WAR HEROES

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After ''The Cry Of Love'' and the soundtrack ''Rainbow Bridge'', this is the third album published after Jimi's dead.

This work is not essential but it is not bad either. Some tracks are quite good actually and fully deserved to be released. At least it is MVHHO (my very humble and honest opinion).

Both openers ''Bleeding Heart'' and even more the great ''Highway Chile'' definitely belong to the genuine Hendrix discography. The tracks are short, the riffs are infectious (especially during ''Highway Chile'' which is the highlight of this album).

It is of course a difficult work to apprehend from a prog prospective (but so is his entire catalogue, right?). This sort of albums can only be of interest to die-hard fans of the Master. But I wouldn't rate this as a one or two stars album. Just because it holds very good musical moments.

Like the fine and rather hectic instrumental ''Tax Free''. Some sort of wild jam performed with high skills. At least, I receive it this way, but I'm sometimes biased in terms of Hendrix music.

Not all tracks are jewels of course: the quite disputable ''Peter Gunn/Catastrophe'' holds it all in its title. It is the only track which hasn't been compiled on other albums. One immediately knows why.

Press next to discover the vigorous ''Stepping Stone''. A delight for those who have an inclination for Hendrix magic guitar play. I am one of those. It is a very wild track, that goes into lots of directions: some might call it loose but remember that several tracks were unfinished, so.

There is one track written by Noel Redding (''Midnight'') which is a fine rock instrumental (on the heavy edge to be honest) and another one composed by Mitch Mitchell, the other ''Experience'' guy. It is another excellent instrumental track. Full of passion and wildness. The classic ''Izabella'' has to be remembered as well, although I far much prefer the live renditions of this song. The choirs are particularly painful to be honest.

Most of the songs featured on this album are available on later recordings (''First Rays Of The New Rising Sun'' and ''South Saturn Delta''). Both of these albums can be considered as compilations, but not this one IMO. But I'll discuss this sometime on the forum.

Another uninteresting track is the reggae-ish ''Little Bears''. Although it sounds fresh musically, and Jimi seems to have fun here, it is not my cup of tea, especially during some childish passages.

This is globally a good album for Hendrix fans. If you are a casual one only, you should stick to ''Are You Experienced'' in terms of studio album and to ''Live at the Fillmore East'' or even better ''Live at Woodstock'' in terms of live recordings.

Still, three stars.

Last album that most expert consider valid, exploiting recorded material finished in an acceptable manner that Jimi would've (maybe) released. These tapes were found at the Electric Lady studio, and even feature three tracks with Noel Redding on bass, the rest being handled by either Jimi or Billy Cox.

What to say of the music, except that we are in a typical Hendrix mode and sonically, this is much wilder than Cry Of Love, but also much less refined and sometimes the rawness is chilling my spine. Indeed guitar bonanza tracks like Midnight or Tax Free are almost blues- derived jams that soar, with some great drumming, pedestrian bass and searing guitar histrionics. Exactly the type of track that inspired Italy's Garibaldy or Germany's Guru Guru in their early days. Beginnings is somewhere between the jam and the song and might be the most interesting for progheads with its tempo changes. At other times, some tracks are song format such as the almost-finished Bleeding Heart or Highway Chile or the work-in-progress cute 3 Little Bears or Izabella. And then there is the useless but aptly-titled Peter Gunn "Catastrophe" obviously included as a filler, just like that unjustified Stepping Stone version.

As I said above, if you care for Hendrix's career, but don't want to do with exploiting products, War Heroes is (with some rare exceptions) the last album chronologically that you should venture in. In this regard, avoid the next two, Crash Landing and Midnight Lamp, where a producer erased the bass and drums to record them anew. So three starsd is well paid for such an album. All I can say from those three legit posthumous releases is that I see no evidence that Jimi was to start in a jazz or funk mode. WH, CoL and RB are well in the line of Electric Ladyland.

I actually like this album a lot. Most of it is studio jamming. Some of it sounds like complete songs. But on all of it, Jimi Hendrix was in excellent form on his guitar. Some of it (as in Peter Gunn, where the jam falls apart, and the band then breaks into Catastrophe, and 3 Little Bears ) gets a little silly, but these are studio leftovers, so some lapses are expected.

Especially impressive is Beginning, a somewhat proggy piece with shifting motifs, with Jimi deftly switching between rhythm and lead lines without missing a beat. So it's not the most polished Hendix album, but I like to hear his guitar in the raw.

Three stars.