen to the album. I take the album title literally. I think of the 6 months between the release of the "Hey Joe" single and the release of the album in the UK as a gradual "experience." In the UK, hype for Hendrix gradually built up, first in December 1966 with "Hey Joe/Stone Free", then March 1967 with "Purple Haze/51st Anniversary," then May 1967 with "The Wind Cries Mary/Highway Chile," and then finally with the UK album with 11 NEW tracks.

So that's how I listen to Are You Experienced, the way the UK first "experienced" Hendrix, the three singles and b-sides in chronological order, and then the UK album. And I listen to them all in mono (there is a mono version of all the tracks available as a download if you know how to look for it). None of the songs were re-mixed into stereo until months later when the album was released in the US.

First single:

1. Hey Joe
2. Stone Free

Second single:

3. Purple Haze
4. 51st Anniversary

Third single:

5. The Wind Cries Mary
6. Highway Chile

UL LP:

7. Foxy Lady
8. Manic Depression
9. Red House
10. Can You See Me
11. Love Or Confusion
12. I Don't Live Today
13. May This Be Love
14. Fire
15. 3rd Stone From The Sun
16. Remember
17. Are You Experienced

As a purist, this is how I think of the album, as three singles (with their B-sides) and then 11 album tracks. Again, as an "experience" that the UK audience went through. This is the only example where I listen to separate singles as "part" of an album.

Anyone agree with this track order? And I wonder which songs will be included in the "Rank The Tracks" thread.

[Jirin]

The only version I've ever listened to is a 1997 CD release that has all 17 tracks:

1. Purple Haze
2. Manic Depression
3. Hey Joe
4. Love Or Confusion
5. My This Be Love
6. I Don't Live Today
7. The Wind Cries Mary
8. Fire
9. Third Stone From The Sun
10. Foxey Lady
11. Are You Experienced?
12. Stone Free
13. 51st Anniversary
14. Highway Chile
15. Can You See Me
16. Remember
17. Red House

I don't know what this version is based on but it's led me to rank the album as #1 of all time in almost every list I've ever done since I heard it, so the pacing must work for me. Seems like the US version with the three missing tracks tacked on the end.

[Listyguy]

I also use the version Jirin gave, but really I love any version of that album. Even the UK version, which is "weak" has some gems like "May This Be Love", "Fire" and "Foxy Lady". Plus "Manic Depression" and the title track. So yeah there's no lack of quality music on any version of that album.

[irreduciblekoan]

It's true that no matter how you listen to the 17 tracks, the songs are nearly all great and it's the quality of the songs that mainly give the album its reputation. However, I have always believed that the order of tracks is just as important to an album's greatness, as much as the songs themselves. And this is why the track order of Are You Experienced has frustrated me for so long, because there are such different versions that each make the "experience" a little different due to the pacing, mood, etc. The US LP felt more psychedelic, the UK LP more eclectic and "earthy" with the addition of "Red House" and "Remember." The UK LP is more exciting in first half (Side A) because from "Foxy Lady" to "I Don't Live Today" is all fast songs. The US LP is more patient and dynamic, because ballads such as "Hey Joe" and "The Wind Cries Mary" slow down Side A.

I've always felt like the flow of the UK track order works better. Like I said, it is more exciting and raw in the first half, which I think Hendrix's debut should be. And I enjoy how Side B becomes more spacey and weird, because it contains longer jams like "May This Be Love" and "Third Stone From the Sun." I think the singles work best as singles.

[Live in Phoenix]

[imgsize 250x250]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... r-edit.jpg[/imgsize]

The North American edition, on vinyl. (Going just by the cover, looks like Stereo is the answer!) To me, in this configuration, it's one of the all-time rock albums; whereas the additional 6 tracks just get in the way.

1. "Purple Haze"
2. "Manic Depression"
3. "Hey Joe"
4. "Love or Confusion"
5. "May This Be Love"
6. "I Don't Live Today"

7. "The Wind Cries Mary"
8. "Fire"
9. "Third Stone from the Sun"
10. "Foxy Lady"
11. "Are You Experienced?"

[irreduciblekoan]

Yep, most people prefer the US configuration (and I admit the US cover is wayyy better and more known). And that is the track list I first heard the album with. But I just love Red House too much to not have it on the album, plus I think it flows perfectly after "Manic Depression." At least with my preferred track list (UK singles followed by LP) I still have the big hits!

Out of the 17 songs, the only one I truly don't care for is "51st Anniversary." Other than that, even the b-sides are excellent.