LOOSE ENDS

It seems like the album editor glued pieces of tape as a jig-saw puzzle - and provided enough material, length-wise to be published as an album. It meets that requirement, if nothing else.

It's a tricky thing with posthumous albums: they're part of artist's official discography, but you can be almost certain the artist himself wouldn't do it that way. Compilations are another story; you can simply dismiss them as an attempt to gain extra money (although there are some good ones too).

Some tracks from 'Loose Ends' (see? I'm refusing to call them songs, because some of them are not complete songs) are taken from previously released material, some are rehearsals that end with a fade-out, some are instrumental versions of known-songs, there's a blues standard...

The blues standard is good old Willie Dixon's 'Hoochie Coochie Man' and it's decent, even if a bit sub-par in vocal delivery (Jim could had it better certainly). Jam 292 is exactly what it name suggests, Blue Suede Shoes is...wait. It's specific. Half of the songs is Jimi explaining to the drummer (Mitchell or Buddy Miles? tracks are a mixed bag with various musicians) how to play the song, insisting only on 'cymbal and snare' in an old fashioned-way. I have to admit Jimi's trademark guitar sound and approach doesn't feet well with such an approach. It ends with a fade-out, implying that a jam continued for who knows how long. That's the material we are dealing with here. It might be interesting to Hendrix fans who are interested in knowing how was Jimi working with his colleagues - it could be aimed at fans that are musicians, I guess. Poor Perkins. First a certain truck driver took his song and became famous, and then he experienced numerous butcherings of it. Including this one. I'm sure Jimi wouldn't like it to be published neither.

'The Stars That Play with Laughing Sam's Dice' is the same as the original. If there are some minor differences, I can't trace them. But I never understood this one to be frank, it seems like a quite noodling cacophony.

Everything else is quite forgettable, except for 'Burning Desire' that stands out of the crowd: I like this one a lot (was headbanging on it in my teens) - it's powerful, with grinding guitar, ascending in melody, tempo and energy, building up on blues-driven madness while Jimi shouts 'burning desire, all around electric chair'. Angular, unusual, and yet so distinctly marked with Jimi's signature. It's worth all the points for rating of this unsuccessful album ,the other one being 'Blue Suede Shoes', perhaps for its educational value, but certainly not for wider audience.

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