Hendrix- Cry of Love 2014 vs First Rays 1997*

Midnight Lightning and War Heroes were in there somewhere too.

 

Not on Reprise, they never released those two on CD, just Polydor.

 

I have a COL cd I bought in the early 90's which sounder superb, do I need to bother with the 2014 COL?

 

They should employ a master!

 

Nope, turn up your early 90s Reprise.

 

If you bought the 2014 Rainbow Bridge, you might just want to have CoL as a matched set. It's generally not that expensive (currently $7.78 on Amazon US). But if you like what you have, it'll do just fine.

 

Just as I figured and no I did not buy RB 2014.
I assume all current new stock of RB & COL has to be identical to the 2014 mastering?

 

Correct. Sony didn't do anything with those albums before then (or after for that matter).

 

I love the "My Friend" track.

 

I am a big fan of Cry Of Love and a lukewarm one of First Rays but for some reason I enjoy My Friend'save "fit" on First Rays!

 

Great song, works perfectly on Cry of Love, not sure how it would've fit on First Rays.

 

I'm so glad I didn't care about Hendrix at the time of his passing and the frenzied era thereafter. It frees me from having any prejudice/love for the first wave of posthumous studio albums.

I got into him (in earnest) after First Rays was first released. I immediately bought the original 3 plus BoG, and dutifully bought every release since. Those first posthumous vinyl sets mean nothing to me.

 

I didn't get started until 1988, so you had to take what you could get in those days. On the posthumous material, I tend to collect and listen to it how I want, but looking back, Eddie and Mitch did a nice job on Cry of Love and Rainbow Bridge. They work as albums. It's once you get to War Heroes that you want to start really picking things apart and rearranging them.

 

I was only 2 years old when Jimi died but I love Cry Of Love just because it is damn good and consistently better than any studio set that followed!

 

I like the tracklist of First Rays except Stepping Stone should have been replaced with Pali Gap. To me First Rays is great as long as you don't listen to it on CD. Interesting however, for years and years and years people complained the first posthumous album should have been one double or even a triple album of the best studio tracks that hadn't been released before he died. When they finally came out with the studio "double Lp" which was First Rays with Jimi's planned title no less and its companion South Saturn Delta we now go full circle and re release the first 2 posthumous albums again just as they were released to begin with. Now everyone loves COL and RB and pans on First Rays. Just weird. The new Rainbow Bridge does have the little extra on Room Full of Mirrors which is truly cool.

 

What is the extra?
No surprise to me people like COL & RB compared to FROTNRS for sound and flow despite Jimi intending a dbl lp!

 

Roomfull of Mirrors is longer on the new Rainbow Bridge compared to the original Rainbow Bridge. It has a more extended ending than the original version.

Nothing wrong with the sound of the First Rays and SSD Vinyl in fact I would say they are fantastic . The First Rays and SSD CDs are another story and not good at all imo. So if you are going strictly CD to CD it is a no brainer against First Rays and SSD . Vinyl's of First Rays and SSD verse COL/RB and WH are more of toss up from strictly a sound aspect. You can't go wrong with either vinyl set.

 

Was of course talking CD.

 

Room has an extra 15 seconds of echo-y reverb at the end, was a nice little surprise when it came out. If they do War Heroes, maybe they can extend Bleeding Heart out the extra 10 seconds to get the crashing finale of one of the boots.

 

I think more than familiarty, it is accessability. I love 1983, but it is deep listen, not for parties. Highway Chile is a more of a deep cut, I must admit not one of my faves or top tier songs.

Some songs come to the listener quickly, Some take repeat listens to grab you. Some of your faves will never be something someone else likes. The reverse is true, too,
.

 

Perfect example is Highway Chile made the Top 20 of Hendrix favorites in the UK fan poll back in the 90s which led to its appearance on Ultimate Hendrix. In the US, even today only the most die hard Hendrix fans even know the song exists. Having the material on War Heroes out of easy existence for the better part of two decades for us didn't help until the expanded AYE reissues got it back out there. But it's still not going to be cracking onto any Classic Rock radio playlists.

 

Speaking of "Highway Chile," I always thought it was interesting that on June 25th, 1970, while working on "First Rays...," Jimi wanted to pull the 1967 recording of "Highway Chile" for some reason.

As far as I read, that never materialized, but it's a curious thing, that at least for a few moments, Jimi had thoughts about the song, possibly a remake for the new album.

 

Could be, or maybe do a stereo mix that didn't get done until 30 years later. Maybe that's why, like My Friend, it ended up on a posthumous album since it was talked about during the summer 1970 sessions. Or it was just an unreleased B-side in the US (51st was the B to Hey Joe in the states, so it was rare but released).

 

I don't believe 51st Anniversary had been released on an lp yet in the states. One of the Hendrix books and I forget which one now mentions it should have been included on War Heroes.

 

I think it might have been in Setting the Record Straight. Even Laughing Sam's Dice had been on one of the WB Loss Leaders, but 51st got left off any of those as well as War Heroes.

I made a new album mp3 file of War Heroes-Restored, with STPLSD in place of Peter Gunn and 51st in between 3 Little Bears and Beginning (also swapped out the mono Highway Chile for the stereo). It's a much more satisfying listen with just those little changes.