Jimi Hendrix
South Saturn Delta
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Jimi Hendrix
South Saturn Delta
MCA/Experience Hendrix, 1997
RiYL: Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series, Lenny Kravitz, Smashing Pumpkins' Gish, Stevie Ray |
Now, thanks to a renewed interest in his backlog of studio recordings, MCA/Experience Hendrix has released an album of mostly unreleased tunes that span his career and show the artist in a wide variety of studio incarnations. Earlier outtakes are here alongside songs that mark the twilight of his career, when he was experimenting heavily with the recording studio and unconventional song arrangements.
South Saturn Delta presents songs unfinished at the time of Hendrix's death that benefit from some posthumous production, including five songs mixed in July 1997 by Eddie Kramer at Hendrix's Electric Lady Studios.
The album features a wide variety of lineups, from Jimi alone to the six-piece Gypsy Sun and Rainbows Band. Songs recorded by the Experience, after the band's third and final album are here, and even a horn section shows up to play.
Though the original versions of "Little Wing" and "Angel" are two of Hendrix's most well-known tunes, both tracks appear here in much-altered form, justifying their placement on the record. The former, an instrumental, mixes parts of both ballads, with a more up-tempo beat. And "Sweet Angel" turns out to be a demo of Hendrix playing guitar and singing along to a simple drum machine track.
Two songs from Hendrix's famous Band of Gypsys' repertoire show up in studio versions for the first time. "Message To The Universe" predates the band's legendary Fillmore East shows in New York City, while "Power Of Soul" was refined later in the studio and has evolved into a funk essential, finally offering listeners the chance to get their hands on Jimi's rapturous use of delay effects and stunning guitar work.
The album's title track exemplifies the theory that Hendrix put the original hip-hop in rock and roll. The jazz-influenced track features a horn arrangement built around Hendrix's highly inventive rhythmic pattern. And the 46-second guitar intro to "Here He Comes (Lover Man)" is one of Hendrix's most powerful riffing displays.
For almost 30 years, a new Jimi Hendrix album was only a dream. But, including Delta's companion piece, 1997's First New Rays Of The Rising Sun, two "new" albums now grace record shelves, next to remastered Experience Hendrix versions of his three studio albums. A rejuvenated interest in this revolutionary figure in rock and roll can only mean good things for music.
TROY CARPENTER | Troy Carpenter founded NATN from a Chicago apartment during the ambitious winter of 1998 with co-conspirators Ben French and Jonathan Cohen. After a five-year stint in New York, he and wife Lourdes have recently relocated to Indianapolis, where he spends days listening to music and nights in the kitchen at Elements restaurant. Musical heroes: Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Super Furry Animals. What else makes life worth living: Sushi, Phucty, runs in the park, and the Atlanta Braves.