For a long time, this album was a royal headache. Not because it was bad, or because it was too "metal" for 1967, but rather from a music biz perspective. As was the case with most artists in the 1960's, they produced excellent music while signing horrific contracts. Therefore, Hendrix was placed in unusual situations, like sharing a bill with the Monkees, working with a bass player who was actually a guitarist looking to develop his own career, and, years down the road, scores of different versions of his albums.
The three Jimi Hendrix Experience albums (this one, Axis: As Bold As Love, and Electric Ladyland) are universally accepted as Hendrix's three studio albums. After that it is a colossal mishmash of live recordings and outtakes that nobody can agree upon as "canon". Meanwhile, Are You Experienced, unlike its peers, was released a few different ways, resulting in various track being included or omitted from the release and well as tinkering with the track running order. Fortunately the "Experience Hendrix" project got down to fixing this problem and finally delivering a definitive version of the album, featured here. This album includes all the singles (e.g. "Stone Free") and tracks that frequently got dropped (e.g. "Highway Chile").
On another note, the Jimi Hendrix Experience is one of a growing number of "100% dead" bands. It's something the jazz scene has had to come to grips with over the past 20 years. With the passing of Mitch Mitchell, all members of the Experience (not counting Billy Cox, who joined in 1969 and appears on none of three albums) are rocking the great gig in the sky. When a band "dies" it passes into another form a memory, from those who witnessed it. Eventually the "witnesses" themselves will pass on, and the memory transforms once again. It will be interesting to see how perspectives on bands from the 1960's change as those who lived it pass on.
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