Cd Review: Jimi Hendrix: WEST COAST SEATTLE BOY: THE JIMI HENDRIX ANTHOLOGY

Jimi Hendrix is back! Well, sort of. A brand new Hendrix family authorized collection of songs entitled WEST COAST SEATTLE BOY: THE JIMI HENDRIX ANTHOLOGY has just hit the stores. And let me be the first to tell you, it's great. It includes 15 previously unreleased recordings and alternate recordings. You have to wonder why this album took so long. There's more a few very good Hendrix songs here.

Jimi Hendrix was always a legendary guitar superman, and this great collection of songs only gives more evidence of this fact. Oh, for sure some of the material sounds a little bit like cutting room floor stuff. But, heck, Hendrix died way too soon back in 1970, and these rare unissued tracks are as close as we're going to come to any actual new Jimi Hendrix material. It's more than worthwhile for that fact.

If these 15 carefully selected tracks aren't enough for you, a larger 4 disc box set is also available as well. True Hendrix fans will really want that. But this single disc is a good enough item for any casual fan to give a spin that wants to hear more Jimi Hendrix.

The four disc set starts with some 1964 material recorded with the Isley Brothers with Hendrix on guitar, and ends with some rare moments of Hendrix playing alone in his Greenwich Village Apartment in 1970. It also includes a DVD as well. It's one heck of a great package.

For years, the release of this material was held up by legal wrangling between the Hendrix family and some record companies which also claimed to be owners of the rights to the material. Finally, the Hendrix family prevailed, and the material has finally seen the light of day.

The Bottom Line: A very good new release compilation of previously unheard Jimi Hendrix material, although fans of bootleg Cds might recognize more than a few of the performances here, although the sound quality is markedly better than those inferior underground releases. +++(Thres Stars Good. Hey it's Jimi Hendrix, here!)