#the album is purported to be about him by fans but there's nothing really strong there except for ~style~

[autumnrory]

the beginning of now we don't talk is bold as hell for someone who changes her aesthetic regularly

[gojiro]

Today’s Vinyl of the Day is the 1984 Greatest Hits collection ‘Kiss The Sky’ by Jimi Hendrix.

In the Summer of Love 1967, J1M1 Hendri-X was sent to this planet from his home galaxy of Stratocastron to enlighten the humans of Earth and teach us the secret of guitardelic mindfukation. Almost 50 years later the effects linger on.

There’s certainly nothing new I can tell you about Jimi at this point, one of the great pillars of rock music that everything since has been built on. He created an entirely new sound and method of playing the guitar that was utterly beyond anything that had been done before. This album is probably the greatest introduction of Jimi and his music you can find, encompassing his biggest and best hits, along with a few of his more experimental and/or alternate cut tracks - for example, “Red House” was listed in the liner notes as the "unedited version" which amounted to a few seconds of studio chat that preceded the song. "Stepping Stone” was purported to be the original ‘Band of Gypsys’ single mix, but in fact is an alternate mix that is similar to the single mix. "Killing Floor” from the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival was unreleased at the time. So you can get a fantastic sampling of what he could do and what he was all about. My personal favorite, and what I still feel is his best work that opens a window into his soul, is of course ‘Are You Experienced?’, where he really demonstrates the perfection of all his techniques - including the famous use of backwards tracking. When I was still able to play, it was one of those songs I kept trying desperately to perform, but was never able to even come close to what I felt it should be.

You can and should own all of Jimi’s works, but if you’re looking to dip your toes in to start, this is the album you should get. And then if anyone should ever ask you “Are YOU experienced?”, you can look them right in the eye and answer “Why yes. Yes I am.”

Allmusic Review by Bruce Eder

At the start of the 1980s, it dawned on somebody in charge of Jimi Hendrix’s musical legacy that a whole generation of new listeners had come of age since the guitarist’s demise. That meant it was time for a fresh raid on the vaults and a fresh, authorized album release to fly the flag of the Hendrix estate, amid the steady stream of bootleg, gray market, and other unauthorized collections of his early work starting to fill up record store bins and browsers. Kiss the Sky did not just resurrect and recycle old familiar recordings, but included a pair of tracks that were new to most listeners and had a lot of meaning for serious fans. The album walked a fine line, emphasizing the more challenging side ofHendrix’s work without ignoring some key elements of his mass appeal. The first side was the more daring, forcing the neophyte listener to plunge headfirst into tracks such as “Are You Experienced?” and “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return).” The radio-friendly “Purple Haze” and “All Along the Watchtower” didn’t show up until the second side of the original LP, while the rest represented some of his more far-out excursions. The latter fit in perfectly with what new listeners had likely heard and seen of him (mostly the clip of “The Star Spangled Banner” from Woodstock). Actually, the resulting album is surprisingly strong, even getting in enough material based on traditional blues – embodied most notably in the previously unissued live rendition of Howlin’ Wolf’s “Killing Floor” from the Monterey Pop Festival – so that most of the major facets of his work were touched upon. And “Killing Floor” and the unedited version of “Red House” also made this an essential acquisition for veteran fans. Heard 25 years on, the CD edition has held up amazingly well, despite the numerous compilations that have supplanted this release. The audio quality is still impressive, and the music speaks for itself, very boldly.

Special Guest Appearance by my Jimi Funko.