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Valleys of Neptune is the posthumous, eleventh studio album by American psychedelic rock musician Jimi Hendrix. Released in the United States on March 9, 2010, the album boasts "12 previously unreleased studio recordings,"[1] including the title track, "one of the most sought after of all of Hendrix's commercially unavailable recordings."[1] The tracks on Valleys of Neptune were largely self-produced by Hendrix, and received extra posthumous production from Janie Hendrix, Eddie Kramer and John McDermott for Experience Hendrix, L.L.C.[2] Recorded mostly in 1969 following the release of Electric Ladyland, the album predominantly features the original lineup of The Jimi Hendrix Experience: vocalist and guitarist Hendrix, bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell.[2] The lead single released from the album was "Valleys of Neptune", on February 1, 2010, followed by "Bleeding Heart" on March 1;[3]music videos were produced for both songs.
Background
The majority of the tracks featured on Valleys of Neptune were recorded in early 1969, while Hendrix was experimenting with songs for his unfinished fourth album, following the successful release of Electric Ladyland in September 1968. Numerous versions have been released, both officially and otherwise, and the majority of the 'previously unreleased' recordings present on the 2010 album have been released in one form or another before, albeit sometimes in inferior quality or different versions.
Writing for music website MusicRadar.com, critic Joe Bosso compiled a track-by-track review of Valleys of Neptune, an album in the whole that he described as "one of the best albums of 2010".[7] Ludovic Hunter-Tilney in the Financial Times was equally positive, awarding the album a four-star (of a maximum five) rating and describing it as "a cut above the many posthumous cash-ins released in [Hendrix's] name."[8] Ann Powers in the Los Angeles Times awarded the album "Two and a half stars (Out of four)", summarising her review by saying: "Fans will be fascinated by these bluesy riffs with the Experience, but this album of unreleased material from the archives doesn't convey much that was unknown."[9]
All recording details are included in the Valleys of Neptune booklet,[2] except for the Target tracks, which are listed on the inside of the Digipack behind the CD.
The album artwork is based on a painting by Hendrix himself in 1957. "He went through a phase doing watercolors at school and this was one of the 110 drawings of his that our father kept. When I saw this one he did in 1957, it screamed 'Valleys of Neptune' to me so we knew we'd use it for this project," said his step-sister, Janie. The album artwork is a mix of his painting and a Linda McCartney photograph of him with a blue tint.[23]
