THE WIND CRIES MARY

"The Wind Cries Mary" is a very good atmospheric "Psychedelic Blues" song, with very good arrangements, and with particularly very good guitar playing by Hendrix. In my opinion, this song is one of the best songs that Hendrix composed and that he recorded with the Jimi Hendrix Experience. This song also shows Hendrix very own guitar playing style and also that he really was as a guitarist a very advanced musician, because not other guitarist played like him in those days. Also being an African- American guitarist gave him the "special touch", "soul" and "feeling" that only musicians of that racial group have. He also was a bit "out of place" in the musical business then, because as an African- American musician he was playing Rock and not only Jazz, Blues, Soul or Rhythm and Blues music like other African-American musicians at that time. Anyway, he really was an innovator because he mixed in his music several of these musical styles, even including some Psychedelic music arrangements, a not very typical thing among Afro-American musicians at that time, I think. He also helped to create the Heavy Metal music style which was later developed more by bands like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and others. He also had very good white musicians in his band: Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell.

"Highway Chile", in the "B" side, is also a good song, but more Rock oriented, but with a very characterstic guitar riff.

Both songs were later included in the "Smash Hits" compilation album of the Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1968.