Given Jimi Hendrix's stature as one of the all-time greatest rock guitarists, the release of any new, previously unreleased material from the 40-years-dead guitar god tends to be cause for celebration. And why the hell not? Much of his barrel-bottom scrapings have more soul in them than the master cuts of more skillful axe-wankers. If you're going to bliss out on wankery, there were few better practitioners of the art than Jimi Hendrix.
Concurrently, given that more vault material from Hendrix has seen the light of day than artist-authorized, finished recordings, its also cause for scrutiny.
Now, I'm not a serious Hendrix bootleg collector, so I cant speak for the true rarity status of any of the material comprising Valleys of Neptune, the first release under the Hendrix estates new partnership with Sony's Legacy imprint. I can tell you, however, that if you've bought any of the compilations that Hendrix's official imprint, Experience Hendrix, has released over the past 13 years via MCA/Universal, you're already going to be familiar with different versions of up to eleven of the albums twelve tracks.
