Review Summary: Although it's the best representation of what Jimi was working on prior to his death (And a damn good one at that), it's still not without its faults.
I have a very bad tendency to latch onto weird music topics and brood over them for months at a time, trying to find my way through hazy questions that lack definitive answers. Most recently, I've been putting a lot of time and effort into making a "Best Of" playlist for all of Jimi Hendrix's posthumously released studio recordings, which is kind of a futile goal for two reasons: 1) A majority of the releases containing this music are just cash grabs with sub-par material and 2) This album pretty much serves that purpose.
First Rays of the New Rising Sun (Referred to as First Rays for the remainder of this review) was released in 1997, a few years after Experience Hendrix, a family estate helmed by Jimi's father and sister, acquired the rights to the guitar god's recordings (From about 1975 until 1995, producer Alan Douglas oversaw the release of unheard Jimi Hendrix recordings, although these compilations are generally looked down upon since he often added tasteless overdubs to the base tracks). This is Experience Hendrix's attempt to best reconstruct the album that Jimi was working on up to his death, and the estate went to large lengths to ensure that the final product was as close to what Jimi would have wanted it to be. Aside from consulting various notes that he wrote before he died, the estate enlisted the help of Jimi's two closest musical associates; Eddie Kramer and the late Mitch Mitchell (More on that later).
In terms of the general sound, First Rays is quite different from Jimi's previous studio outings because it finds him trading out his trademark brand of psychedelic rock for a much earthier mix of funk and R&B. Take the standout tracks "Izabella" or "Night Bird Flying" for example; Jimi simply finds an infectious groove and dominates it, making some of the best music of his short career as a result. Don't worry though, there's no shortage of powerful guitar solos on this album either; they're just presented in a new context. Although "Stepping Stone" isn't rooted in the blues that Jimi so famously built upon, it still contains a blistering funk workout that'll quench your thirst for some quality fingerpicking.
I think a lot of this change in direction comes from the addition of bassist Billy Cox to the band. Although he may not be as dynamic as Noel Redding, he definitely adds a gritty backbone to most of the music on here and his presence is a major benefit to the overall sound that Jimi was striving for. Additionally, Jimi's voice is better than ever and also stands out at the forefront of the mix (Which is ironic because by all accounts, Jimi hated the way he sang). This is most apparent on "Drifting"; the low-key instrumentation serves to compliment his bare, yet soothing voice before drifting off (No pun intended) into an ambient realm.
But nonetheless, the album still falters in a variety of ways. For example, Jimi intended First Rays to be a double album and understandably, there's enough material in First Rays for two LPs. Sadly though, there's a good chunk of filler that dominates the record as a result and honestly this is something that baffles me. After spending so much time going through all of the Experience Hendrix-authorized releases that came after this album, there's a decent selection of tunes that should have been on this project instead. The biggest example of this is that the version of "Earth Blues" on here is throwaway and there is a much superior alternate take on the Jimi Hendrix Experience box set that came out in 2000. There's also no reason that "My Friend", a folky, Dylanesque track that was recorded during the Electric Ladyland sessions, should be on this album because it doesn't fit the overall sound or time period.
Speaking of filler, there's a general unfinished quality that plagues a lot of the songs on here. Although Eddie Kramer and Mitch Mitchell did strip all of the overdubs made by Alan Douglas, they only made additional overdubs and that they had discussed with Jimi. The songs that are properly overdubbed and mixed are generally the cornerstones of the album, but the songs on the other end of the spectrum feel lackluster. "Beginnings" and "Belly Button Window" are both decent tracks, but they're still missing that special something that would've made them really stand out. I also find the mix of "Ezy Rider" on here to be pretty bad; Jimi's voice is really buried and the sound quality randomly fades in and out towards the end and it's shame because it's one of the most powerful songs on the album.
As a closing comment, I did end up making a "Best Of" playlist where I gutted about half of the tracks on First Rays and added in some full-sounding songs that I felt were pretty good. Even after I did this though, I didn't notice much of a difference between that playlist and First Rays because both are still missing that spark that only Jimi could have applied to the songs. Although it's the best representation of what Jimi was working on prior to his death (And a damn good one at that), it's still not without its faults. But, even if there's a few changes that could be made, it's pretty clear that the songs Experience Hendrix picked for the album are the ones that are worth listening to. The best you can do is flesh it all out for yourself and see which ones you enjoy.
