Experience Hendrix - The Best of Jimi Hendrix

iTunes Review

Jimi Hendrix’s professional recording career lasted for little more than three years. Yet his output and influence in that short time was nothing shy of astonishing. He issued just three studio albums in his lifetime — a live set, Band of Gypsys, and Smash Hits, a collection featuring album tracks and several stray singles. But he was very close to finishing a fourth studio album upon his untimely death in September, 1970, and those highlights (“Freedom,” “Angel”) are featured here. His version of the “Star Spangled Banner” from the Woodstock festival displays his guitar-instrumental prowess, but Hendrix was also a stunning songwriter able to fuse blues, R&B, balladry, and pop into his own unique fusion, and he consistently handled pop singles of unprecedented tone and power: “Purple Haze,” “Foxey Lady,” “Crosstown Traffic,” and “Manic Depression” are tough psychedelic punk. “Hey Joe” and Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” are two brilliant, sensitive interpretations now forever stamped the property of Hendrix. For ballads, Hendrix couldn’t be touched, witness the gentle, touching and exquisite “The Wind Cries Mary,” “Castles Made of Sand,” and “Little Wing.” He was that rare artist who did everything well, and his every talent is on display right here.