Jimi Hendrix - Cry of Love

After watching the Voodoo Child documentary last night, I was naturally drawn to my Hendrix vinyl this morning to see what I had that wasn't already reissued on CD. This release kinda straddles the line, as the songs have been reissued at various times (most recently as First Rays of the New Rising Sun, which I'm sure I have reviewed but I'll be damned if my search will fine it), but not in this particular order and as this particular release.

Of course, Hendrix fanatics were desperately seeking anything new in the years after his death - who could imagine that so many releases would eventually see light, with more to come? - and while this doesn't match the brilliance of Axis or Ladyland, it is a heckuva strong effort.

This vinyl compiles the rockin' opener "Freedom" with the ballad "Drifting", the funky "Ezy Ryder", the intricate guitar interplay of "Night Bird Flying" and a cool psychedelic blues in "My Friend". For side two we get the high energy "Straight Ahead", the somewhat silly "Astro Man" (with lyrics from Saturday morning cartoons), the beautiful ballad "Angel" (right up there with "Little Wing" as a couple of his prettiest love songs), the hard, riff-rockin' "In From the Storm" (one of my faves from the man) and finally, another sparse, psych-blues in "Belly Button Window".

Now that everything has been reissued, I suppose there is no real need for this vinyl, but just imagine being a teenaged Hendrix freak in the 70's and finding out that there was new material from this genius! Wonderful stuff.