CDs I can listen to without hitting skip, Jimi Hendrix, Axis: Bold as Love

Oh, my goodness, this is a multi-layered beauty. My brother was a huge Hendrix fan when I was little, so this album holds all kinds of nostalgia for me. Axis: Bold as Love was recorded in 1967, the second album from The Jimi Hendrix Experience, and it's a soulful, psychedelic masterpiece. It kicks off, oddly enough, with an imagined interview where Hendrix plays the role of an alien just visiting Earth. Now, I saw a TV show once featuring a fellow who knew Hendrix, and he claimed that Jimi was actually from another planet and was just sent here for awhile to give the planet the gift of his amazing music. Do I believe this? Not really, but it makes for a great story.

Anyway, you get the poppy "Wait Until Tomorrow," the lovely and romantic "Little Wing," the tripadelic "If 6 Was Nine." You get the backwards guitar solos of "You Got Me Floatin'" and "Castles Made of Sand," the bluesy "Little Miss Lover," and one of the coolest songs of all time, the title track, "Axis: Bold as Love."

Here's how you can tell that this is more than a classic: Everyone and their guitar playing brother has covered one of these songs at one time or another. I love Sting's cover of "Little Wing," and even John Mayer's cover of "Axis." But nothing beats Hendrix. Nothing. "Just ask the axis. He knows everything."