Trisha Shetty (Editor)

First Rays of the New Rising Sun

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Released
  
April 22, 1997

Artist
  
Jimi Hendrix

Label
  
MCA Records

Length
  
69:25

Release date
  
22 April 1997

First Rays of the New Rising Sun httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaendd5Fir

Recorded
  
March 1968 – August 1970

First Rays of the New Rising Sun (1997)
  
Experience Hendrix The Best of Jimi Hendrix (1997)

Genres
  
Rock music, Psychedelic rock, Blues rock, Hard rock

Producers
  
Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Kramer, Mitch Mitchell, John Jansen

Similar
  
Jimi Hendrix albums, Rock music albums

First rays of the new rising sun


First Rays of the New Rising Sun is a compilation album by American rock musician Jimi Hendrix, released in 1997 by MCA Records. It featured songs Hendrix had recorded for an unfinished double album before his death in 1970. Most of them were first released on the posthumous 1971 albums The Cry of Love and Rainbow Bridge, along with subsequent compilations in edited form, before they were compiled by audio engineer Eddie Kramer in 1997. Kramer selected and sequenced the songs in their original form to realize Hendrix's planned album to the best of his abilities, based on the latter's notes and the level of each track's completion.

Contents

Background

First Rays of the New Rising Sun was an attempt to produce the fourth studio album of the same name Hendrix was working on before his death in September 1970. Recorded between March 1968 and August 1970, most of the songs compiled on this compilation had previously been released on the posthumous 1971 albums The Cry of Love and Rainbow Bridge, which were themselves compiled by recording engineer Eddie Kramer and drummer Mitch Mitchell. During the 1970s through the 1990s, the songs also appeared on other posthumous compilations supervised by producer Alan Douglas, who overdubbed other instruments into the recordings. For the 1997 compilation, Kramer instead used the original master recordings and sequenced the songs to realize Hendrix's plans to the best of his abilities. He selected tracks based on their original level of completion and Hendrix's personal notes.

Release and reception

When First Rays of the New Rising Sun was released in 1997, it charted at number 49 on the Billboard 200 in the United States, and at number 37 on the UK Albums Charts in Britain. In 2010, the album was remastered and re-released by Sony Legacy, on March 8 in the UK and March 9 in the US.

According to Robert Christgau in Blender, First Rays of the New Rising Sun was Kramer's reimagination of Hendrix's projected double LP, which was not as remarkable musically as his last studio album Electric Ladyland (1968) and "not too profound lyrically". Nonetheless, Christgau deemed it a suitable successor to The Cry of Love, as well as "a powerful collection by a genius whose songwriting kept growing and whose solos rarely disappoint." Sean Murphy from PopMatters believed it was more successful than The Cry of Love in realizing Hendrix's vision. He highlighted the "liberating presence" of bassist Billy Cox, deeming him an improvement over Noel Redding. According to Murphy, Cox allowed the band to "spread out and chase the guitarist as he soars above, around and beneath them". Rolling Stone magazine called the album "a cohesive cosmic missive", writing that it "illuminates what would have been a transitional phase for Hendrix".

Track listing

All songs were written by Jimi Hendrix.

  1. "Freedom" – 3:27
  2. "Izabella" – 2:50
  3. "Night Bird Flying" – 3:50
  4. "Angel" – 4:22
  5. "Room Full of Mirrors" – 3:20
  6. "Dolly Dagger" – 4:44
  7. "Ezy Ryder" – 4:09
  8. "Drifting" – 3:48
  9. "Beginnings" – 4:13
  10. "Stepping Stone" – 4:12
  11. "My Friend" – 4:36
  12. "Straight Ahead" – 4:42
  13. "Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)" – 6:04
  14. "Earth Blues" – 4:21
  15. "Astro Man" – 3:34
  16. "In from the Storm" – 3:41
  17. "Belly Button Window" – 3:36
  • "Straight Ahead" used the music from an earlier recording titled "Pass It On" but with different lyrics.

    • Personnel

  • Jimi Hendrix – guitar, lead vocals, backing vocals, bass, piano, producer, mixing
  • Billy Cox – bass, backing vocals
  • Mitch Mitchell – drums, producer, mixing
  • Juma Sultan – percussion
  • Buddy Miles – drums (on tracks 5 & 7 ), backing vocals
  • Albert Allen (The Ghetto Fighters) – backing vocals on "Freedom"
  • Arthur Allen (The Ghetto Fighters) – backing vocals on "Freedom"
  • Billy Armstrong – percussion on "Ezy Rider"
  • Buzzy Linhart – vibraphone on "Drifting"
  • Emmeretta Marks – backing vocals
  • The Ronettes – backing vocals
  • Steve Winwood (Traffic) – backing vocals on "Ezy Rider"
  • Chris Wood (Traffic) – backing vocals on "Ezy Rider"
  • Ken Pine (The Fugs) – 12 string guitar on "My Friend"
  • Stephen Stills – piano on "My Friend"
  • Paul Caruso – harmonica on "My Friend"
  • Jimmy Mayes – drums on "My Friend"
  • Eddie Kramer – producer, engineer, mixing, photography, remastering
  • Tony Bongiovi – engineer
  • Jack Adams – engineer
  • Bob Cotts – engineer
  • Bob Hughes – engineer
  • John Jansen – engineer
  • John McDermott – liner notes, remastering supervisor

    • Songs

    1Freedom3:26
    2Izabella2:52
    3Night Bird Flying3:52

    References

    First Rays of the New Rising Sun Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA