Are You Experienced?: The Inside Story Of The Jimi Hendrix Experience

by Noel Redding, Carol Appleby

"Brings to life, quite brilliantly, the underground music scene at the time of the Experience's rapid rise to fame."-- New Musical Express





The Jimi Hendrix Experience had one of the most dazzling and sensational careers of any band. Their roller-coaster ride through a schedule of sell-out tours and frantic recording sessions left them crazed with sex, drugs, stardom, and exhaustion; but at the same time they produced some of the most explosive, inventive, and inspired music ever heard.





Now, for the first time, Experience bassist Noel Redding tells the whole story. He lucidly and wittily describes the making of the band's startlingly innovative music; how their phenomenal stage act, featuring Hendrix playing with his teeth and setting his guitar on fire, engendered a state of mass hysteria in the audience; and the scarring aftermath of legal hassles and corporate duplicity. Frank, funny, rich in anecdotes, and full of insights into Hendrix, his genius, and the way it has been exploited, Are You Experienced? is a no-holds-barred account of an unforgettable band and a musical legend.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography

235 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Bettie]

- Jimi Hendrix is pulled off the air on Lulu's show in 1969: After a blistering performance of Voodoo Chile, on the Happening for Lulu show in January 1969, The Jimi Hendrix Experience stop midway through a half-hearted attempt at their first hit Hey Joe. The trio break into Cream's Sunshine of Your Love, in tribute to the recently disbanded group, until producers bring the song to a premature end.
According to the memoir of bassist Noel Redding, Lulu had been due to join Hendrix on stage to sing the final lines of Hey Joe, but the band wasn't too keen on the idea. The stunt (according to rock and roll legend) earned The Jimi Hendrix Experience a ban from performing on BBC television. Hendrix died the following year on 18th September 1970.

[Larry · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you are really interested in Hendrix there are better books out there. Or if you must read this book, read this up until Jimi dies, which Noel relates to his readers as if his favorite orchid just died. Not much emotion. Up until that point it is a repetitive story of practice, takes drugs, play a show that may or may not be good, and repeat. He did keep a journal so after the first 3 schedules of tour dates and locations you get to skip 1/2 pages of what seems to be repeated lists of venues. After Jimi dies, his book becomes a non-stop drama of the realization that every contract that Noel ever signed benefited someone else. Sure, a young, drug-addled musician could easily get ripped off but after several years don't you think that he would grab lawyer before signing anything? Seems that never occurred to our author. Noel mentioned that he had trouble getting a publisher for his manuscript and was told that no one wants to read about so much legal wrangling. He should have listened and wrote something more accessible.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book covers contract details, recording sessions, show details and insider information on the workings of the band. However, unlike the Mitch Mitchell book Redding was a man in turmoil. Redding, originally a guitarist, played bass in the Experience but longed to play guitar out from under the shadow of Hendrix which created conflict within the Experience. Redding was also a man with demons that complicated and skewed his view and participation in the Hendrix phenomenon. All that said this book has some insights that could only come from a member of the band. Recommended read as with the other 4-5 Hendrix books I've reviewed. Each with their own flavor and viewpoint.

[M.A. Appleby · Rating 3 out of 5]

My sister-in-law, Carolyn Appleby, wrote this with Noel Redding from a journal he kept during the years he was part of the original Jimi Hendrix Experience band. Carolyn was almost finished with the book when she met with a tragic accident.

According to Noel, this was documentation that life on the road was extremely difficult, full of drugs and sleep deprevation...and it reads like a journal - his journal. It is through his eyes (without much editing) that tells the story of a group of men who came together as muscians and parted company when their lead person departed this earth.

[Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of details from the bass player with Hendrix . Many personal stories but is a bit heavy on the subject of the lost revenue ,but that's understandable considering the band were robbed of millions

[Jean Fall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely insightful, as well as very personal in the accurate details. Moreso than the Mitch book, I feel this is darker. Some details seem omitted but they're understandably excluded moments. Adds another layer, another deeper perspective, to the band's story.

[Larissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very boring, did not talk about Jimi Hendrix as much as I would have liked. Chapter by chapter the story went as: "We fought, stopped talking, fought, toured, stopped talking..." Boring, boring.

[Mark Abbott · Rating 3 out of 5]

It does get a little dry and it would seem when times were good they were very good and when times were bad......

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I wasn't a huge Hendrix Experience fan and a bass player I probably would not have finished this book. Although it does have some neat information it definitely is not a page turner.

[Bjm Index]

7