Review | Jimi Hendrix ‘Valleys Of Neptune’

Jimi Hendrix

I always wonder…what if. What if Jimi Hendrix had not died in the basement apartment of the Samarkand Hotel that his girlfriend Monika Dannemann lived in, after she picked him up from a party that he attended the night before. What if Jimi was able to record and release his follow up to the highly successful ‘Electric LadyLand’ album that he gave to the world almost two years to the day prior to his death. What would it have sounded like, what would it have been called?

Well as everyone that’s anyone who listens to and enjoys Rock music is aware, James Marshall ‘Jimi’ Hendrix did die on that Wednesday September 18th, 1970. We will never know what would have been next had Jimi not died way too young at the age of 27. Maybe with the release of the new Jimi Hendix record, “Valleys Of Neptune’ we can at least have a brief glimpse into what Mr. Hendrix was up to…musically.

I was only 11 years old at the time of his death but thanks to my older brother John, I was well aware of Jimi Hendrix and his amazing guitar virtuosity and musicianship. My brother got to experience hearing Jimi for the first time and enjoyed the anticipation of the release of a new Hendrix record, he also got to see him perform… live. Those are things that I never experienced and never will… until now, well at least the new record part.

What, there’s a new Jimi Hendrix record coming out? When? I can’t wait to hear it. Those are some of the thoughts that went through my head when I heard the news. I’m sure what I was feeling was not quite the same as being there in the moment, old enough to realize the significance of the news back in the late 60’s of a new Jimi Hendrix record, but maybe, just maybe it’s a small taste of what it was like.

It is such a pleasure to hear new Jimi Hendrix music, albeit in the traditional style and easily recognizable sound that Jimi, Mitch and Noel created, it somehow seems fresh and new. This record is not a hastily thrown together collection of poor sounding bootlegs and half finished songs, it is a quality representation of Jimi Hendrix in his prime writing and recording material for his fourth (but never released) studio record.

Valleys Of Neptune contains 12 tracks of original songs (some of which up until now had only been released in fragmented poorly sounding or live versions from prior posthumous releases) and alternate versions of Hendrix classics like ‘Stone Free,’ ‘Fire’ and ‘Red House’ and an instrumental cover of the Cream classic ‘Sunshine of Your Love.’

Sonically the album sounds remarkably good with most of the songs being recorded in 1969 following the release of ‘Electric Ladyland’ in 1968. Of course Jimi Hendrix was a brilliant producer in his own right, producing most of the original songs back in the day. The songs on Valleys Of Neptune were beautifully re-mastered and produced by legendary engineer and producer Eddie Kramer (who engineered all of Hendrix records from ‘Are You experienced’ to ‘Cry of Love’) John McDermott and Jimi’s stepsister Janie Hendrix (who controls the late guitarist estate ‘Experience Hendrix, L.L.C.’)

I’m not going to do a track by track review, I’m going to leave that up to you. I want you to hear these songs for the first time with no preconceived thoughts or opinions from me or anyone else. I want you to experience what this new Jimi Hendrix record represents, material recorded in an environment that lended itself to the freedom that Jimi was all about. And it does make me wonder…what if.

Check out the videos below that were made for the songs ‘Valleys Of Neptune’ and ‘Bleeding Heart.’ The ‘Bleeding Heart’ video is especially cool.

Favorite Track: Bleeding Heart

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Release Date: March 9th, 2010
Produced By: Eddie Kramer, John McDermott, Janie Hendrix
Label: Legacy

Track Listing:

2 Responses to “Review | Jimi Hendrix ‘Valleys Of Neptune’”

1. SpaceTrucker says:

   March 14, 2010 at 4:51 pm

   Thanks for the comment Gitarzan, nice to have you take a peak at Rockchoice.com, it’s my passion and I have big things planned for the site and I hope you visit more often. Any suggestions would be awesome.

   We do think alike…sometimes, if you noticed my favorite song from Valleys Of Neptune was ‘Bleeding Heart.’ I thought the video for that song was very cool also.

   Did you get a chance to listen to the Niklas Stalvind of WOLF interview? It’s pretty cool.
2. Gitarzan says:

   March 14, 2010 at 1:40 pm

   Listening to a “new Hendrix” collection was certainly a long lost treat, but for the most part didn’t disappoint. It certainly took me back to a time when fuzz and wah pedals were still new and being misused (to the delight of everyone!!!). I really liked “Bleeding Heart” and “Hear My Train A Comin’”…pretty vintage Hendrix!

   More good examples of a time when people were saying “I know it’s the blues, but….!!!!