For a guy who only released three or four albums in his lifetime, Jimi
Hendrix is certainly more prolific in death. No less than 10 different
albums of new studio material have emerged in the 40 years since Hendrix’s
death, and here is the 11th such album, Valleys of
Neptune.
It’s part of a joint effort by the Hendrix estate and Sony, cataloging and
reissuing everything that Hendrix recorded. Valleys
of Neptune contains seven previously unreleased studio tracks and
five new recordings of some well known songs.
A lot of this stuff was recorded in 1969 after the release of Electric
Ladyland using a variety
of back-up musicians. The original Experience (Mitch Mitchell on drums
and Noel Redding on bass) play on many of the cuts, including “Fire” and
“Red House,” cut for Hendrix’s 1967 debut Are
You Experienced?
There are also a couple of excellent cover tunes, including an Elmore
James blues, “Bleeding Heart,” originally released on 1972’s War
Heroes but included here
as an alternate, extended version. The fireworks really go off on
Cream’s “Sunshine Of Your Love,” played as an instrumental with Jimi’s
guitar pyrotechnics taking center stage.
One of the great “lost” Hendrix tracks, “Valleys of Neptune,” shows up
here with a remix that makes it sparkle. Mitchell drums on this one, but
they’re joined by Hendrix’s long-time bassist Billy Cox from the Band of
Gypsys – it’s a nice signature tune for Hendrix, with typically spacey
lyrics and breathtaking guitar runs, easily the best of the unreleased
material.
As an album, Valleys of
Neptune is naturally not
very cohesive: the majority of this material sounds like rehearsals
obviously never intended to show up on a commercial release, or at least
unpolished early takes. Even so, you can hear the obvious craftsmanship
that went into making music back then, a trait sorely lacking on many
releases by today’s top rock practitioners. The Hendrix people promise
there’s a lot more left in the vault, and I wonder what the quality of
that material may be.
At any rate: this is Hendrix. If you’ve ever wondered about this
guy’s legend, Valleys of
Neptune may not be the
place to start exploring. But if you’re in the mood for some good,
old-fashioned psychedelic rock, this music
will certainly take you on a little trip.
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