A manifeste of musical and spiritual freedom, Axis: Bold As Love was JIMI HENDRIX ar his most exploratory, utopian. But as a new box set explores, notes of unease and psycho-autobiography cut through the Aquarian haze and freaky, proto-stereo FX, as the Summer of Love entered its more conflicted autumn. "It was all vivid colour," peers and Fhu tell MARK PAYTRESS, "with Jimi at the height of his powers."

30 JACKIE MITTOO Reggae Magic SOUL JAZZ ...

Fondly remembered this month...

In the mid-1990s, THE BEATLES returned with Anthology , a new kind of documentary about the group, in which they told their astonishing story in their own words. A curious name, but then this was a diverse portfolio of releases gathered under one roof. A TV series. A groundbreaking series of archival albums. A book. And, most surprisingly, a new Beatles record! As the series and music is accorded a 30th-anniversary release, Uncut steps inside Anthology 2025 to hear about how it all came together, what passive-aggressive ukulele sounds like, and what’s still in the archive. “It makes ‘Revolution 9’ sound like ‘Penny Lane’,” Giles Martin tells John Robinson

Yardbirds guitarist/bassist Chris Dreja left us on September 25.

AN ESSENTIAL TECHNIQUE all electric guitarists should strive to master is the art of string bending, which can be used to create personally expressive, vocal-like sounds in unique ways. String bending