dreadpirateroberts It's difficult to write about posthumous releases. On one hand you're excited to hear music you might never have had the chance to hear, on the other, you can find yourself frustrated by the potential only hinted at within its songs.

'First Rays of the New Rising Sun' is an attempt by the Hendrix family to present what his next album would have been by collecting a wide range of near-to-completed sounding songs. While this isn't exactly the way it plays, with the inclusion of alternate mixes of older songs for instance, the family did manage to remove control of Hendrix's unreleased material from Alan Douglass, whose disrespectful treatment of the music in prior releases was worse than any missteps this compilation might make.

In fact, 'First Rays...' is not a failure by any means, especially for a compilation that draws together a range of rarities into a reasonably cohesive sum total of Hendrix's unfinished but impressive ideas. A less psychedelic Hendrix, perhaps a less wild Hendrix, he seemed to be exploring the rhythm and blues roots, seen most during earlier concerts and the release of the Band of Gypsys album.

'Freedom', 'Izabella' and 'Dolly Dagger' make up some of the more stunning tracks, stacked at the beginning of the album, with 'Room Full of Mirrors' not too far behind. Across the whole of the collection the songwriting is not as consistent as this opening, nor are his vocal lines (which were admittedly unfinished) and it isn't until 'Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)' that we see another gem. Jimi's guide vocal, still being worked out as he sings, is suggestive of where he was going but it's the guitar that you notice. His usual finesse is on display, with that mix of rhythm and lead taking centre stage.

There are other worthwhile moments, 'Drifting' for one, a pleasant ballad though perhaps a little too reminiscent of 'Angel' or 'Little Wing' in tenor, but overall this is a good album rather than a great one. Still Hendrix, but Hendrix unfinished.

Warthur First Rays of the New Rising sun is a tricky one - but then again, all of Jimi's posthumous releases are. Few artists from the 1960s had a posthumous career as rich as Jimi's - though if you look forward to the 1990s Tupac Shakur's career after death puts Jimi's in the shade. There is absolutely no question that this needed to be curtailed because by the mid-1970s those who owned the rights to the songs had taken to overdubbing sparse, unfinished demos with music played by session musicians who had never even *met* Jimi for the sake of squeezing a little more product out of the poor guy. Although questions might be raised about the Hendrix family's own management of the material after they regained the rights, I have absolutely no doubt that they made the right call in discontinuing the various posthumous albums that had come out.

That said, the material on here is superb, though possibly of mildly less interest to fans only interested in Jimi's progressive side. It's clear that at the time of his death Jimi was working on reconciling the psych-prog approach of his work with the Experience with the raw blues power of the Band of Gypsys. On more or less all the tracks he succeeds - Freedom, Izabella, Dolly Dagger, Ezy Rider, Room Full of Mirrors, all pack one hell of a punch. The album also includes Angel, without a question one of Jimi's most poignant songs, as well as the placid Drifting, which shows that he hadn't completely turned his back on progressive material. But not all of the work is top-tier: My Friend goes on a little too long, Astro Man is a bit of silliness which could have done with a bit more work, and the ditty Belly Button Window - one of the last songs Jimi ever worked on - seems to be more of a gift to a pregnant friend than a track seriously considered for album inclusion.

Although the Hendrix estate claims that they've tried to reconstruct as closely as possible the album Jimi was working on when he died, there's no doubt that they haven't succeeded, and couldn't possibly have succeeded - that album is only on sale in heaven. But until we get there, First Rays of the New Rising Sun is a more than welcome substitute. Even so, as good as a lot of the material is, it can only ever be a substitute. Some things just can't be replaced.

Sean Trane According to the Hendrix exploitation estate, this is the album Jimi intended to release after Gypsies, but it’s probably only another exploitation scheme. If the material of this album is indeed from the three “true” posthumous releases of Cry Of Love, Rainbow Bridges and War Heroes, I am definitely not aware that Jimi was planning yet another album, as the length of this release would have you believe. Most likely Jimi’s next release would’ve been a pick of material from either Rainbow Bridges or Cry of Love because the tracks on War Heroes are simply too raw for release.

So despite Jimi’s family’s wish, this proposition of track and their succession is only a figment of their imagination, as they avoid Rainbow Bridges’ best tracks (unlikely) and add all of CoL (very likely) and almost all of War Heroes (highly unlikely), although I think some of the tracks from the latter album are in a different version. Soooooo, we’ll let Jimi’s sister (she administers the legacy) fantasize about her brother’s next move and we should really avoid such exploitation products.