Rainbow Bridge (album)

Updated on Dec 25, 2023

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Released October 1971 (1971-10) Artist Jimi Hendrix Label Reprise Records		Length 42:22 Release date October 1971

Recorded October 1968 to July 1970 Studio Electric Lady Studios and Record Plant Studios in New York, TTG Studios in Hollywood, and Berkeley Community Theatre in Berkeley Producer Jimi Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell, Eddie Kramer, John Jansen Rainbow Bridge (1971) Hendrix in the West (1972) Genres Rock music, Psychedelic rock Similar Jimi Hendrix albums, Psychedelic rock albums

Jimi hendrix rainbow bridge remastered 2014 album review

Rainbow Bridge is a compilation album by American rock musician Jimi Hendrix. It was the second posthumous album release by his official record company and is mostly composed of recordings Hendrix made in 1969 and 1970 after the breakup of the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Despite the cover photo and subtitle Original Motion Picture Sound Track, it does not contain any songs recorded during his concert appearance for the 1971 film Rainbow Bridge.

Continuing in the vein of The Cry of Love, the first official posthumous Hendrix album, Rainbow Bridge explores new guitar styles and textures. All the songs, except for a solo studio version of "The Star Spangled Banner", are written by Hendrix and mostly performed with Mitch Mitchell on drums and Billy Cox on bass.

The songs on Rainbow Bridge represent material in various stages of development and were never finalized or approved for release by Hendrix. Four of the songs on the album, along with the ten songs from The Cry of Love and three from War Heroes, were planned for Hendrix's follow-up album to the live Band of Gypsys, released in March 1970. These songs were later included on Voodoo Soup in 1995 and First Rays of the New Rising Sun in 1997, which were attempts at completing the double album Hendrix was working on at the time of his death.

Background

Despite the title, Rainbow Bridge was not a soundtrack to the film of the same name but rather a compilation of one live song and studio recordings from a number of sources between 1968 and 1970, including some for his planned but unfinished double album First Rays of the New Rising Sun. "Look Over Yonder" began as "Mr. Bad Luck" while Hendrix was performing in Greenwich Village, New York City, with his group Jimmy James and the Blue Flames in the summer of 1966. The version included on Rainbow Bridge was recorded by the Experience in 1968. Two songs by the Band of Gypsys, "Room full of Mirrors" and "Earth Blues" date from 1969, although the latter has subsequent drum overdubs by Mitchell. "The Star Spangled Banner" is a 1969 solo studio recording by Hendrix. The remainder of the songs were recorded with the "Cry of Love" group (Mitchell and Cox) in 1970: "Dolly Dagger", "Pali Gap", and "Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)". "Hear My Train A Comin'" is a live recording from the first show on May 30, 1970, at the Berkeley Community Theatre. An edited version appears in the 1971 concert film Jimi Plays Berkeley.

The album was the second to be produced by Eddie Kramer and Mitch Mitchell, with John Jansen assisting. It was released in October 1971 in the US, and the following month in the UK where it reached numbers 15 and 16 respectively in the album charts. "Dolly Dagger" with "The Star Spangled Banner" as the B-side was released as a single in the US in October 1971. It appeared at number 74 in the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart. In 2014, the original Rainbow Bridge album was reissued in both CD and LP formats.

According to Setting The Record Straight by John McDermott with Eddie Kramer, Izabella and Stepping Stone were pulled from the track listing in the final stages and replaced with the live version of Hear My Train A Comin' from Berkeley. Izabella and Stepping Stone were instead used the improve the next posthumous release War Heroes per Mike Jeffery. Bleeding Heart was also considered but ultimately used on War Heroes.

Critical reception

According to AllMusic's Sean Westergaard, "when Rainbow Bridge was originally released, it was actually among the best of the posthumous Hendrix releases ... a mix of excellent, finished studio tracks and a couple of live tracks." In a contemporary review for Rolling Stone magazine, Tony Glover wrote favorably of the songs on side one, particularly the "really majestic version" of "The Star-Spangled Banner". Robert Christgau said in a retrospective review that The Cry of Love (1971) had highlighted Hendrix's abilities as a songwriter, but Rainbow Bridge showcased his guitar playing:

Rich stuff, exploring territory that as always with Hendrix consists not merely of notes but of undifferentiated sound, a sound he shapes with a virtuosity no one else has ever achieved on an electric instrument.

Track listing

All songs written by Jimi Hendrix, except where noted

Recording details

Tracks 1, 3 and 8 recorded at Electric Lady Studios, New York City, July 1, 1970

Track 2 recorded at Record Plant Studios, New York City, December 19, 1969 and Electric Lady Studios, July 1970

Track 4 recorded at Record Plant Studios, November 17, 1969 and Electric Lady Studios, July 1970

Track 5 recorded at Record Plant Studios, March 18, 1969

Track 6 recorded at TTG Studios, Hollywood, October 22, 1968

Track 7 recorded at Berkeley Community Theatre, Berkeley, California, May 30, 1970 (first show)

Personnel

Jimi Hendrix – guitars, lead vocals, backing vocals (tracks 1, 2)

Mitch Mitchell – drums (all tracks except 4, 5)

Billy Cox – bass guitar (all tracks except 5, 6)

Juma Sultan – congas, percussion (tracks 1, 3, 6)

Buddy Miles – drums (track 4), backing vocals (track 2)

Noel Redding – bass guitar (track 6)

The Ghetto Fighters (Albert Allen and Arthur Allen) – backing vocals (track 1)

The Ronettes (Veronica Bennett, Estelle Bennett, Nedra Talley) – backing vocals (track 2)

Songs included on later releases

All of the songs on Rainbow Bridge have been reissued on later Hendrix albums. These include:

"Dolly Dagger," "Earth Blues," "Room Full of Mirrors," "Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)" – First Rays of the New Rising Sun (1997)

"Pali Gap," "Look Over Yonder" – South Saturn Delta (1997)

"Star Spangled Banner" (studio version) – The Jimi Hendrix Experience (Box set) (2000)

"Hear My Train A Comin'" – Blues (12:08 version with Hendrix intro, 1994), Voodoo Child: The Jimi Hendrix Collection (11:00 Rainbow Bridge edit without intro, but quicker fade, 2001)

Songs

1Dolly Dagger4:45
2Earth Blues4:20
3Pali Gap5:05

References

Rainbow Bridge (album) Wikipedia

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