Two Long Out-of-Print Jimi Hendrix Albums to Be Reissued

Two long out-of-print Jimi Hendrix albums — ‘Cry of Love’ and ‘Rainbow Bridge’ — will be reissued next month. The classic LPs, which were originally released after Hendrix’s death in 1970, were culled from sessions that the guitar legend had worked on in 1969 and 1970.

Back when the albums came out in 1971, they received a ton of attention, since they represented some of the best work Hendrix had recorded following the release of his final album with the Experience, ‘Electric Ladyland,’ in 1968.

The sessions, recorded between December 1969 and the summer of 1970 at Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios in New York, included Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Billy Cox for the most part, though drummer Buddy Miles and Experience bassist Noel Redding also appeared on some cuts (as did a few other musicians, including Steve Winwood).

Many of the tracks were scheduled to appear on Hendrix’s next LP, the two-record ‘First Rays of the New Rising Sun,’ which he never completed. He did, however, leave behind lots of songs, fragments and ideas that have surfaced on many, many posthumous collections over the years. And while many of these records have included the songs found on ‘The Cry of Love’ and ‘Rainbow Bridge,’ they appeared here first, and many fans still consider them important parts of Hendrix’s catalog.

Many of the songs — ‘Freedom,’ ‘Drifting,’ ‘Night Bird Flying,’ ‘Angel,’ ’Dolly Dagger,’ ‘Hear My Train A Comin’,’ ‘Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)’ — rank among some of Hendrix’s best late-career material.

‘The Cry of Love’ was issued on CD in 1992, but hasn’t been available in years. ‘Rainbow Bridge’ — which has little connection to the 1972 Hendrix documentary of the same name — has never been reissued on CD. The remastered albums will be released on Sept. 16.

‘The Cry of Love’ Track Listing
‘Freedom’
‘Drifting’
‘Ezy Ryder’
‘Night Bird Flying’
‘My Friend’
‘Straight Ahead’
‘Astro Man’
‘Angel’
‘In From the Storm’
‘Belly Button Window’

‘Rainbow Bridge’ Track Listing
‘Dolly Dagger’
‘Earth Blues’
‘Pali Gap’
‘Room Full of Mirrors’
‘Star Spangled Banner (studio version)’
‘Look Over Yonder’
‘Hear My Train A Comin’ (live)’
‘Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)’