Rainbow Bridge review

The second posthumous album from Jimi Hendrix. This particular album includes a studio version of The Star Spangled Banner, which he famously performed at Woodstock, as well as an 11 minute-long live recording of another song.

Tracks:

1. Dolly Dagger: 7/10 while not one of Hendrix's standouts, it's as musically brilliant as ever.

2. Earth Blues: 7/10 an instrumental slam-dunk, a bit of a lyrical dud.

3. Pali Gap: 8/10 since the song-writing on this album seems to be sub-par so far, perhaps it's a good thing this is just an instrumental. It's also a very good one at that.

4. Room Full of Mirrors: 8/10 highly intense both in lyrics and in guitar riffs, this one is fairly epic.

5. The Star Spangled Banner: 10/10  it's a musical atom bomb. Imagine if this was actually a national anthem. Let's face it: it'd be brilliant.

6. Look Over Yonder: 7/10 a comedown for sure, but it's too well-played to dismiss.

7. Hear My Train a Comin': 7/10 Hendrix is on fine form here, but thanks to the excessive runtime of 11 minutes and lack of substance this outstays its welcome by several minutes.

8. Hey Baby (New Rising Sun): 6/10 not bad exactly, but there just isn't much compelling material here.

Best song: The Star Spangled Banner
Worst song: Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)

Summary: This is a solid album, showing Jimi Hendrix on form with plenty of amazing guitar work and tracks 3-5 are excellent. This is an album which provides a good time and some entertaining rock music, but it does not have the quality of Hendrix's other stuff. It has its moments, but thanks to weak lyrics and a lack of true standouts aside from The Star Spangled Banner, this is the weakest Hendrix album reviewed on this blog so far.



Final rating: 7/10