| First posted 3/5/2013; last updated 10/15/2020. |
Posthumous Albums: 1970-2018 |
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A Brief History: Jimi Hendrix was born on November 27, 1942 in Seattle, Washington. Despite his death at age 27 on September 18, 1970, he became one of the most influential rock guitarists in history. This page celebrates a selection of album’s released after his death. Posthumous Albums:
The above posthumous albums are spotlighted on this page. All the tracks appearing on these albums have been listed below chronologically below by the dates of their recordings. Which albums the songs appear on are noted with the codes above. When relevant, the date the song was released as a single and its peaks on various charts. Click for codes to singles charts. Tracks by Recording Dates, 1967-1968:
Tracks by Recording Dates, February – April 1969:
Tracks by Recording Dates, May – December 1969:
Tracks by Recording Dates, January – July 1970:
Tracks by Recording Dates, August 1970:
* original version on 1997 CD version of Are You Experienced?
The Michael Jeffery Era (1970-1974): “This first era produced music that was sanctioned by Al Hendrix as the heir to Jimi's estate and created by the same personnel that Hendrix was working with at the time of his death: drummer Mitch Mitchell, engineer Eddie Kramer, and manager Michael Jeffery.” WK |
The Cry of LoveJimi Hendrix |
Rating: 3.759 out of 5.00 |
Recorded: 3/13/68 to 8/24/70 Charted: March 6, 1971 Peak: 8 US, 2 UK, -- CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, -- UK, 1.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock Tracks: (1) Freedom (2) Drifting (3) Ezy Ryder (4) Night Bird Flying (5) My Friend (6) Straight Ahead (7) Astro Man (8) Angel (9) In from the Storm (10) Belly Button Window Total Running Time: 39:48 |
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“When Jimi died in 1970, he left behind a lot of unfinished material for his next record; ment to be called The Cry Of Love or The Rising Sun. Actually, he had been putting aside tapes of what he has the most satisfied with for the past years, to this album.” AK
After his death, Eddie Kramer and Mitch Mitchell sat down to organize his library of halfly finished tapes, and arrange them into an album. Mitch played a whole lot of things again, and added new stuff where something was missing. The state of the songs ranged from Night Bird Flyingand Freedom, which was almost finished, to Angel and Drifting, that was missing serious amouts of work. After five months, the record was ready for release. In 1997, it was re-released under the name The First Rays Of The New Rising Sun, with seven bonus tracks.” AK Also check out the DMDB page for this album.
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Rainbow BridgeJimi Hendrix |
Rating: 3.726 out of 5.00 |
Recorded: 3/18/69 to 8/24/70 Charted: October 9, 1971 Peak: 15 US, 16 UK, -- CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): 0.5 US, -- UK, 0.5 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock Tracks: (1) Dolly Dagger (2) Earth Blues (3) Pali Gap (4) Room Full of Mirrors (5) The Star Spangled Banner (6) Look Over Yonder (7) Hear My Train a Comin’ (live) (8) Hey Baby (New Rising Sun) Total Running Time: 42:22 |
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“Slapped together to fulfill a Mike Jeffreys contract after the tapes to the real Rainbow Bridge concert were stolen, this collects a few excellent tracks (Dolly Dagger, Hey Baby) with trivial outtakes (a curiously tame Star Spangled Banner)” WA and the live “10-minute electric version of Hear My Train A-Comin’, which saw the song transformed almost beyond recognition; like ‘Machine Gun,’ it showcased the classic elements of the Hendrix electric sound and featured some of his most inspired improvisation.” WK Overall, though, the “strong material is on New Rising Sun and [South Saturn Delta].” WA
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War HeroesJimi Hendrix |
Rating: 3.644 out of 5.00 |
Recorded: 1/28/68 to 8/22/70 Released: December 9, 1972 Peak: 48 US, 23 UK, -- CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock Tracks: (1) Bleeding Heart (2) Highway Chile (3) Tax Free (4) Peter Gunn Catastrophe (5) Stepping Stone (6) Midnight (7) Three Little Bears (8) Beginning (9) Izabella Total Running Time: 35:20 |
| “Just a couple of new release-quality tracks (Izabella) plus B-sides (Highway Chile) and throwaways (Three Little Bears).” WA “This one would be worth owning if the two new Hendrix estate releases hadn't made it irrelevant.” WA |
Loose EndsJimi Hendrix |
Rating: 3.643 out of 5.00 |
Recorded: 7/19/67 to 6/17/70 Released: February 1974 Peak: -- US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock Tracks: (1) Coming Down Hard on Me (2) Blue Suede Shoes (3) Jam 292 (4) The Stars That Play with Laughing Sam’s Dice (5) Drifter’s Escape (6) Burning Desire (7) I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man (8) Have You Ever Been to Electric Ladyland? Total Running Time: 35:09 |
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“Scraping the bottom of the barrel, with trivial jams (Jam 292, Peter Gunn Theme) and an endless live-in-the-studio take on Burning Desire.” WA
The Alan Douglas Era (1975-1996): This “era is defined by the period of control held by producer Alan Douglas…Douglas reconstructed selections of studio material by hiring session players to overdub portions that were incomplete. The resulting LPs, Crash Landing and Midnight Lightning, contain several important tracks but are generally considered to be of substandard quality. Intending to ‘refresh’ Hendrix's sound with the funk driven grooves of the era, they achieved only marginally successful sales, and the use of replacement musicians (including lead guitar work) was viewed by fans as sacrilege.” WK |
Crash LandingJimi Hendrix |
Rating: 3.644 out of 5.00 |
Recorded: 3/13/68 to 11/12/69 Charted: March 22, 1975 Peak: 5 US, 35 UK, -- CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): 0.5 US, -- UK, 0.5 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock Tracks: (1) Message to Love (aka “Message to the Universe”) (2) Somewhere Over the Rainbow (3) Crash Landing (4) Come Down Hard on Me (5) Peace in Mississippi (6) With the Power (aka “Power of Soul”) (7). Stone Free Again (8) Captain Coconut (early version of “New Rising Sun”) Total Running Time: 29:34 |
| “The first really vile plundering of the vaults, with guitar and sideman tracks scrubbed to make room for session musicians (principally Jeff Mironov, guitar; Alan Schwartzberg, drums; and Bob Babbitt, bass). There was such a preponderance of clueless white people involved with the project that no one could figure what a track labeled ‘MLK’ stood for, so they retitled it Captain Coconut.” WA |
Midnight LightningJimi Hendrix |
Rating: 3.722 out of 5.00 |
Recorded: 3/18/69 to 3/23/70 Charted: November 29, 1975 Peak: 43 US, 46 UK, -- CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock Tracks: (1) Trash Man (2) Midnight Lightning (3) Hear My Train a Comin’ (4) Gypsy Boy (New Rising Sun) (5) Blue Suede Shoes (6) Machine Gun (7) Once I Had a Woman (8) Beginnings Total Running Time: 35:58 |
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“Worse than Crash Landing, with Hey Baby, Hear My Train, the title track and other unfinished tunes given the Douglas session cat treatment.” WA
The Experience Hendrix Era (1997-present): In 1995, Jimi’s father Al Hendrix regained the rights to his son’s music. The three original Experience albums were remastered for new CD releases and, in 1997, a pair of compilations were issued. Also notable during this era was a box set, expanded reissues of previous live releases, and the development of Dagger Records, through which “official” bootlegs were released. |
First Rays of the New Rising SunJimi Hendrix |
Rating: 4.118 out of 5.00 |
Recorded: 3/13/68 to 8/24/70 Released: April 22, 1997 Peak: 49 US, 37 UK, -- CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock Tracks: 1. Freedom 2. Izabella 3. Night Bird Flying 4. Angel 5. Room Full of Mirrors 6. Dolly Dagger 7. Ezy Ryder 8. Drifting 9. Beginnings 10. Stepping Stone 11. My Friend 12. Straight Ahead 13. Hey Baby (New Rising Sun) 14. Earth Blues 15. Astro Man 16. In from the Storm 17. Belly Button Window Total Running Time: 69:27 |
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This is as close as you can get to an essential “fourth” studio album from Hendrix. “Having finally wrested control of Hendrix's estate from the vile Alan Douglas, Hendrix's family made a genuine effort to reconstruct Hendrix's final project. It ends up including all of Cry of Love, plus seven tracks that had been the high points of the two cash-in albums that followed (1971's Rainbow Bridge and 1972's War Heroes). Even though all of these tracks had been released on assorted LPs a quarter-century earlier, the disc does bring together classics like the blazingly psychedelic Room Full of Mirrors and the thundering Dolly Dagger, and it also features only the original performances and mixes [as opposed to the Alan Douglas versions with added session musicians]…The solid track listing and respectful presentation make the collection nearly as essential as Hendrix's three classic studio albums.” WA
Also check out the DMDB page for this album.
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South Saturn DeltaJimi Hendrix |
Rating: 3.653 out of 5.00 |
Recorded: 7/19/67 to 7/1/70 Released: October 25, 1997 Peak: 51 US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock Tracks: (1) Look Over Yonder (2) Little Wing (3) Here He Comes (Lover Man) (4) South Saturn Delta (5) Power of Soul (6) Message to the Universe (Message to Love) (7) Tax Free (8) All Along the Watchtower (9) The Stars That Play with Laughing Sam’s Dice (10) Midnight (11) Sweet Angel (12) Bleeding Heart (13) Pali Gap (14) Drifter’s Escape (15) Midnight Lightning Total Running Time: 65:47 |
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“The second Hendrix family release, and again it consists mostly of previously available – though in many cases out of print - material. Generally speaking, this is the best of the material that wasn't seriously considered for release by Hendrix: abandoned tunes (the title track with a jazz horn section, Bleeding Heart); tossoff jams (Midnight, Pali Gap); demos (Sweet Angel, Little Wing). That said, it's very well put together, in several cases restoring material edited out or erased by the Douglas regime (Power of Soul), or returning to mixes Hendrix made before his death rather than posthumous mixes (Drifter's Escape). The biggest surprise on this set is a slow blues, unaccompanied version of Midnight Lightning that blows all the previously released versions away - for devotees, that one track alone makes this a valuable acquisition. Because the cuts featured here don't really reveal any previously unseen facets of Hendrix the composer, performer or producer, it's of interest only to fans, but it's roughly a hundred times better than the previous releases it makes irrelevant (War Heroes, Loose Ends, Crash Landing, Voodoo Slop). Finally somebody's doing the job right.” WA
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Valleys of NeptuneJimi Hendrix |
Rating: 3.539 out of 5.00 |
Recorded: 5/5/67 to 5/15/70 Released: March 9, 2010 Peak: 4 US, 21 UK, -- CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock Tracks: (1) Stone Free (2) Valleys of Neptune (3) Bleeding Heart (4) Hear My Train A-Comin’ (5) Mr. Bad Luck (6) Sunshine of Your Love (7) Lover Man (8) Ships Passing Through the Night (9) Fire (10) Red House (11) Lullaby for the Summer (12) Crying Blue Rain Total Running Time: 62:11 |
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“Valleys of Neptune, the first new Hendrix studio album released in more than a decade,” MM “assembles 12 previously unreleased recordings, which include long-sought-after studio originals, reworked arrangements of Hendrix classics, and studio versions of covers Hendrix often played in concert.” MM “The bulk of these tracks were recorded in early 1969” MM “in London and New York after the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s third and final studio album, Electric Ladyland.” JZ “In the 18 months leading up to his death in September 1970, Hendrix was in the midst of transition borne of confidence and success.” JZ “This record captures the final studio output of the original Experience lineup” MM of Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell and three tracks with “Billy Cox, Hendrix’s old army buddy who’d take up bass duties in Band of Gypsys later in the year.” JZ
Also check out the DMDB page for this album.
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People, Hell, and AngelsJimi Hendrix |
Rating: 3.750 out of 5.00 |
Recorded: 3/13/1968 to 12/19/1969 Released: March 5, 2013 Peak: 2 US, 30 UK, -- CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock Tracks: 1. Earth Blues 2. Somewhere 3. Hear My Train A-Comin’ 4. Bleeding Heart 5. Let Me Move You 6. Izabella 7. Easy Blues 8. Crash Landing 9. Inside Out 10. Gypsy Boy 11. Mojo Man 12. Villanova Junction Blues Total Running Time: 52:33 |
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This album captures Hendrix as he “was transitioning away from the mega-successful but limiting trio format of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, whose ending was documented on…Valleys of Neptune.” UT and toward “a new, fuller and funkier sound.” UT He tapped “musicians who could supply a broader array of sounds and rhythms, from chitlin' circuit R&B spice to Sly Stone-like psychedelic soul.” UT Among the players are Buddy Miles and Billy Cox (the future Band of Gypsys rhythm section) and “Stephen Stills playing funky bass lines on Somewhere; saxophonist/vocalist Lonnie Youngblood leading a nearly seven-minute wailing R&B workout on Let Me Move You; rhythm guitarist Larry Lee fattening the sound behind Hendrix's killer rock solo on Izabella; pianist James Booker lending a modern R&B spin to Mojo Man.” UT
“Electrified blues-rock is still at the heart of the music, exemplified by thrilling re-interpretations of Hendrix’s own Hear My Train a Comin’’ and Elmore James’ Bleeding Heart.” UT Still, “while the recordings…might very well be unreleased, …the songs themselves are nothing close to that.” AQ “Let Me Move You” seems to be a new cut and “Inside Out” is – sort of. It appears to actually be an early version of “Ezy Ryder.” AQ “An overall look…shows that very little is to actually be unveiled with the record…It feels like the tracklisting was organized as a grab-bag of cuts from the many Hendrix posthumous albums already out there.” AQ |
Both Sides of the SkyJimi Hendrix |
Rating: 3.683 out of 5.00 |
Recorded: 1/28/68 – 2/3/70 Released: March 9, 2018 Peak: 8 US, 8 UK, -- CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock Tracks: (1) Mannish Boy (2) Lover Man (3) Hear My Train A-Comin’ (4) Stepping Stone (5) $20 Fine (6) Power of Soul (7) Jungle (8) Things I Used to Do (9) Georgia Blues (10) Sweet Angel (11) Woodstock (12) Send My Love to Linda (13) Cherokee Mist Total Running Time: 65:32 |
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“Both Sides of the Sky presents 13 studio recordings including 10 which have never before been released. All but two of these studio recordings were made during a fertile period between January 1968 and 1970. Jimi's mastery and use of the studio as a proving ground for new songs resulted in a growing collection of extraordinary material. This album completes a trilogy of albums [with Valleys of Neptune and People, Hell & Angels] presenting the best and most significant unissued studio recordings remaining in the Hendrix archive. The songs include fascinating alternate versions of Stepping Stone, Lover Man and Hear My Train A-Comin’ as well as recordings where Jimi is joined by special guests Johnny Winter and Stephen Stills. Both Sides of the Sky was mixed by Eddie Kramer, the engineer for all of Hendrix’s albums throughout the guitarist’s lifetime, and produced by Janie Hendrix, Kramer and John McDermott.” AZ
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