Jimi Hendrix - West Coast Seattle Boy

 Jimi Hendrix - West Coast Seattle Boy - The Jimi Hendrix Anthology - 2010

By Will Hermes - Rolling Stones Reviews

For Jimi Hendrix fanatics, the selling point of this four-disc set is a full CD of songs on which the guitarist doesn't sing lead and barely solos. Instead, he plays sideman to Little Richard, Don Covay and others on 15 R&B smokers. The tracks offer glimpses of a prodigy straining at the bit: The hot-shit solo on the Isley Brothers' 1964 "Testify," all of 10 seconds long, is like an early Marlon Brando screen test, coiled drama springing to life; the reverb-soaked, Curtis Mayfield-style licks on the Icemen's sublime 1966 "(My Girl) She's a Fox" offer a taste of the exploded- soul magic Hendrix cooked up later on "Castles Made of Sand."

The remaining three CDs parse Hendrix's subsequent career chronologically but strictly through alternate takes, demos and live tracks, drawn from the seemingly bottomless vault of recordings that shadow the three studio LPs and one live set released during his lifetime. The material splits the difference between sheer greatness (a gorgeously psychedelic instrumental take of "Are You Experienced?") and novelties like a ragged but deep cover of the Bob Dylan/Band classic "Tears of Rage," the highlight of six intimate tracks recorded in a hotel room in 1968 with singer/harmonica player Paul Caruso. There's also a wonderful, illuminating new DVD documentary narrated in Hendrix's own words — drawn from letters and interviews — by kindred spirit Bootsy Collins (the bit about eating a picnic lunch while watching race riots in Nashville, where Hendrix got his career started, is grimly hilarious). To be sure, this box is for the fans. But even when the tracks don't shed new light, they still burn as bright as the sun.

CD 1
01. The Isley Brothers: Testify - Jimi Hendrix
02. Don Covay: Mercy, Mercy - Jimi Hendrix
03. Don Covay: Can t Stay Away - Jimi Hendrix
04. Rosa Lee Brooks: My Diary - Jimi Hendrix
05. Rosa Lee Brooks: Utee - Jimi Hendrix
06. Little Richard: I Don t Know What You Got But It s Got Me - Jimi Hendrix
07. Little Richard: Dancing All Around The World - Jimi Hendrix
08. Frank Howard & The Commanders: I m So Glad - Jimi Hendrix
09. The Isley Brothers: Move Over And Let Me Dance - Jimi Hendrix
10. The Isley Brothers: Have You Ever Been Disappointed - Jimi Hendrix
11. Ray Sharpe: Help Me (Get The Feeling) Part One - Jimi Hendrix
12. The Icemen: (My Girl) She s A Fox - Jimi Hendrix
13. Jimmy Norman: That Little Old Groove Maker - Jimi Hendrix
14. Billy Lamont: Sweet Thang - Jimi Hendrix
15. King Curtis: Instant Groove - Jimi Hendrix

CD 2
01. Fire (previously unreleased alternate recording)
02. Are You Experienced? (previously unreleased recording)
03. May This Be Love (previously unreleased alternate recording)
04. Can You See Me (previously unreleased alternate recording)
05. The Wind Cries Mary
06. Love Or Confusion (previously unreleased alternate recording)
07. Little One (previously unreleased recording)
08. Mr. Bad Luck (previously unreleased alternate recording)
09. Cat Talking To Me (previously unreleased alternate recording)
10. Castles Made Of Sand (previously unreleased recording)
11. Tears Of Rage (previously unreleased recording)
12. Hear My Train A Comin (previously unreleased recording)
13. 1983 (A Merman I Shall Turn To Be) (previously unreleased recording)
14. Long Hot Summer Night (previously unreleased recording)
15. My Friend (previously unreleased recording)
16. Angel (previously unreleased recording)
17. Calling All The Devil s Children (previously unreleased alternate recording) - Jimi Hendrix
18. New Rising Sun ( previously unreleased alternate recording) - Jimi Hendrix

CD 3
01. Hear My Freedom (previously unreleased recording)
02. Room Full Of Mirrors (previously unreleased recording)
03. Shame, Shame, Shame (previously unreleased recording)
04. Messenger (previously unreleased recording)
05. Hound Dog Blues(previously unreleased recording)
06. Untitled Basic Track (previously unreleased recording)
07. Star Spangled Banner [LIVE] (previously unreleased original mix)
08. Purple Haze [LIVE] (previously unreleased original mix)
09. Young/Hendrix (previously unreleased alternate recording)
10. Mastermind (previously unreleased recording)
11. Message To Love (previously unreleased alternate recording)
12. Fire [LIVE] (previously unreleased recording)
13. Foxey Lady [LIVE] (previously unreleased recording)

CD 4
01. Stone Free [LIVE] (previously unreleased recording)02. Burning Desire (previously unreleased recording)
03. Lonely Avenue (previously unreleased recording)
04. Everlasting First (previously unreleased alternate recording)
05. Freedom (previously unreleased recording)
06. Peter Gunn/Catastrophe (previously unreleased alternate recording)
07. In From The Storm (previously unreleased alternate recording)
08. All God s Children (previously unreleased recording)
09. Red House [LIVE] (previously unreleased recording)
10. Play That Riff (previously unreleased recording)
11. Bolero (previously unreleased recording)
12. Hey Baby (New Rising Sun) (previously unreleased alternate recording)
13. Suddenly November Morning (previously unreleased recording)

+@320 CD 1
+@320 CD 2
+@320 CD 3
+@320 CD 4