CRASH LANDING

After the death of Michael Jeffery in a plane crash in France in 1973, dear Alan Douglas took over the role of ''restoring'' some unreleased studio songs from Jimi, some five years after his death.

It sounds as a work made beyond the grave but apparently it did appeal to lots of Hendrix fans, hence his chart position in the US. The process of deleting most of the original drumming and bass play and replace it by new studio parts is highly disputable but even five years after the death of the master, it was still a good marketing product (I can't call this effort in another way). There are even additional guitar sections played by studio professionals!

I don't know if the title track (''Crash Landing'') refers to the way the previous producer (Jeffery) died but this funky track is quite unbearable. Not that the opener ''Message To Love'' which was a live classic (Woodstock, Band Of Gypsys, Wight) sounds great in this studio version, but at least it is not such a mess as the title track.

One of the worst moment is the heavy ''Peace In Mississippi''. I bet you: there is no way to achieve peace while listening to this mess. A very, very noisy affair which even for my Hendrix favourable ears, is hard to digest and even if this version of ''Stone Free'' sounds somewhat funky, it is still one of the ''best'' track from this album.

As you might understand, this is not the best way to get acquainted with Hendrix's work. On the contrary: this album is best avoided and the only possible rating is one star.

A total and hard crash indeed.