After the voracious onslaught of The Jimi Hendrix Experience's debut, Are You Experienced, Hendrix throttled back a little. For the band's second album, Axis: Bold As Love, the sound was lither and more fluid, indicating that there was more to him than the faintly racist caricature of the sex-hungry, gimmick-happy Wild Man Of Rock. Rough glimpses of his burgeoning versatility and easy self-confidence are in evidence on this two-disc collection—though such is the quality of these outtakes that the emphasis is generally on rough.
Formed around the original Ants, Bow Wow Wow were often dismissed as a cheap and nasty imitation of Adam's tribal formula. If anything, they were bolder, singing about tape piracy ("C30, C60, C90, Go!") and satanism ("Prince Of Darkness") while their Burundi-Drummers-meets-Ennio-Morricone interface often left the Ants trailing.
Art-rock doesn't, as far as we know, have a glorious reputation in the working men's clubs of South Yorkshire. Relaxed Muscle, however, suggest there's a captive market for electro duos in Doncaster, where the regulars suffer half an hour of performance art before bingo.
