Jimi Hendrix's 'The Cry of Love' and 'Rainbow Bridge' Treated to Reissues

Record Store Day

 

If these are going to be AAA and similar in quality to the 2010 studio album releases, then I'm in - I have a US 70s press of Cry of Love and a UK copy of Rainbow Bridge, so I don't really need them as such, but clean, great sounding heavyweight copies would be nice to have - thought I'd never say this, but there's too much good vinyl coming out and I'm going to have to sell a kidney if I'm to afford everything I want!

 

Mastered for newer set ups for a start plus not everyone here who enjoys vinyl has the RL's and possibly / probably not in mint / near mint condition.

 

From the Jimi Hendrix site:

The Cry Of Love and Rainbow Bridge, his first and second posthumous studio releases respectively, will be reintroduced with original album art and track orders. Both albums have been remastered by Bernie Grundman from the original analog masters.

 

Sorry if I was unclear - better CD mastering than previous CD-releases of this material by Experience Hendrix is what I was thinking...

I already have near mint original US LP pressings since the early 70´s.

 

I think if they re-release Voodoo Soup, my head will explode...

 

Great to finally see an official CD of Rainbow Bridge. I really dream there was the uncut Maui film footage found. It wasn't destroyed or was it ....

 

By all accounts the two stoners who made the Rainbow Bridge film did an absolutely horrific job of shooting it, not to mention the atrocious sound (whipping wind and no screens on the mics, hence the chunks of foam from the road cases tied around the mics!)...the majority of the audio was recorded in a studio later on according to several sources.



Those poor mics...

 

I wish Experience Hendrix would stop re-releasing the same songs in different collections and just release some high resolution Jimi already!

 

I think it would have been nice for long time Hendrix fans if they added some alternate takes of the songs on the end of these discs. Many of us already have these songs on lp and on the Experience Hendrix reissues.

 

Poor mics indeed ! Actually that's only partially true about "re-recording most of the audio in the studio". Very decent quality audio of the Maui shows have circulated in collectorsville. It's only Mitch who overdubbed some drum parts in the studio. They actually talk about it in the book "Ultimate Hendrix". Apparently a movieola was set up in the studio and Mitch played along with the footage. You can easily tell on the audio where the overdubbed drums are as they are noticeably louder in the mix. I'd have to go back and check, but he only overdubbed drums on like 5 or 6 tracks max, likely for the live songs included in the eventually released film. I always wished they'd consider the Maui shows for a Dagger release at least. They've released "Hey Baby" and "Foxey Lady" on a couple of sets from these shows and while it's not up to par with well recorded shows like Berkeley, I don't think they sound THAT bad.

 

I assume it was a US pressing, you notice anything strange?

 

Which songs from Cry Of Love and Rainbow Bridge are duplicated exactly on the Purple Box?

 

Only the studio Star Spangled Banner from Rainbow Bridge, iirc.

 

When I heard SSB on the purple box it sounded a bit anemic when compared to the same track on the Rainbow Bridge vinyl.
I hope that changes with these new reissues.

 

Is there any reason to buy Rainbow Bridge if I already own everything else?

 

No not if you have every song that's on there on another release. It's just nice to see It finally getting a release being it was the second LP released after his death and was never released on CD.

 

Different mix of the Berkeley "Hear My Train" compared with the "Blues" CD.

 

The twelfth release in the Dagger series came out just over a year ago:
http://www.authentichendrix.com/Product.aspx?cp=103_42691&pc=JHCD058

 

Well I did say "mainly abandoned"... My point though was that recent releases like Valleys of Neptune, West Coast Seattle Boy and People Hell and Angels should have been put out on Dagger Records rather than released with all of the attendant fanfare (and distribution) of an official release. My view is that Jimi's official catalog should kept pristine. Other methods should be used to release secondary material.

 

The Rainbow Bridge mix of 'Hear My Train' is currently available on the Voodoo Child 2CD comp.

 

In which case we would have very, very few [mainstream] official releases by that criteria. That would lead to fewer and fewer general music fans hearing and experiencing for themselves the wonder that is Jimi Hendrix outside of the say half a dozen titles released over 40 odd years!

I hear and understand your views of VoN and PHaA as they both appear to be contentious releases in the official mainstream market as far as hard core fans are concerned [don't count me in on that btw] but WCSB is an excellent set of material with one major flaw, it didn't go as far as it could with early content. This set is a must have set by any ones standard if there is any interest in Hendrix. I'd argue it's status as an official release is clear and unarguable, it is a major release and fully deserves that official mainstream status.

 

Yes.
The Purple Box and the West Coast Box are major releases. Fantastic material. I feel we don't give Experience Hendrix the credit they deserve for these two boxsets.
VoN and PHaA are thematically confusing, but very enjoyable releases as well. Excellent sound.

 

Wait, isn't there actually a minor difference with the Rainbow Bridge version and the Voodoo Child version? I'm pretty sure that the Rainbow Bridge version actually lasts a little longer, with a bit more applause I think? So therefore, this release will be the first time this one would be released on CD.

 

I'm still going to get both reissues even though I have most of the material already - including all of the reissues that Experience Hendrix has been releasing lately on both CD and blu-ray.