RIP: Mitch Mitchell 1947-2008

[This news is just over a week old now, so this is hardly a newsflash. For some reason I never posted about it last week.]

Mitch Mitchell, the drummer from the superb musical trio The Jimi Hendrix Experience, passed away of natural causes last Wednesday at the age of 61.

Guitarist and singer Jimi Hendrix, an unfortunate member of the 27 club, passed away at the peak of his talent in 1970. In what has now become a rock-star cliche, he died after asphyxiating on his vomit after an overdose of sleeping pills (although it may have not been his vomit; after all, you can't really dust for vomit).

Bassist Noel Redding died in 2003, at the age of 57.

That makes The Jimi Hendrix Experience one of the few bands I can think of where none of the band members are with us anymore.

If you don't have any albums by this brilliant trio, be sure to pick one up now. They only released three albums in their short lifetime, and all of them are worth getting. And I would probably recommend buying them in chronological order.

Their debut Are you experienced? is their most accessible, with a lot of their well known hits like Foxy lady and Manic depression (and a lot of fantastic bonus tracks like Purple haze and Hey Joe).

Their follow-up Axis: Bold as love is a bit more psychedelic and experimental, with some of my favourite JHE tracks like Castles made of sand and Little wing.

Their swansong Electric ladyland is an epic album (double vinyl album on a single CD) which is easily their bluesiest effort, and in my opinion their finest hour (or 75 minutes). It's a massive jam, but because it's a bit less accessible it's probably better to wait until the first two albums make you a fan before you pick this one up.

Here's a taste of the genius of The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Enjoy!

Rest in peace, Mitch. Your music will live on.

MP3: The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Burning of the midnight lamp [Link removed]

Update: Song links removed.