NINE TO THE UNIVERSE

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This album is some sort of semi-boot produced by Douglas almost a decade after Jimi's death. It is almost all instrumental (except some vocal lines during ''Message?'') and the result is rather convincing for some of the tracks featured. There are several versions of these jam sessions recorded in '69.

The official one which is represented here, is severely edited: almost half in length when compared to the original and full versions available on some boot releases. These cut- down versions are probably more digestible than the full-length ones. But I guess that the ones interested in such a work would have preferred to get the extended versions instead.

Who, apart from truly devoted fans, would be interested in such an album? I guess nobody! So, these cuts were too damaging IMO. Of course, the full-length tracks do clock at almost seventy minutes which would have led to a double album at the time of release. A bit too much, I guess?

The sound is pretty decent and the quality of the musicians is excellent (most of them being Mitchell, Cox and Miles; but not only). To be honest, I don't listen a lot to this record. It is more a curiosity than anything else. There is also a second volume circulating with an ultra-long jam (almost half an hour) with Mc Laughlin.

I particularly like ''Jimi/Jimmy Jam''. If you like what is available at Woodstock under the name of ''Woodstock Improvisation - Villanova Junction'', you should definitely discover this track. Lots of cues and sounds are almost identical during the first part and since I have always loved these tracks from the fantastic Woodstock set, I can only be charmed here. Even if during the sixteen minutes of the full track, there are some lesser interesting passages.

The next track is also interesting in the sense that a huge role is being held by Larry Young on the Hammond organ. At times this piece do sound as a ''Santana'' one in which Young would hold Gregg's role while the two guitar geniuses would have switched theirs. This is the finest moment of this album IMO.

Due to the essence of this record (jams), I could hardly rate it with more than two stars. The last two tracks are quite difficult to enter into, I must say.

For devoted fans.