The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Bold As Love

 

The Jimi Hendrix Experience — Bold As Love: The Axis: Bold As Love Sessions Box Set

5LP + Blu-ray Box Set containing the landmark 1967 album Axis: Bold As Love in stereo, mono, Dolby Atmos, plus 40 bonus alternative studio versions & live tracks (28 previously unreleased)

150-gram vinyl LPs pressed at Quality Record Pressings

Experience Hendrix L.L.C. and Legacy Recordings, are releasing Bold As Love by The Jimi Hendrix Experience on November 7, 2025. Produced by Janie Hendrix, original Experience recording engineer Eddie Kramer, and John McDermott, this expansive collection is available here as a five vinyl LP plus Blu-ray. The vinyl is pressed by Quality Record Pressings.

The deluxe box set includes the original stereo and mono mixes of Axis: Bold As Love remastered from the original mixes created by Hendrix, the album's producer Chas Chandler and original engineer Eddie Kramer. Kramer and engineer Chandler Harrod recently created brand new immersive Dolby Atmos mixes of the entire 13-song album. The box set presents an additional 40 alternative versions, unreleased studio takes, demos, live tracks and television appearances from the album's gestation and recording period, 28 of which have never-before-seen the light of day. One of these tracks is a previously unreleased October 1967 studio demo of "Stone Free/Up From The Skies (Demo).

By May 1967, The Jimi Hendrix Experience had finalized their groundbreaking debut album Are You Experienced at Olympic Studios in London and immediately began work on their next album. Jimi Hendrix arrived in London in late September 1966 and soon amassed three Top 10 singles in their U.K. homebase, followed quickly by success across Europe but were yet to conquer the U.S. In June 1967, the group left for the U.S. to make their American debut at the Monterey International Pop Festival. Their stunning Monterey debut — complete with Hendrix setting his guitar alight at the close of his performance — propelled them across the U.S. throughout the summer of 1967. Before returning to London, producer Chas Chandler recorded the group's fourth single "Burning Of The Midnight Lamp" b/w "The Stars That Play With Laughing Dice" at sessions in New York and Los Angeles. Bold As Love showcases previously unreleased versions of these songs.

Starting on October 1, 1967, Chandler — the former Animals bassist who served The Experience as its producer — led the group back to Olympic Studios in London to resume work on what would become Axis: Bold As Love. Chandler was determined to help Hendrix make a critical leap forward creatively. He worked closely with Hendrix to prepare his new songs for recording and even took the unusual step of same day, double booking both Olympic and Regent Studios in London so that the group would have a firm handle upon the arrangements of Hendrix's stock of exceptional new material. Surviving 2-track demos from Regent include Hendrix's unique hybrid "Stone Free," which had been the B-side of his December 1966 debut single, together with an up-tempo rendition of "Up From The Skies."

Axis: Bold As Love was released in the U.K. and Europe in December 1967 to great acclaim and commercial success. In the U.S., where Are You Experienced had only just been issued in late August, Reprise issued the album in January 1968 where it too became a best seller. Evergreen favorites such as "Little Wing," "Spanish Castle Magic" and "Castles Made of Sand" have been covered by countless artists throughout the world. The iconic "If 6 Was 9," was used with dramatic effect as part of the soundtrack for the film Easy Rider.

The Bold As Love box set encompasses Hendrix's effort to craft his definitive follow up to Are You Experienced. In addition to the demos made at Regent Sound, the collection showcases Hendrix's unique creative approach to recording, drawing upon previously unreleased takes of songs from the Axis: Bold As Love album. These include previously unreleased alternate takes recorded at Olympic ("Spanish Castle Magic," "You Got Me Floatin'," "One Rainy Wish," "Up From the Skies," "Wait Until Tomorrow" and others) as well as alternate versions of songs, most notably "Castles Made of Sand" with a backwards guitar track, are also represented on Bold As Love. The Experience's performances on British TV programs Top Of The Pops and Dee Time, Dutch TV program Hoepla, and eight songs from a September 1967 concert in Stockholm round off the bonus tracks. Music journalist David Fricke and Experience Hendrix's John McDermott provide comprehensive liner notes that tell the complete history of this exciting period for the band.

Janie Hendrix, President and CEO of Experience Hendrix, L.L.C. commented, "Jimi was fearless in his artistic expression. Each song, each lyrical composition was and is an invitation for those listening to be free to feel. His music was an unapologetic statement of how he perceived the world and all the emotions it evoked. Bold As Love is the creative embodiment of those feelings. The Bold As Love set masterfully reintroduces the beauty of Jimi's musical depth, highlighting a significant segment of not just his career, but his life."

The box set cover art, a drawing done by Jimi when he was five years old, was hand selected by his sister Janie. It was kept by their father, giving it added special meaning.

"I thought it was perfect for this project. It's a colorful dragon that depicts exactly what the song ‘Bold As Love' is talking about — the empowerment of each color of the rainbow," Janie Hendrix said. "I don't believe there could be a better reflection of the message in the song."

LP ONE: ORIGINAL STEREO MIX

Side A

1. EXP

2. Up From The Skies

3. Spanish Castle Magic

4. Wait Until Tomorrow

5. Ain’t No Telling

6. Little Wing

7. If 6 Was 9

Side B

1. You Got Me Floatin’

2. Castles Made Of Sand

3. She’s So Fine

4. One Rainy Wish

5. Little Miss Lover

6. Bold As Love

LP TWO: ORIGINAL MONO MIX

Side A

1. EXP

2. Up From The Skies

3. Spanish Castle Magic

4. Wait Until Tomorrow

5. Ain’t No Telling

6. Little Wing

7. If 6 Was 9

Side B

1. You Got Me Floatin’

2. Castles Made Of Sand

3. She’s So Fine

4. One Rainy Wish

5. Little Miss Lover

6. Bold As Love

LP THREE

Side A

1. Mr. Bad Luck [Take 6]

2. She’s So Fine [Take 4]

3. Burning Of The Midnight Lamp [Take 30]

4. The Stars That Play With Laughing Sam’s Dice [Paramount Studios]

5. Burning Of The Midnight Lamp [Instrumental]

6. The Stars That Play With Laughing Sam’s Dice [Instrumental]

Side B

1. Stone Free/Up From The Skies [Demo]

2. Up From The Skies [Take 2]

3. Ain’t No Telling [Demo]

4. Ain’t No Telling [Take 12]

5. Little Miss Lover [Demo]

6. One Rainy Wish [Take 1]

7. You Got Me Floatin’ [Take 1]

8. Untitled Guitar Experiment

9. Castles Made Of Sand [Take 16]

LP FOUR

Side A

1. Bold As Love [Take 19]

2. Wait Until Tomorrow [Take 2]

3. Spanish Castle Magic [Take 2]

4. Little Wing [Take 2]

5. Untitled Instrumental #1 [Take 3]

6. Untitled Instrumental #2 [Take 1]

Side B

1. Little Miss Lover [Alternate Version]

2. Spanish Castle Magic [Take 4]

3. Wait Until Tomorrow [Take 14]

4. Castles Made Of Sand [Backwards Guitar]

5. One Rainy Wish [Alternate Version]

6. Burning Of The Midnight Lamp [Original Mono Mix]

7. The Stars That Play With Laughing Sam’s Dice [Original Mono Mix]

LP FIVE

Side A

1. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band [Sweden 9/5/67]

2. Fire [Sweden 9/5/67]

3. The Wind Cries Mary [Sweden 9/5/67]

4. Foxey Lady [Sweden 9/5/67]

5. Hey Joe [Sweden 9/5/67]

6. I Don’t Live Today [Sweden 9/5/67]

Side B

1. Burning of The Midnight Lamp [Sweden 9/5/67]

2. Purple Haze [Sweden 9/5/67]

3. Burning Of The Midnight Lamp [Dee Time]

4. Purple Haze [Hoepla]

5. Foxey Lady [Hoepla]

6. Burning Of The Midnight Lamp [Top Of The Pops]

BLU-RAY DISC SIX

Original album in Dolby Atmos

Original album in Mono

Original album in Stereo

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