Jimi Hendrix, "Band of Gypsys" (Capitol, 1970)

Considering the enormous quantity of Jimi Hendrix recordings available on the legitimate and not-so-legitimate markets, it comes as a surprise to many casual fans that he saw only a half dozen or so of his albums released during his lifetime, and half of those were of questionable pedigree.

Of course, the Holy Trinity of the Hendrix canon consists of the three proper albums recorded by the Jimi Hendrix Experience between late 1966 and mid-'68: "Are You Experienced?", "Axis: Bold As Love" and "Electric Ladyland." All are essential pieces to anyone aspiring to a serious rock 'n' roll collection.

His record companies on both side of the Atlantic came up with two different albums sharing a common name, "Smash Hits," as product during Jimi's recording hiatus of 1969. The U.K. version always was more interesting, containing such oddities as "The Stars That Play With Laughing Sam's Dice" (taken from the acronyms STP and LSD - you figure it out from there).

Meanwhile, Jimi's name was appearing on some recordings of very dubious origin, mostly material on which he appeared as a sideman before anyone had heard of him. Titles like "Get That Feeling" and "Flashing" mostly were the work of R&B singer Curtis Knight, with Jimi merely strumming in the background.

Those exploitative releases were an unfortunate result of Hendrix having signed a contract before he made it big, a pact that obligated him to make recordings for a man named Ed Chalpin. To get out from under Chalpin, Jimi agreed to record a live album for Capitol Records.

The result is "Band of Gypsys," probably the greatest contractual obligation recording in history. No one knew at the time, of course, that it would be his final album before his death in September 1970. Likewise, no one probably realized that the shows from which the album was called - on New Year's Eve '69 and New Year's Day '70 - would be the only proper concerts for the trio of Hendrix, Billy Cox on bass and Buddy Miles on drums. Music historians long have conjectured what the Band of Gypsys might have done had it remained intact; as it is, the album serves as evidence that Jimi was starting to explore new directions far removed from his "Purple Haze" days.

Bill Graham introduces the band at the album's start as "some old friends with a new name," and they have a new sound: Cox's bass, in particular, serves as an anchor that the Experience's Noel Redding (who was really a guitarist) didn't really provide. Miles' drumming is more muscular that once-and-future Hendrix percussionist Mitch Mitchell, and the net effect is a rhythm section that's very much aligned to what would become known as loved as funk in the coming decade.

The opener, "Who Knows," is like nothing Hendrix had done in the past, as he settles into a heavy groove from which he never deviates, telling his tale of an unfaithful woman with Miles adding some occasionally annoying background vocals. What really is different is Hendrix's playing, as he eschews the bombast that propelled him to stardom, opting instead for a less frenetic but more menacing approach that suits the song's subject matter well.

The angry young Jimi also rears his head on "Machine Gun," dedicated to "all the soldiers fighting in Vietnam." Another epic riff carries this one for 10-plus minutes, before Hendrix finally launches into one of his patented guitar freakouts, apparently symbolizing the bullets flying from the song's title weapon. (Sadly, Jimi remarks during the song's introduction, "If we can make it through the summer ..." He missed by three days.)

Those two songs constitute the first side of the original LP, which definitely is the one worth hearing. Two of Miles' songs, including his future hit "Them Changes," bookend a pair of Hendrix works in progress, "Power to Love" and "Message to Love." Both of the latter appear on posthumous anthologies as studio takes, which in many regards are for the better.

Decades after they took place, the Band of Gypsys concerts were the subjects of the double-CD "Live at the Fillmore East" (including a seriously truncated "Who Knows") and the fascinating DVD of the same title, featuring mostly amateur, black-and-white video. Reportedly, Graham challenged Hendrix not to do his usual jumping around onstage, so he stands still for the most part, doing what he did best: play guitar.