Jimi Hendrix Both Sides of the Sky - new album coming March 9, 2018

What were the original track listings?

 

They are mentioned in the Setting The Record Straight book by John McDermott and Eddie Kramer.

Here is a summary.

Cry of Love:

Dolly Dagger and Room Full Of Mirrors replaced by Straight Ahead and My Friend.

Rainbow Bridge:

Stepping Stone and Izabella replaced with live version of Hear My Train A Comin' - Bleeding Heart was also considered for the release as it appeared in the movie soundtrack.

War Heroes:

The Stars That Play With Laughing Sam's Dice replaced by Peter Gunn/Catastrophe or Three Little Bears.

 

So on a scale of 1-10 how vital are People and Valleys assuming I have COL and Rainbow?

 

Um...3 if you're an "average" fan. If you're a completist, you have to have them

 

The substitutions watered down what would have been a stronger LP. Still, even with the last-minute substations, I do think "Cry of Love" is a very solid album. While "Straight Ahead" seems a bit unfinished (perhaps it is the rambling lyrical content that gives it a disjointed feel), thematically and stylistically, it fits well with the final period of Hendrix's work and therefore fits well with this album. If "Dolly Dagger" and "Room Full of Mirrors" remained, ideally, I would have liked to have seen "Straight Ahead" replace "Astro Man" or "Belly Button Window."

 

I agree with DTK. These really are barrel scrapings and we've already had better versions of most tracks on previous releases (and or most of them on bootlegs). The blues numbers are always great of course because of the value of Jimi's solos. "Easy Blues" is the real must-have (but it was of course on Nine To The Universe before and a ton of bootlegs). It should have been on a better album than PH&A. They should have put "Peace In Mississipi" on one of these releases insted of hiding it in the purple box re-release fer crissakes.

 

I’ll very happily listen to just about ANYTHING Hendrix, all of it, except I haven’t really taken much of a shine to any of his early sideman era recordings. It’s amazing that he did so much in under four years that there is anything at all to put out in 2018.

 

I would just yank the alternate “Along The Watchtower” From SSD and throw “Peace In Mississippi” in there instead.

 

Many thanks guys.....I realise this was a bit off topic. Apologies.

I’ll get the Rainbow Bridge vinyl to compliment my BOG and Cry Of Love.

 

I would have rather seen Izabella, Stepping Stone or Bleeding Heart on it than Straight Ahead, Astro Man or Belly Button Window.

 

I agree with regard to “Stepping Stone” and “Izabella,” but Reprise had just issued those two tracks as a single a few months prior in the spring, so they were not ideal candidates for release on the first posthumous LP.

 

However, if they were better tracks why not include them? How many people actually bought the single as it only made 130 in the charts? The versions included on War Heroes were also not the single versions so they would have been different versions of the songs than the singles.

 

Sorry for being semi-off topic, but eventually I'd like to buy the 2014 remasters of The Cry Of Love and Rainbow Bridge soon. Do those CDs sound good?

 

Yes, better than the First Rays cd although I don't care for the sequencing.

 

Thanks! I hope War Heroes also gets a reissue sometime.

 

Best they have ever sounded, IMHO, and that's excellent!

 

It's still quite easy to find on CD I think.

 

Pretty pricey. The cheapest one I saw looking quickly on Amazon was $40 and that is for only 35 minutes of music.

Discogs might have some that are cheaper.

I have a Russian pirated version with bonus tracks myself.

 

Also if you don’t have a bunch of Hendrix bootlegs these releases are essential.

Is anyone else a fan of Mojo Man? A nice slice of funky soul.

 

I enjoy Mojo Man for what it is; a pretty neat funky Allen twins soul tune with one guitar overdub from Jimi. The original recording was actually released as a 45 before Jimi did his overdub.

 

Definitely !

 

Love it!

 

Amazon Germany has some from 13 euros and upwards, for those in Europe (postage might be expensive for elsewhere).

 

It should have been released at the same time as the COL/RB reissues.

 

They should add the best tracks from Loose Ends as War Heroes is a short album and/or add a few tracks like 51st Anniversary, Gloria or the acoustic version of Hear My Train A Comin' which probably should have been included to pad the time.