Jimi

Valleys of Neptune--Jimi Hendrix--Not sure if there's a need for another Jimi Hendrix release--he kissed the sky 40 years back--but if there's going to be one, Valleys of Neptune is most worthy. A project of Janie Hendrix, Jimi's stepsister, and Experience Hendrix, Valleys of Neptune consists of recordings mostly made a year or so before his death in 1970, a time rock 'n' roll was becoming rock--the post-Sgt. Pepper era, when solos got long and guitarists became gods. Valleys of Neptune, for those who are more mainstream listeners, has alternative takes on familiar Hendrix work, such as "Stone Free" and "Red House" and a reading of Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love." But it's the groove, the feel that make this release special and remind all who care that this is where a lot of the jam bands, or more closely, stoner rock groups such as Kyuss, Fu Manchu and Monster Magnet or, to an extent, Queens of the Stone Age, got their mojo.  The world has changed plenty since Jimi left us, but his music, forever frozen in the late 1960s, sounds like he could have recorded it yesterday.