Jimi Hendrix First Rays Of The New Rising Sun CD

Personnel: Jimi Hendrix (vocals, guitar, piano); Ken Pine (12-string guitar); Paul Caruso (harmonica); Stephen Stills (piano); Buzzy Linhart (vibraphone); Billy Cox (bass); Buddy Miles (drums, background vocals); Jimmy Mayes, Mitch Mitchell (drums); Billy Armstrong, Juma Sultan (percussion); Arthur Allen, Albert Allen, Billy Cox, The Ronettes, Steve Winwood, Chris Wood (background vocals).
Producers: Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Kramer, John Jansen, Mitch Mitchell.
Engineers: Eddie Kramer, Bob Hughes, Bob Cotto.
Recorded between March 1968 and August 1970. Includes liner notes by John McDermott.
Personnel: Jimi Hendrix (vocals, guitar, piano, background vocals); Paul Caruso (harmonica); Stephen Stills (piano); Buzzy Linhart (vibraphone); James Mayes, Mitch Mitchell (drums); Juma Sultan, Billy Armstrong (percussion); Chris Wood , Emmeretta Marks, Albert "Ghetto Fingers" Allen, Steve Winwood, The Ronettes, Billy Cox, Buddy Miles (background vocals).
Audio Mixers: Eddie Kramer; Jimi Hendrix; John Jansen; Mitch Mitchell.
Audio Remasterers: Eddie Kramer; George Marino.
Liner Note Authors: John McDermott, Jr.; John McDermott.
Recording information: Electric Lady Studios (03/13/1968-08/24/1970); Record Plant (03/13/1968-08/24/1970); Sound Center (03/13/1968-08/24/1970).
Photographers: Eddie Kramer; Baron Wolman; Ted Kessell; Mike McGettigan; Chuck Boyd; Elliott Landy; Michael Jang; Jim Cummins; Walter Looss; Linda McCartney.
Unknown Contributor Roles: John McDermott; Tony Bongiovi.
Posthumous reconstructions of unfinished works are inherently dangerous, principally because even the most capable scholar or producer can only make, at best, an educated guess as to how the work in question would have been completed. Indeed, in dealing with some such pieces, you're sometimes lucky to get the work of the artist claimed (the Mozart Symphony No. 37 is a case in point -- it doesn't exist; the piece once labeled Symphony No. 37 and attributed to Mozart is now known to have been authored by Michael Haydn); and while there's no question that the songs on this CD were recorded by Jimi Hendrix, even the people who worked on the sides with him can't say which songs would have ended up on the finished version of First Rays of the New Rising Sun (assuming that he even ended up using that title for the album), or what embellishments he would have added to any of them in the course of completing them, or even if he might not have totally reconsidered such matters as tempo and approach to any of them. In the end, First Rays of the New Rising Sun is a little like any of the various "performing editions" of Gustav Mahler's never-completed Symphony No. 10, in that what's here is impressive, but may have little to do with what would finally have been heard by the public, had the artist lived to finish it -- we don't know if Mahler would have scored a particular passage for horns or strings, or Hendrix would have put another, different lead guitar part, or a second (or third) guitar part on to any of these songs, or added choruses, or re-thought his vocal performance? Hendrix had gone so long between albums, seemingly adrift stylistically at various times, that there's no telling exactly what direction he was finally going to end up working toward. All of that said, this is a superb album, and a worthy if very different, earthier successor to Electric Ladyland's psychedelic excursions -- the later tracks, ironically enough, cut at that album's long promised and long-delayed studio namesake -- and also show him working in some genuinely new directions. For starters, Hendrix's voice emerges here as a genuinely powerful instrument in its own right -- his voice was never as exposed in the mix of his songs as it is here; partly this is because Hendrix and engineer Eddie Kramer never finished embellishing the songs, or completed the final mixes. But whatever the reasons, the change is refreshing -- Hendrix's voice is not only powerful and eRolling Stone (8/7/97, p.62) - "...a cohesive cosmic missive....illuminates what would have been a transitional phase for Hendrix. Along with the requisite burning-flesh instrumental workouts, it also presents Hendrix in his lyrical, ruminative mode..."
Down Beat (8/97, p.61) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Hendrix's postumously released music sees the light of day for the first time in the form he originally envisioned..."
Mojo (Publisher) (3/01/04, p.53) - Included in Mojo's The 67 Lost Albums You Must Own! - "Plenty of the original fire is here and some supremely funky-ass rock, presaging War, etc."