| "Bold as Love" | |
|---|---|
| Song bythe Jimi Hendrix Experience | |
| from the albumAxis: Bold as Love | |
| Released | December 1, 1967 (1967-12-01) |
| Recorded | October 29, 1967 |
| Studio | Olympic Sound, London |
| Genre | |
| Length | 4:15 |
| Label | Track |
| Songwriter | Jimi Hendrix |
| Producer | Chas Chandler |
"Bold as Love" is the title track ofAxis: Bold as Love, the second album bythe Jimi Hendrix Experience. The song, which closes the album, was written byJimi Hendrix and produced by band managerChas Chandler.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience began work on "Bold as Love" in October 1967 at London'sOlympic Sound Studios, recording a number ofinstrumental backing tracks in an initial session dedicated to the song on October 4.[3] Hendrix,Noel Redding andMitch Mitchell also spent the following day's session focused on the track, recording over 20 different takes and four different endings throughout the day before eventually settling on a combination of takes 21 and 27 for the master recording.[3] After diverting attention to other songs set for the album, the band returned to finish work on "Bold as Love" on October 29, completing "Up from the Skies", "Castles Made of Sand", "One Rainy Wish" and "EXP" in the same session.[4] As with the rest of the album, "Bold as Love" was produced byChas Chandler and engineered byEddie Kramer.[5]
Hendrix biographerHarry Shapiro describes the theme of "Bold as Love" as being "an Olympian battle of passions whose strategy is mapped out ... self-evidently in colours", noting in relation to the lyrics that "The conclusion has to be that love comes in many hues, love is hard work and to get properly involved takes commitment and courage".[6]AllMusic writerDenise Sullivan explains in a similar way that the song "outlines a rainbow in an epic declaration of love in its many colours", proposing that "One interpretation may be that people are one, despite our different shades; another may be that in all persons there resides an array of emotions, each corresponding to a color" and concluding that "In either case, complete integration is Hendrix's ideal".[7] The practice of using colours as lyrical metaphors has been compared to fellowAxis: Bold as Love track "One Rainy Wish" andAre You Experienced number "Love or Confusion".[8]
BBC review writer Chris Jones has noted that "Bold as Love" uses "the first flowerings ofphasing to make Jimi'sStrat sound more like a whole orchestra on its trick ending".[9] Shapiro and Glebbeek described the song's use offlanging on the outro:
The rather abrupt editing of thecoda takes us into Mitch [Mitchell]'s solo/fill, 'flanged' by Eddie Kramer, an effect achieved by manipulating one of two tape decks running simultaneously and mixing the signal. Jimiarpeggios and phase-solos his way through the coda, taking the spaceship in stately and regal fashion out of orbit and into the stratosphere.[6]
Shapiro and Glebbeek claim that "From all viewpoints, "Bold as Love" is the album'stour de force".[6] Writing a five-star review of the album for AllMusic,Cub Koda has cited the title track, along with "Little Wing", "Castles Made of Sand" and "One Rainy Wish", as evidence of Jimi Hendrix's "remarkable growth and depth as a tunesmith, harnessingCurtis Mayfield soul guitar toDylanesque lyrical imagery andFuzz Face hyperactivity to produce yet another side to his grand psychedelic musical vision".[10] Sullivan singles out "Bold as Love" as the highlight of the album.[7]
"Bold as Love" has been interpreted by a number of artists since its original release in 1967. Americanblues rock artistJohn Mayer recorded a studio version for his 2006 third albumContinuum. Mayer's cover has yielded mixed critical reviews – Mike Joseph ofPopMatters dubbed his rendition a "solid cover",[11] and Anthony DeCurtis ofRolling Stone called it a "capable cover";[12] on the other hand,Slant Magazine writer Jonathan Keefe criticised Mayer's vocal performance on the track,[13] and Ann Powers of theLos Angeles Times called the cover an "overeager version" of the original.[14] A live version was also released on the 2008 video albumWhere the Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles, which Matt Collar of AllMusic labelled an "inspired take" on Hendrix's song.[15]
Additional versions have been recorded and released byalternative rock bandThe Pretenders, for 1993'sStone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix,jam rock groupPhish, for the 1999 live albumHampton Comes Alive, blues-rock singerJoan Osborne on her 2002 album of 1960ssoul music coversHow Sweet It Is, andblues guitaristRobben Ford, for the 2005 tribute albumGypsy Blood: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix Vol. 2.
The original track has also been featured on the 1997 compilationExperience Hendrix: The Best of Jimi Hendrix,[16] and an alternate studio recording is included on the 2000 box setThe Jimi Hendrix Experience.[17]
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Recording
