Poll: What's your favorite posthumously released Jimi Hendrix album/compilation?

Hi friends! Don't know if this poll was already made a while ago, couldn't find one in the search results. Pick your favorite Hendrix release post-1970.
It contains releases of studio recordings only though I originally wanted to add some live albums.
The exception here maybe is the Purple Box and West Coast Seattle Boy which contains both studio and live.
Anyway, poll choice unlimited. So let's kiss the sky!

[Edit:] Just realized I left Isle Of Wight in the poll by accident, wanted to delete it. Could some Gort please fix that?

 

Voted only Cry of Love.

 

Cry of Love and Rainbow Bridge, all else IMHO is inferior.

Blues however deserves a mention

 

Yeah, pretty much, that was the best stuff. But I enjoy them all on one level or another. Also picked the box sets for just the sheer wealth of material.

 

I agree, I have many others but those are my faves

 

Cry Of Love & Rainbow Bridge for me I always consider this a double anyway and as essential as the core 3 (personally i think you should have not included box sets/compilations in the poll and if included 'Stages', 'In The West' and 'Concerts' are worthy contenders) Keep Rocking \m/

 

The Cry Of Love, Loose Ends & Blues.
I think Loose Ends was the first I picked up.

 

Midnight Lightning

 

I voted Purple box even though I don't own it, but I've liked the bits I've heard. I'm a casual fan with just the core four: AYE/Axis/EL/Smash Hits.

 

Cry of Love and Rainbow Bridge of course, with Jimi's final mostly do finished album tracks.

I have a soft spot for War Heroes (which has a few Jimi -approved tunes too) and Loose Ends, and the purple box is fun, if far from perfect.

 

Cry of Love almost doesn't sound like a posthumous releases, does it? It's my pick by a lot.

 

Cry of Love and Rainbow Bridge are solid enough so that they don't really sound like something thrown together posthumously. After that they get a bit thin, though, in my opinion. I liked Crash Landing well enough but it's clear when listening that something has happened to kind of change Jimi's sound. The female backup singers and such. I was disappointed to hear that Douglas had wiped the musicians that Jimi actually recorded with in order to have "better" backup musicians on that album. It sounds alright, but to me it is obvious that this probably isn't the sound Jimi would have wanted. It's an odd album for sure.

War Heroes, Midnight Lightning, Loose Ends and Nine to the Universe are okay, but are nowhere near the quality of Jimi's lifetime releases or the first two posthumous albums. Song quality was somewhat lacking, and some are probably works-in-progress that Jimi had yet to finish, but if I tried I could cobble together at least one listenable album from the best they have to offer.

 

I liked the Kiss The Sky CD quite a bit when it came out.

 

I think the Crash Landing version of Somewhere and Crash Landing (the song) are the best versions !

 

Yeah, those are actually my two favorites on the album too! Power of Soul is good too. The album may not be true to Jimi's original vision, but it definitely is a good listen, with a few strange bits thrown in. One review of it I read said something along the lines of "it's sort of Jimi-does-fusion." I think that sums it up fairly well.

 

i haven't got all of them, but i did like war heroes

 

Blues, but what a list

 

Rainbow Bridge-4 stars

The Cry of Love- 3 stars

 

I just got my 1st copy on vinyl of Cry of Love for $5. RL Sterling copy. Love it, sounds great.

 

You missed two

Hendrix In The West (1972)
Hendrix In The West (remastered 2011)

I like them all. I like to cherry pick my favorite songs.

 

Stages

 

First Rays of the new rising sun.....
Cry of love.....

 

Every substitution on the 2011 version is inferior, though. I was enraged. The original release is a tremendous single lp, packing all the punch and fury of the albums released while he was alive...and would get my vote if it were present.

Since it's not I'll vote Purple Box but, being a box, that should probably be in a different category. First Rays wasn't a terrible attempt to gather the best from the first 3, which have most of the best of the "finished" songs in some form...but then again even the most recent release contains for the first time Jimi's own mix of one of them (Power of Soul) and it's the best by far. So the "definitive" First Rays comp release remains to be seen. I'm sure whoever owns the rights will continue releasing variations for the next hundred years or more.

 

Live at Winterland.

 

First Rays - its (most of) the best tracks from the first three posthumous albums and the first 8 tracks actually work as a fairly cohesive sounding album for me - though immediately after track 8 it totally falls apart and becomes just a random grab bag collection, but the first half of it is incredibly strong. To make up a ten song album I listen to the first 8 songs in order, followed by the final two tracks in order - works for me!

Purple Box. It works pretty well as an "alternate career retrospective" covering his entire solo career going from Chas until Jimi's death, including lots of absolute gems, and a decent number (but not too many) far less consequential tracks that would definitely bog down a single CD posthumous "album" but work fairly well within the expanded scope of a multidisc historical retrospective. In this setting those kind of tracks can work in the context of telling part of the story, of his creative process as well as occasionally his humor. Is it perfect? No - but then a perfectly compiled Jimi Hendrix posthumous collection album is an oxymoron. I've given up any expectations of that a LONG time ago. But for what it is it is VERY good!