Written By Braddon S. Williams

JIMI HENDRIX: RAINBOW BRIDGE

Rainbow Bridge by Jimi Hendrix was the second album released following his death in 1970.

It was compiled of odds and ends, some of which were intended for a double album he was working on before he passed away. This was actually the very first music I ever heard of Jimi.

I bought it out of a bargain bin along with Muswell Hillbillies by the Kinks.

I paid $1.99 for the Kinks album and got Rainbow Bridge for a penny. Pretty good haul for 2 dollars, even back in the day!

I will never forget dropping the needle onto the vinyl and

hearing the opening track, Dolly Dagger, for the first time.

Absolutely mind blowing…Hendrix was preparing to enter the new decade with a hard rocking funk edge to his playing and the groove on that song is totally SICK! It still ranks as one of my all time favorite songs by the master of the Stratocaster.

Other monumental songs included an epic 11 minute live version of Hear My Train A Comin’, a multi-tracked studio version of The Star Spangled Banner, a couple of songs recorded with Band Of Gypsys (Earth Blues and Room Full Of Mirrors), plus a completely sublime instrumental track called Pali Gap, in which Jimi weaved two tracks of himself playing lead that intertwine throughout the song.

The final song on the album was obviously a work in progress, but Hendrix’s rough cuts were better than most people’s finished products.

This one was called Hey Baby (New Rising Sun).

Needless to say, that was the best penny I ever spent, because it was my introduction to one of my biggest musical inspirations of all time.