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Jimi Hendrix - Valleys Of Neptune
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
If you want to know why the legend lives on and grows then listen to this.
JIMI HENDRIX
VALLEYS OF NEPTUNE
UNIVERSAL
There have been few if any other rock musicians who have had such a massive amount of archival material released posthumously. Of course, Elvis Presley is one other obvious example but in his case the recycled compilations far outweigh any material found in the vaults.
In Hendrix’s case, the four albums released while he was alive – 3 studio and one concert - have been absolutely swamped by posthumous releases, sometimes worthy and other times not.
It is easy to understand the fascination because there have been few guitarists since Hendrix who have so profoundly affected generations of musicians. No one who has picked up an electric guitar in the past forty years could have failed to be influenced in some way by his playing. In the same way that anyone playing blues must owe something to Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and Howlin’ Wolf. Maybe Steve Ray Vaughan stands out, yet even he owed an enormous amount to Hendrix.
The fact is that Jimi Hendrix still looms as a giant of contemporary music in much the same way that Coltrane and Miles Davis loom down over jazz. If Hendrix was alive today he would only be 67-years old and I suspect that he would still be the most successful guitarist on the planet. (I also think that, had he lived, Stevie Ray Vaughan would still be the biggest thing in blues). And the jazz comparison is not entirely inaccurate. There are few guitarists who can rework tunes and make them sound consistently different and interesting.
For example, the song ‘Red House,’ which appears here in an eight-minute plus version, was actually part of the album Variations On A Theme, which contained 7 different Hendrix versions of the classic (plus one by John Lee Hooker as a contrast). Each rendition was different and compelling in its own way. I cannot think of many other rock guitarists who could elicit the same sort of response.
Perhaps engineer Eddie Kramer, who worked on all the studio albums, was the person responsible for preserving so much Hendrix material. Kramer worked with The Beatles, who seem to have left the tape running at Abbey Road for virtually every session they ever did. Of course, Hendrix carried around a Revox tape deck and recorded obsessively. Whoever it is that we have to thank for the extraordinary amount of material they have generally done succeeding generations a favour.
It is fair to say that in past years the catalogue had been fairly carelessly exploited but since the Hendrix Estate has been in control it has done a good job of stemming the flow of inconsistent and occasionally sub-par material, lifting the quality of the releases. Gone are the days when a new Hendrix release would be greeted with trepidation. Valleys Of Neptune has been carefully produced by Kramer, Janie Hendrix, and John McDermott. You can hear that care in the sonic quality that is first rate.
Valleys of Neptune is not being touted as a ‘lost’ album, rather it is said to be a look at the creative development of Hendrix’s music between the 1968 release of the groundbreaking Electric Ladyland album and the legendary appearance at the Woodstock Festival in August the following year.
The recordings capture the transition between the ending of the three-person unit – Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding – and when Hendrix enlisted bassist Billy Cox. At the time, Hendrix was looking for a new direction, which was heard when he finally got the Band Of Gypsys line-up together.
Ten of the 12 recordings here were made between February and May 1969 as the Experience embarked on the follow-up to Electric Ladyland and these have never before been officially released. There are also some 1969 arrangements of ‘Red House’ and the hit ‘Stone Free’ (which leads off the album). It is pretty obvious that while Hendrix was battling his own personal demons his creativity at this time was still at its peak.
The title track ‘Valleys of Neptune’ was recorded in September, 1969 and May, 1970 and this is the full-band version, where previously an extract of a demo was released. It is stunning to hear this in its entirety.
‘Bleeding Heart’ is a impressive cover of the classic blues song by Elmore James and while versions of the song featured on South Saturn Delta and War Heroes, this April 1969 recording features Billy Cox and drummer Rocky Isaac.
‘Hear My Train A Comin’’ appears in an electric version, obviously different from the 12-string acoustic version that appeared on Jimi Hendrix: Blues. It is an ample demonstration that Hendrix’s music was rooted in the blues and that his greatness extends to that genre as well as rock.
If you wanted further evidence of the genius of Hendrix then ‘Red House’ will provide it. The playing is fluid, emotive and inspirational – despite the fact that he must have played the song hundreds of times previously. Not only that, he is in terrific voice with a vocal arrangement that is chilling. It is probably worth the price of admission alone if you do not already have a Hendrix version of this song.
‘Mr. Bad Luck’ was later to morph into ‘Look Over Yonder’ and be issued on South Saturn Delta. The song ‘Lover Man’ has appeared in various arrangements on previous Hendrix collections and it appears here in an entirely different guise made in February, 1969. ‘Ships Passing Through the Night’ is apparently taken from the final recording session by the original Jimi Hendrix Experience on April 14, 1969. ‘Lullaby for the Summer’ and ‘Crying Blue Rain’ were also recordings by the original Jimi Hendrix Experience from April 1969. ‘Fire,’ recorded in February, 1969, is a completely different arrangement to the version that - like ‘Stone Free’ recorded around the same time - became the hit single.
Concert favourite, Cream’s ‘Sunshine of Your Love,’ shows how Hendrix could take someone else’s song and immediately make it his own. Here it appears as a near 7-minute version with Hendrix soloing in a way that would have surely made Clapton jealous.
It is still sad to consider that less than 4 months after the final session that is represented here, Jimi Hendrix passed away. If you want to know why the legend lives on and grows then listen Valleys Of Neptune.
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