Review: Jimi Hendrix – “Valleys Of Neptune”

I imagine at some base level it must be hell to work for the estate of a dead rock star. You have to take some recordings that were at best incomplete (at worst rejected from proper albums) and spruce them up to make them match levels of modern fidelity. Then comes the difficult part: you have to make them sound interesting and appealing to the general public if you want to turn a profit. It gets even harder if your artist has been bootlegged endlessly for decades. Plus, it must get harder as the years go on. Jimi Hendrix has been dead for 40 years now, and Valleys of Neptune came out last week. At this point, he’s been deified, anthologized, repackaged, remastered, re-released, written about, imitated, criticized… you name it. He’s one of the giants of the 60s, a decade with  no shortage of praise, so it must be hard to get casual fans excited for some new music. After all, if it’s so good, why did it sit in a vault for 40 years? What, are we going to confirm that he was an excellent guitarist… again?

None of that is meant to be flippant. Hendrix’s life was cut short in a fertile creative period, and a man of his immense skills would always be interesting to hear. One just has to question whether any new revelations can be taken from these unearthed recordings. We’ve lived for 40 years with most of the existing recordings, and the earth never stopped turning to demand more. But hey, how about the “new” title track? It’s a good song, but I for one can’t shake the feeling that Hendrix’ vocals aren’t totally into this version. His guitar is incendiary, as always, but there’s something a little more dashed-off about this song. It sounds like it might have been something that came out of rehearsal, like a sketch or a practice run. Much more impressive is “Sunshine Of Your Love.” It still sounds like rehearsal footage, but it’s fun footage where Hendrix and his band stretch out. It’s not so much of a surprise that Hendrix would be able to pretty up a Cream track with solos, but as something that’s just fun, it’s a pretty lovable track. As expected from a posthumous collection, there’s good and less-good (but nothing bad) here.

It’s also at least interesting to hear the alternate versions of familiar songs. “Red House” is the most different from its album counterpart: slowly burning over eight minutes, twice the length of the version on Are You Experienced. “Fire” has a looseness and backing vocals that make it sound like it might be a version recorded live-in-the-studio. “Stone Free” opens the album with a version that’s slower than the original. It teases an extended coda, but then kind of just fizzles out. It’s no surprise that the best takes made the albums, but these should be worth it to those curious. In a lot of cases, that’s a best-case scenario. That Hendrix was such a consistent artist almost feels like a bonus; things could be much worse.

Ultimately, Valley of the Neptunes is not essential. Only guitar obsessives and hardcore Hendrix fans would return to this on a regular basis. I probably sound like an asshole saying it that way, but that’s more or less what should be expected from something released 40 years after an artist’s untimely death. I’m not saying “call me when you unearth a hidden juggling talent,” but when you get a Bible, do you add your own chapters to it?

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About the Author

Jere is not from Chicago. Nor is he from Parts Unknown. But he sure loves to hear things. Follow him on Twitter!

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