Jimi Hendrix’s legacy has until now remained undisturbed since his death. That was always something of a shame, given the amount of unreleased material he left behind, but then there were legal difficulties surrounding the estate which ensured that everything remained, more or less, under lock and key. Well, someone is finally banging on the sarcophagus door: the much anticipated Valleys of Neptune is billed as the unfinished sequel to Electric Ladyland that Hendrix had started work on at the time of his premature demise.
Clearly this was a work in progress: included are versions of ‘Fire’ and ‘Red House’, songs he had arguably already recorded on his debut album, here given a lick of different paint. But it is a remarkable thing nonetheless to hear that extraordinary voice again and to experience his remarkable fretwork afresh. Of the “new” stuff, ‘Crying Blue Rain’ and ‘Ships Passing Through The Night’ hint at a future sound that might have emerged: it certainly would have been fascinating to see where the maestro would have taken these ideas had he lived long enough.
Completists will understandably flock to Valleys of Neptune. For everyone else, there is the fascination of catching a maturing guitar genius in the process of figuring out what his next step should be.