>was he playing with band of gypsies on "crash landing" and
>"first rays of the new morning sun?" i also dig that new
>"Neptune" album that was released recently.

"Crash Landing" to a large extent is based on producer Alan Douglas overdubbing new music to barely-finished Hendrix-tracks. However, the two BoG-songs on the record (="With the power/Power of soul" and "Message to love") are largely authentic even if I think the percussion was overdubbed. Much of the rest is other guys replacing the OG backing-tracks and I've heard rumours that much of this had to do with Douglas beefing with Mitchell and-to a lesser extent-Redding over the way Hendrix legacy was treated; by removing them from the package, they didn't get performer-credit for the songs...

Anyway, many of the songs on the last two Hendrix-posthumous albums are tracks from these records done without overdubs from outsiders but it's worth pointing out that many songs are cut-and-paste jobs with producer Eddie Kramer using numerous different takes and also the time-stretching function (not available in the 70's to Douglas obviously) to make various tracks fit in terms of timing (time-stretching allows you to change the tempo without changing the pitch).

For example, the great version of "Somewhere" on "People..." has Kramer combining a newly discovered instrumental backing track that Steven Stills sold the label-he plays bass-with the previously released, rugged version available on the boxset (seriously, Mitchell's drumming on that track is wack as fuck but in his defense, he was trying to fit his drums after Jimi's death unto a loose demo-recording not meant for general consumption)-it's not really "Real" Hendrix-performances and that's the issue I have:While I dig hearing those songs as nice as possible, new technology has also made it possible for them to repackage the same shit over and over with slight differences.

As for "First Rays...", it's primarily a combination of the Cry of Love and "Rainbw Bridge"-albums released shortly after Jimi's death and those were the most finished songs available even if Mitchell overdubbed many drum-tracks in '71 (=the songs where Buddy Miles played drums; while I prefer Mitchell overall, Miles drumming on "Earth blues" as heard on the boxset and in a more stripped-down form on "People..." is SO much better than Mitchell's-the latter seemed to miss the gospel/soul-vibe and instead just plays fancy fills and shit which misses the point of *that* song) and several songs were, again, either unfinished or posthumous hatchet jobs. Still, I *think* most of those songs were closed to finished even if it is impossible to know of course...
>