First Rays of the New Rising Sun

First Rays of the New Rising Sun
Studio album by Jimi Hendrix
Released	April 22, 1997
Recorded	March 13, 1968, November 17, 1969–August 26, 1970, October 19, 1970, November 20, 1970
Genre	Hard rock, psychedelic rock, blues-rock, funk rock
Length	69:25
Label	MCA
Producer	Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Kramer, Mitch Mitchell, John Jansen
Jimi Hendrix chronology
Voodoo Soup (1995) First Rays of the New Rising Sun (1997) Experience Hendrix: The Best of Jimi Hendrix (1997)

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First Rays of the New Rising Sun is a posthumous album containing previous released recordings by American rock musician Jimi Hendrix. Released in 1997, it is an attempt to recreate the album Hendrix was working on at the time of his death in 1970, as closely as is feasible to how he would have wanted it (based on recordings and notes he made during the last months of his life). After its release in 1997, the album reached #49 in the US and #37 in the UK.

It was originally projected as a double-LP with a presumed release date of late 1970 or early 1971. Hendrix went off to England in late August 1970 to play the Isle of Wight festival, followed by a brief European tour, but never returned. He asphyxiated after taking an overdose of sleeping pills in London on September 18, 1970 at the age of 27.

Hendrix's original plan for the album

The original plans for the album changed many times and were never finalized. Hendrix was looking towards releasing a double or even triple-LP. During mid-summer 1970, Hendrix even talked about releasing an additional LP of new songs that didn't fit the project, under the name People, Hell And Angels.

The last documented working name for the album was Strate Ahead [sic] (the title atop the last documented track list found in Hendrix's notes). The name of this release (First Rays of the New Rising Sun) is referenced in at least two songs intended for the album--"Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)" and "Izabella"--and in several onstage comments Hendrix made during live performances that were recorded at that time.

During recording sessions for the album, Hendrix had written a few conceptual track listings. The following track list written on a 3M tape box has no title and is not in Hendrix's handwriting:

Side A

1. Dolly Dagger
2. Night Bird Flying
3. Room Full Of Mirrors
4. Belly Button Window
5. Freedom

Side B

1. Ezy Rider
2. Astro Man
3. Drifting
4. Straight Ahead
5. Freedom

Side C

1. Night Bird Flying
2. (Drifter's Escape)
3. (Come Down On Me)
4. Beginnings [scored out]
5. Cherokee Mist [scored out]
6. (Angel)

Side D

This section was blank.

On the track listing above, "Freedom" is on both side A and B, and "Night Bird Flying" is on both side A and C. Also, on the handwritten track listing, two songs on side C have lines through them. It is noteworthy that Hendrix did not include many other songs which he had been working on during the summer of 1970, including "Izabella," "Lover Man," "Stepping Stone," "Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)," "Earth Blues," "In From The Storm," "Bleeding Heart," "Burning Desire," "Can I Whisper In Your Ear," "Hear My Train A'Comin'," "Midnight Lightning" and "Send My Love To Linda."

Other proposed track listings

The last track listing available is for an LP entitled Strate Ahead [sic], which is in Hendrix's handwriting. It is unknown what the crosses, ticks and dashes signify:

->Strate Ahead-> x [sic]

1. Ezy Ryder x
2. Room full of Mirrors x-
3. Earth Blues - Today ✓
4. Valleys of Neptune -
5. Have you heard* - ✓ *aka "Straight Ahead"
6. Cherokee Mist - instr.
7. Freedom x ✓
8. Steppin Stone ✓
9. IZABella ✓
10. Astroman x -
    • Page 2/3
11. Drifters Escape
12. Angel
13. Burning Desire
14. Nightbird Flying
15. Electric Lady - Slow.
16. Getting My Heart Back Together Again
17. Lover Man
18. Midnight Lightning
19. Can I Whisper In Your Ear - slow
20. Sending My Love - slow to medium
21. This Little Boy
22. Locomotion
23. Dolly Dagger
24. The New Rising Sun (Hey Baby)

These lists include several new songs that were in the process of being created. Some can be heard now on various releases, in early stages of development; others are difficult to identify. It is unknown whether "Sending My Love" is the same song as "Sending My Love to Linda." The song "Burning Desire" only exists in live rehearsal/concert versions and nothing of "Locomotion" is known beyond a couple of early lyric lines on a piece of paper. The identity of the song "Electric Lady-slow" is impossible to ascertain. "This Little Boy" appears to have no references and has disappeared without a trace. Most of the rest of the songs were almost finished when Hendrix died.

Initial releases

All but three of the songs on this album were released on the first two posthumous Hendrix albums, released seven months apart in 1971: The Cry of Love and Rainbow Bridge, both produced by Eddie Kramer and Mitch Mitchell. The remaining three songs were on the third posthumous LP (and last produced by Kramer), War Heroes.

Release of the original albums was complicated by Hendrix and Jeffery's contract to provide a soundtrack LP for the film Rainbow Bridge. Though misconstrued to be a live album of the famed concert atop the Haleakala Crater (but actually nowhere near the crater, it was held in pasture not far from Seabury Hall, just outside Makawao), it is, indeed, the original soundtrack to the film as all tracks, apart from the Berkeley performance of "Hear My Train A Comin'," appear in various scenes (although a version of this song was played in the film's soundtrack in the concert sequence). All other songs are new material from studio sessions. The three tracks used for War Heroes were replaced on Rainbow Bridge by "Look Over Yonder" (a leftover song from 1968 recording sessions), the live "Hear My Train A Comin'," and a multi-tracked instrumental "Pali Gap." A multi-tracked solo studio version of "The Star Spangled Banner" from 1969 was also added.

These tracks were an attempt to give the album more of a "live" feel, as the movie revolved around a small outdoor concert by Hendrix in Maui, Hawaii. "Hear My Train A Comin" was an alternate title for "Getting My Heart Back Together Again"; a studio version may have been part of Hendrix's plan for this album, though the cut on Rainbow Bridge is a live performance taken from the May 30, 1970 concert depicted in the movie Jimi Plays Berkeley.

Controversy over control of Hendrix's music

For many years after Jimi Hendrix's death, producer Alan Douglas controlled the release of the musician's remaining unreleased tracks. Many of Douglas' choices were controversial, such as his removal of the original backing musicians, replacing them with studio musicians who had never played with Hendrix, overdubbing guitar parts and adding female backing vocalists, reworking most of the songs and claiming co-composer credits on some.

In 1995, Douglas had produced an album of Hendrix's work titled Voodoo Soup. This collection covers much of the same material as First Rays of the New Rising Sun but leaves out several important tracks, replaced by songs that have no connection to the original project. In addition, its tracks were heavily edited. For example, some drum parts were removed and replaced with new overdubs by Bruce Gary (best known as drummer for pop-rock group The Knack), who had never played with Hendrix.

After a long legal struggle initiated by Al Hendrix and his adopted daughter Janie, they finally gained control of Jimi's recorded works in 1995 (under the name "Experience Hendrix LLC") and hired Eddie Kramer—-who had recorded most of Hendrix's music, including his last songs—-to put these tracks back together on one album, where previously they had been separated onto three.

Reconstructing the album

The tracks for this album ranged from finished to skeletal at the time of Hendrix's death. Much of the material had been recorded over the summer of 1970 at Jimi's just-completed Electric Lady Studios in New York City. Many songs seemed to be missing just their finishing touches, but Hendrix was a perfectionist who had already spent two years developing this album, making it hard to be sure. Mitchell and Kramer have claimed that only the changes that had been discussed with Hendrix have been made for the unfinished tracks.

Recording engineer Eddie Kramer used the same tracks with the same posthumous overdubs, production and mixing that he and Mitch Mitchell had applied on the "Cry of Love", "Rainbow Bridge" and "War Heroes" albums (apart from the removal of the drum beats at the beginning of "Easy Rider"). For First Rays of the New Rising Sun Kramer remastered and resequenced these tracks.

Many songs only needed a final mix, which was made posthumously. However, "Belly Button Window" was possibly intended to have more overdubs. Both "Beginnings" and "Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)" are in early stages of production, featuring basic tracks which might ultimately have been re-recorded. (In the latter song, Hendrix can be heard asking "Is the microphone on?") Some tracks, such as "Straight Ahead", feature a preliminary vocal track that Hendrix had intended to re-record. A vibraphone track was added to "Drifting" like Hendrix had planned - though he also had an idea of using another guitar track instead of vibraphones.

Other songs planned for the album were left out of this compilation as simply too raw, including "Come Down Hard On Me" and "Cherokee Mist" (both released on 2000's four-CD The Jimi Hendrix Experience), "Drifter's Escape" (later found on the 1997 compilation South Saturn Delta) and "Valleys of Neptune" (released on the 2010 album Valleys of Neptune). "Can I Whisper In Your Ear" is in too early a stage of development to be considered for a mainstream release.

The song "My Friend", is an exception. It was recorded much earlier than the rest of the material (during Electric Ladyland sessions in 1968), and some people have raised doubts as to whether Hendrix had ever intended to include it. "Ezy Ryder" was not used in the similarly named movie Easy Rider but was inspired by Hendrix's viewing of it.

Track listing

All songs were written by Jimi Hendrix

1. "Freedom" – 3:27
2. "Izabella" – 2:50
3. "Night Bird Flying" – 3:50
4. "Angel" – 4:22
5. "Room Full of Mirrors" – 3:20
6. "Dolly Dagger" – 4:44
7. "Ezy Ryder" – 4:09
8. "Drifting" – 3:48
9. "Beginnings" – 4:13
10. "Stepping Stone" – 4:12
11. "My Friend" – 4:36
12. "Straight Ahead" – 4:42
13. "Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)" – 6:04
14. "Earth Blues" – 4:21
15. "Astro Man" – 3:34
16. "In From the Storm" – 3:41
17. "Belly Button Window" – 3:36

Note: "Straight Ahead" used the music from the earlier "Pass It On" but had completely new lyrics.

Recording details

• Track 1 recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, New York on Jun. 25, Jul. 14 and 19, Aug. 14 and 20, 1970
• Track 2 recorded at Record Plant in New York City, New York on Jan. 17, 1970; overdubs were recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, New York in June 1970
• Track 3 recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, New York on Jun. 16, Jul. 19 and Aug. 22, 1970
• Track 4 recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, New York on Jul. 23, 1970
• Track 5 recorded at Record Plant in New York City, New York on Nov. 17, 1969; overdubs were recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, New York in June, July, and on Aug. 20, 1970
• Track 6 recorded at at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, New York on Jul. 1, 15, 19, and 20, 1970 and Aug. 14, 18, 20 and 24, 1970
• Track 7 recorded at Record Plant in New York City, New York on Dec. 18, 1969 and Jan. 20, 1970; overdubs were recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, New York on Jun. 15 and 18, Jul. 2 and Aug. 22, 1970
• Track 8 recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, New York on Jun. 25 and 29, Jul. 23 and Aug. 20, 1970
• Track 9 recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, New York on Jul. 1 and Aug. 22, 1970
• Track 10 recorded at Record Plant in New York City, New York on Jan. 7, 17 and 20, 1970; overdubs were recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, New York on Jun. 26, 1970
• Track 11 recorded at Sound Center in New York City, New York on Mar. 13, 1968
• Track 12 recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, New York on Jun. 17, Jul. 19 and Aug. 20, 1970
• Track 13 recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, New York on Jul. 1, 1970
• Track 14 recorded at Record Plant in New York City, New York on Dec. 19, 1969; overdubs were recorded at Record Plant in New York City, New York on Jan. 20, 1970 and at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, New York on Jun. 26, 1970
• Track 15 recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, New York on Jun. 25, Jul. 19 and Aug. 22, 1970
• Track 16 recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, New York on Jul. 22 and Aug. 20 and 24, 1970
• Track 17 recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, New York on Aug. 22, 1970

Personnel

• Jimi Hendrix – guitar, lead vocals, backing vocals, bass, piano, producer, mixing
• Billy Cox – bass, backing vocals
• Mitch Mitchell – drums, producer, mixing
• Juma Sultan – percussion

• Buddy Miles – drums (on tracks 5 & 7 ), backing vocals
• Albert Allen (The Ghetto Fighters) – backing vocals on "Freedom"
• Arthur Allen (The Ghetto Fighters) – backing vocals on "Freedom"
• Billy Armstrong – percussion on "Ezy Rider"
• Buzzy Linhart – vibraphone on "Drifting"
• Emmeretta Marks – backing vocals
• The Ronettes – backing vocals
• Steve Winwood (Traffic)– backing vocals on "Ezy Rider"
• Chris Wood (Traffic) – backing vocals on "Ezy Rider"
• Ken Pine (The Fugs) – 12 string guitar on "My Friend"
• Stephen Stills – piano on "My Friend"
• Paul Caruso – harmonica on "My Friend"
• Jimmy Mayes – drums on "My Friend"

• Eddie Kramer – producer, engineer, mixing, photography, remastering
• Tony Bongiovi – engineer
• Jack Adams – engineer
• Bob Cotts – engineer
• Bob Hughes – engineer
• John Jansen – engineer

• John McDermott – liner notes, remastering supervisor