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Dog 3000 wrote: It's out now -- as a long time fan, I have to say I wasn't TOO excited, having heard most of these tracks in bootleg form over the decades.
That said -- if you are a Hendrixhead, you MUST HAVE this, because these tracks have never sounded better, that is for sure! (Doubly true I suppose if you haven't heard these tunes before.)
Still, I can't give it more than a "B-" grade (B+ for sound, C+ for song selection -- the ones he did while he was alive are all A's of course. Tough legacy to live up to 40 years on!)
Just finished first listen.
The TONES are wonderful, the performances solid although mostly not AMAZING.
(Like, the live "Hear My Train" on the original Rainbow Bridge Sdtrck is just the best one, that's all, and the studio take on the box set (comparable in many ways arrangement-wise and tone-wise to this one) hits me slightly more soundly, like they knew the tune better by then, but this one is still a fine performance by a good band in good shape.)
... and the quibble with the choice of takes of "Valleys" is a legitimate quibble, as I'd really like to have that earlier take in its pristine form, but this is not a bad mash-up.
Anyway, as a "lost album" it doesn't fly. It doesn't sound or feel like an "album," unless it feels like a partly-completed follow-up to AXIS (not Electric Ladyland, which doesn't feel anything like Axis or Valleys) ...
BUT
if you think of this as a sort of companion to The Jimi Hendrix Concerts (at least two sides of Concerts' 4 are brilliant), ie basically a live album but in this case one with an odd selection of partially obscure material, very cool studio tones (you can feel the tape moving) and a few strange overdubs and fades ... then you'll probably enjoy it. I'm enjoying it.
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