The Cry of Love

The Cry of Love
Compilation album by Jimi Hendrix
Released March 5, 1971 (1971-03-05)
Recorded March 1968 – August 1970
Studio Electric Lady, Record Plant & Sound Center, New York City
Genre Rock
Length 39:48
Label Reprise
Producer Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Kramer, Mitch Mitchell
Jimi Hendrix US chronology
Historic Performances
(1970)		 The Cry of Love
(1971)		 Rainbow Bridge
(1971)
Jimi Hendrix UK chronology
Band of Gypsys
(1970)		 The Cry of Love
(1971)		 Experience
(1971)
Singles from The Cry of Love
  1. "Freedom" / "Angel"
    Released: March 8, 1971

The Cry of Love is a posthumous compilation album by Jimi Hendrix.[1] It includes new material that he was working on for his planned fourth studio album. The songs were selected by recording engineer Eddie Kramer and drummer Mitch Mitchell, who are also credited with producing the album.

Released on March 5, 1971, by Reprise Records in the United States and Track Records in the United Kingdom, the album was successful on the record charts in both countries and was eventually certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 1998. Critics responded favorably to the album, viewing it as an impressive tribute to Hendrix. Several of the songs on The Cry of Love were later featured on other efforts to recreate the album Hendrix had been working on, including Voodoo Soup in 1995 and First Rays of the New Rising Sun in 1997.

Recording and production

The Cry of Love featured songs Hendrix had been working on at the time of his death and was the first attempt at presenting his planned first studio recording since the breakup of the Jimi Hendrix Experience.[2] The Cry of Love is composed mostly of songs which Hendrix recorded in 1970 at his new Electric Lady Studios in New York City with drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Billy Cox.[3]

About half of the album's ten songs were nearly completed with mixes prepared by Hendrix.[4] The balance were in varying stages of development and were mixed (and some overdubbed with new parts) after his death.[4] Two songs originally planned for The Cry of Love, "Dolly Dagger" and "Room Full of Mirrors", were instead held for the next planned Hendrix release, Rainbow Bridge; they were replaced by "Straight Ahead" and "My Friend".[4]

The album credits Hendrix as a producer, as well as long-time recording engineer Eddie Kramer and Mitchell, who prepared the final mixes and track selection, with input from manager Michael Jeffery.[4]

Seven of the songs on The Cry of Love were later included on Voodoo Soup, the 1995 attempt by producer Alan Douglas to present Hendrix's planned album. In 1997, all were included on First Rays of the New Rising Sun, along with seven other songs, in Kramer's most realized effort to complete Hendrix's last studio album.[2]

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[5]
Christgau's Record GuideA[6]
Down Beat[7]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[8]
Music Story[9]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[10]
The Sydney Morning Herald[11]
The Village VoiceA–[12]

The Cry of Love was released on March 5, 1971.[13][14] The album entered Billboard's Top LP's chart in the US at number 17 on March 6[15]and eventually reached number three.[14] By April, it sold 500,000 copies[16] and in 1998, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the album platinum, which indicated sales of one million copies.[16] In the UK, it entered the UK Albums Chart on April 3, where it peaked at number two.[14][17]

In a contemporary review for Rolling Stone, Lenny Kaye hailed The Cry of Love as the authentic posthumous Hendrix album, his last work, and "a beautiful, poignant testimonial, a fitting coda to the career of a man who was clearly the finest electric guitarist to be produced by the Sixties, bar none".[18] Robert Christgau originally wrote in The Village Voice that the album is an "excellent testament" and may be Hendrix's best record behind Electric Ladyland (1968) because of its quality as a whole rather than its individual songs,[12] finding it free-flowing, devoid of affectations, and "warmer than the three Experience LPs".[6] He was more enthusiastic about the songs in retrospect, writing in Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981):

It isn't just the flow—these tracks work as individual compositions, from offhand rhapsodies like "Angel" and "Night Bird Flying" through primal riffsongs like "Ezy Ryder" and "Astro Man" to inspired goofs like "My Friend" and "Belly Button Window." What a testament.[6]

In the Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Colin Larkin later called The Cry of Love a "fitting tribute" to Hendrix,[8] while Paul Evans wrote in The Rolling Stone Album Guide that it "showed the master, playing with Cox and Mitchell, at his most confident: 'Ezy Rider' and 'Angel' are the tough and tender faces of the genius at his most appealing."[10] Dan Bigna from The Sydney Morning Herald believed although all of its songs were compiled on the more comprehensive First Rays of the New Rising Sun (1997), "there is something satisfying about having this first posthumous Hendrix release as a distinct object that illuminates the brush strokes of a genius".[11] In 2014, VH1 deemed The Cry of Love "the greatest posthumous classic rock record of all time". That same year, it was reissued in both CD and LP formats by Experience Hendrix.[19]

Track listing

All tracks written by Jimi Hendrix.

No.TitleLength
1."Freedom"3:24
2."Drifting"3:46
3."Ezy Ryder"4:09
4."Night Bird Flying"3:50
5."My Friend"4:40
6."Straight Ahead"4:42
7."Astro Man"3:37
8."Angel"4:25
9."In from the Storm"3:42
10."Belly Button Window"3:34

Personnel

Band members

Additional personnel

Additional musicians

  • The Ghetto Fighters – backing vocals on track 1
  • Buzzy Linhart – vibraphone on track 2
  • Billy Armstrong – percussion on track 3
  • Steve Winwood – backing vocals on track 3
  • Chris Wood – backing vocals on track 3
  • Kenny Pine – twelve-string guitar on track 5
  • Jimmy Mayes – drums on track 5
  • Stephen Stills – piano on track 5
  • Paul Caruso – harmonica on track 5
  • Emeretta Marks – backing vocals on track 9

Charts

Chart (1971) Peak
position
UK Albums Chart[17] 2
US Billboard 200[14] 3
US Top R&B Albums[20] 6

References

  1. ↑ Huxley, Martin (1995). Psychedelia: The Long Strange Trip. Friedman/Fairfax. p. 14. ISBN 1567992285. The following year saw the release of The Cry of Love, a compilation of songs that were at varying points of completion at the time of Hendrix's death. That album proved to be the first in a flood of posthumous (and generally marginal) Hendrix products that would continue to saturate the market.
  2. 1 2 McDermott, John (1997). First Rays of the New Rising Sun (CD booklet). Jimi Hendrix. MCA Records. p. 16. MCAD-1159.
  3. ↑ Shapiro, Harry; Glebbeek, Caesar (1995). "Appendix 1: Music, Sweet Music: The Discography". Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy (3rd ed.). St. Martin's Griffin. pp. 537–538. ISBN 978-0-312-13062-6.
  4. 1 2 3 4 McDermott, John; Kramer, Eddie; Cox, Billy (2009). Ultimate Hendrix. Backbeat Books. pp. 249–250, 298–299. ISBN 978-0-87930-938-1.
  5. ↑ Westergaard, Sean. "Jimi Hendrix: The Cry of Love". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 Christgau, Robert (1981). "Jimi Hendrix". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Da Capo Press. p. 172. ISBN 0-306-80409-3. Retrieved September 29, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Jimi Hendrix - Cry of Love CD Album". CD Universe. Muze. Retrieved January 26, 2015.
  8. 1 2 Larkin, Colin (2006). Encyclopedia of Popular Music. 4. Oxford University Press. p. 249. ISBN 0-19-531373-9.
  9. ↑ "The Cry of Love". Acclaimed Music. Retrieved December 26, 2016.
  10. 1 2 Evans, Paul (1992). "Jimi Hendrix". In DeCurtis, Anthony; Henke, James; George-Warren, Holly. The Rolling Stone Album Guide (3rd ed.). Random House. p. 315. ISBN 0679737294.
  11. 1 2 Bigna, Dan (2014). "Album review: Jimi Hendrix - The Cry of Love is a first-rate reissue". The Sydney Morning Herald (October 9). Retrieved January 26, 2015.
  12. 1 2 Christgau, Robert (1971). "Consumer Guide (16)". The Village Voice (March 11). New York. Retrieved January 26, 2015.
  13. ↑ McDermott, John; Kramer, Eddie; Cox, Billy (2009). Ultimate Hendrix. New York City: Backbeat Books. ISBN 0-87930-938-5.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Shapiro, Harry; Glebbeek, Cesar (1990). Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy. New York City: St. Martin's Press. p. 539. ISBN 0-312-05861-6.
  15. ↑ Billboard (March 6, 1971). "Top LP's". Billboard. 83 (10): 62. ISSN 0006-2510.
  16. 1 2 "Jimi Hendrix: Gold & Platinum". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved September 29, 2014.
  17. 1 2 Strong, Martin Charles (2006). The Essential Rock Discography. Canongate U.S. p. 494. ISBN 1841958603. Retrieved January 26, 2015.
  18. ↑ Kaye, Lenny (April 1, 1971). "Album Reviews – Jimi Hendrix: The Cry of Love". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on January 16, 2009. Retrieved September 29, 2014.
  19. ↑ "The Cry of Love & Rainbow Bridge to Be Reissued on CD & LP September 16". JimiHendrix.com (official website). Experience Hendrix, L.L.C. September 16, 2014. Retrieved September 29, 2014.
  20. ↑ "The Cry of Love - Jimi Hendrix : Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved January 26, 2015.
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