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First Rays of the New Rising Sun Review"In 1994, Hendrix's own handwritten track selection for First Ray surfaced and was reprinted in the french magazine Folk & Rock (November 1994). Surprisingly it was never used when attempts were made to complete the unfinished project in the years that followed. Hendrix only completed a song list for three sides of the double LP, and wasn't sure where to place the track "Night Bird Flying". With a darker-colored pen, he seemed to indicate that it should be the second song on side A. Hendrix's track selection for First Ray of the New Rising Sun was:Side A: Dolly Dagger, Night Bird Flying, Room Full of Mirrors, Belly Button Window, Freedom.
Side B: Easy Rider, Astro Man, Drifting, Straight Ahead.
Side C: Drifter's Escape, Comin' Down Hard On Me, Beginnings, Cherokee Mist, Angel."
The above and any other quotes in this post are taken from the book, "Black Gold the Lost Archives of Jimi Hendrix" by Steven Roby.
The album is refered to above as First Ray instead of First Rays because Jimi at first was going to call it First Ray of the New Rising Sun. Another quote from Black Gold:
"Billy Cox worked on the unfinished album, and recalled the time when Hendrix asked him about the correct wording: "He asked me, 'Is it the first ray, or the rays?' I said, 'I don't know. He said, 'What do you see when you get up in the morning? When you look over the horizon do you see one ray or rays?' I said, 'I'd have to check that out.'
Hendrix would seem to have had a cover for the album in mind too...another quote:
"There is also evidence that Hendrix may have had a cover in mind for the release. On September 17th, 1970, he sketched out various faces to form the shape of a cross, with his own face in the middle. The right arm of the cross had faces of white people, including J.F.K. and Hitler and two women and a baby. On the left arm of the cross was Martin Luther King, Jr., a black woman with a crown, an African woman, and a baby. On the bottom shaft, Crazy Horse, Geronimo, Cochise, two women and a baby represented Native Americans. Above Hendrix's head, the top shaft of the cross showed Buddha, Genghis Khan, a Japanese woman, and a Chinese baby, representing the Asian Peoples."
I like this CD and gave it 4/5 stars. But knowing that there are existing track listings by Hendrix out there I tend to wish they had tried to stay closer to the song orders he had chosen (Of course Jimi might have made many changes to those song orders before the album was completed).
Since these days most people can make their own CDs I would probably arrange a version (for my own listening pleasure) to look something like this:
Dolly Dagger
Night Bird Flying
Room Full of Mirrors
Belly Button Window
Freedom
Easy Rider
Astro Man
Drifting
Straight Ahead
Drifter's Escape (Can be found on the CD South Saturn Delta)
Comin' Down Hard On Me (Can be found on the Hendrix box set)
Beginnings
Here He Comes (Lover Man) (Can be found on South Saturn Delta)
Angel
Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)
Stepping Stone
Izabella
Earth Blues
In From The Storm
Approximate CD time = 79 minutes
Since the only version of Cherokee Mist I have heard is on the Box Set and has simliar patterns to that of In From The Storm I left it off. I left off My Friend since it was a leftover track from 1968. For those who are into having an instrumental open the album there is a spacey guitar instrumental called The New Rising Sun on the now deleted Hendrix CD compilation Voodoo Soup...I just wasn't sure how to fit it in due to space limitations. Pali Gap is also a track that could have been on the album as it was recorded during the same time period. Of course everyone's version of this album would probably be different (including Jimi's).
I could go on and on about this but I guess the bottom line is I like the music on this album very much I just wish it could have somehow stayed closer to Jimi's vision...First Rays of the New Rising Sun OverviewJapanese reissue of the guitar legend's 1997 album, packaged in a limited edition gatefold sleeve for the first pressing . 2000 release.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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