Time and again experience has taught me that just because I are not into a particular artists music now, does not mean that I will not be in the future.
As a teenager I had no interest in rock music from the 50’s. Years later it would consume me. Some years back I picked up The Beach Boys Pet Sounds. I was not a Beach Boys fan. But I was a huge Beatles fan and if Paul McCartney could speak so highly of Pet Sounds and cite it as a huge influence on him, I should at the very least give it a listen (I still have not become a Beach Boys fan, but I am a big fan Brian Wilson’s solo work). In short, when it comes to music, always keep a little room open to new experiences and adjust your world view. .
I am a guitarist, and on an intellectual level I can understand and appreciate the enormous contribution that Jimi Hendrix made to popular music and to the art of playing the electric guitar. But I have to admit to only being a casual fan of the music, owning only a “Best of” CD in my music collection and listening to it more intellectually than passionately.
Many years ago I made a few forays into listening to his albums, but it wasn't’t clicking with me, so I set it aside. But when I heard that the Hendrix Estate was re-releasing and re-mastering the entire Jimi Hendrix studio catalog to coincide with the release of a new (posthumous) studio album, I decided it was time to listen again to one of the most
influential guitarists on the planet. I will get to the new album, in a moment. First, a look at the re releases.
THE GOOD:
SOUND QUALITY: The sound quality is excellent. I popped “Are you Experienced” into my Mac and listened on a modest ($69) pair of BOSE computer speakers. Purple Haze is the first song on the album. I have heard this song more times than I can count and yet I heard layers and textures that I had never heard before.
PACKAGING: The Four re-releases (Are you Experienced, Axis Bold as Love, Electric Ladyland, and (the Estate approved posthumous release) First Rays of the New Rising Sun). All three are packaged in deluxe 6 panel digipaks. They all include booklets that contain extensive liner notes, photos and memorabilia. Each album also comes with a bonus DVD featuring a 20 min making of documentary. The Digipaks look great and are a joy to hold and look at. The booklets contain essays, and tons of information on the recordings sessions, and who did what and where. They are packed with gorgeously reproduced photos and pictures of memorabilia like concert posters, tickets, Jimi’s hand written notes, etc. The booklet for Electric Ladyland features the infamous "nude" UK cover which Hendrix himself didn't like and the original Linda Eastman (McCartney) pictures that Hendrix himself originally wanted for the cover. The booklets for the first two albums feature full lyrics. I wish the other two had. I am assuming this is because the original vinyl releases did this, but this is a shame. Reading the lyrics for the first two times really gave me insights into the songs that I never had before and also made me realize what a good lyricist Hendrix was (something he doesn't get credit for)
BONUS DVDS: The documentaries are well made and mostly include original engineer Eddie Kramer at the board with the tapes themselves giving us a peek behind the curtain.
PRICING: Usually when you get these expanded re-releases you also get a higher price tag. The Hendrix estate is to be commended for pricing these releases at the same price as a single CD (as of this writing Amazon's pricing has been fluctuating between $8.99 and $10.99).
THE BAD
Nothing really, except that you might already have these albums from a previous release. Certainly if you have never gotten these albums before, now is the time to get them while these expanded editions are still in print.
MY OWN EXPERIENCE:
I am so glad that I listened to these. I feel like I am experiencing Hendrix for the first time. Certainly hearing these songs in the context of their albums has shed new light on them. Prior to listening to these releases, I was a casual fan and would hear the occasional Hendrix song as it popped up in the random shuffle mode on my ipod. Now I find myself leaving random shuffle and scrolling to get to these songs. Now I find myself looking up Hendrix performances on youtube and commenting on them. I no longer just appreciate them intellectually, I appreciate them passionately In short, I am becoming a fan.
FIRST RAYS AND THE NEW ALBUM:
The Valleys of Neptune is the 2nd posthumous release approved by the Hendrix Estate. The first one is 1997's First Rays of the New Rising Sun. This album was an attempt by the Hendrix estate to release (based on Hendrix's notes and conversations with those that he worked with) what would have been his 4th studio album. Many of the tracks on this album had been released (albeit in an altered form) previously. And while none of these tracks could ever really be finished this album does not feel like a collection of studio outtakes. In fact, it feels like a fully realized album and in my opinion the strongest of the four. The fact that I feel this way about posthumous release is a testament to how much Hendrix was growing as an artist and what loss to music his passing was.
This brings us to the new 5th album and 2nd posthumous release. Unlike First Rays, this album features tracks that have never been released
before.
Of these 12 tracks, three of them are new recordings of previous Hendrix songs (Stone Free, Red House, and Fire). Stone Free and Red House are radically different from the versions that we are familiar with. But Fire just sounds like less finished studio take of the original (this makes it the weakest track on the CD and I am not sure it should have been included for this reason).
of the remaining 9 tracks three of these are instrumental jams. The first one a remake of Cream's Sunshine of Your Love feels like a very loose jam. It is the calibre of the musicians that keep this jam from veering into the category of "bozo music jams". I enjoyed hearing the band explode with this but I am not sure that everyone else (especially non musicians) will.
The other two instrumental (and also original) tracks Lullaby for the Summer and Crying Blue Rain are much stronger and I enjoyed them too, but we will probably never know if Hendrix meant for them to be instrumental or not.
After that we have 6 more songs with vocals, one of which is a great Elmore James cover of Bleeding Heart. The remaining 5 original songs are as good as anything that Hendrix has released previously and that is saying a lot.
Reactions to this album have ranged from "Instant Classic" to "A cash grab". My feeling is that this album is essential, but only after you have had time to experience the first four. Throughout this whole album there is however an air of unfinished business. But this can't be helped. Once you accept this fact this becomes a very enjoyable experience and another look into what might have been.
I personally am grateful that the Hendrix estate decided to release these tracks.
My only nitpick, is in the way that this album packaging differs from the first four. Valleys of Neptune comes in a 4 panel digipak and features a great booklet with detailed liner notes, but unlike the other four does not come with a making of DVD. These documentaries where obviously all shot together so why not make one and release it for this album too.
It would have done a lot to deepen the appreciation of the album, and might have gone a long way to silence those who would cry "cash grab".
Of course if we get an expanded re-release of this album 6 months from now that includes that DVD, I will be the first one to say this. But given the care and respect to the fans that the Hendrix estate has shown so far, I don't think that we will see this happen.
Get Are you Experienced
Get: Axis Bold As Love
Get: Electric Ladyland
Get: First Rays of the New Rising Sun
Get: Valleys of Neptune
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