@bdp24: "Bewildered" is a good way to put it.
A buddy and I got together in '67 (our sophomore year) and started practicing together, working out Byrds and Stones tunes. When Cream hit, my buddy, Bob, was knocked out by Clapton and started learning tunes from Fresh Cream and Disraeli Gears. Unlike me, Bob took to the guitar like falling off a log and, by the time we had graduated, he was playing Crossroads almost verbatim. I became the lead singer, harp player and occasional rhythm guitar.
We were so poor, I made a makeshift microphone by cutting off one end of a coiled guitar cable and wired it to the speaker in a little transistor radio! It actually (kinda) worked! So, with our limited funds, every album purchase was made with the intention of gleaning a few tunes for the band. When I bought Big Pink, we considered it a mistake and moved on.
At the time, I had one of those GE suitcase stereos with the fold-down table and the swing-out speakers; not horrible but adequate. Then I heard Big Pink on a buddy's system, which featured a McIntosh tube amp and (I think) AR 3A's. He cranked it up and, when Chest Fever hit me in the chest, I knew it was something special.
I had somewhat the same reaction to Hendrix that you did. I had a habit of buying records if I liked the cover, which led to some REAL disappointments (Blue Cheer, etc.) so, when I similarly bought Are You Experienced? due to the cover graphics, I was initially knocked out by it. As time went on, I lost interest in Hendrix.
My buddies thought I was crazy, especially when I bought Charles Lloyd's Journey Within (again, because of the cover), and that sparked my interest in more substantial music. Big Pink then made itself into regular rotation and, at one point, I had six LP copies of it. I sold all but two of them, including a disappointing MoFi copy and my best copy is on EMI (UK).
Due to laziness, I never got very good on guitar, but listening to such talented musicians as The Band taught me that the spaces between notes were just as important as the notes themselves..