Band of Gypsys

Listening to this album, you'll fall into one of these categories:

1. Jimi Hendrix sold out and made the worst album in his lifetime, trading the hard, acidic grooves for funky rhythms and Miles' yapping and screaming

2. Hendrix reinvents himself and gives us a fleeting glimpse into what territory he might've gone into as a mature musician, incorporating, innovating, and mixing black soul and funk music with the electric feel of rock (that would be to some extent a trademark of early Funkadelic)

I firmly fall into the second category. There's just no denying that this album is good. I don't get how people can just straight-up say this album is bad! The only flaw I realistically could find, which might be more of a matter of preference than a flaw, is that sometimes the vocals are drowned in reverb and fuzz. Now that I write this out, that might be the intended effect lol.

Anyhow, the high point is obviously "Machine Gun" which is the only track everyone can agree is amazing, astonishing and every other word that conveys beauty in one way or another. The rest of the album does fall short, but what doesn't compare to Machine Gun? They all have this perfect mixture of Hendrix being Hendrix, and Miles laying down jammy funk rhythms which some people find to be lazy and disorganized, but I just find that nitpicking. He did a mighty job.

After the 3 studio albums, this is the one you should go with as your next choice.