Jimi Hendrix: Calling Long Distance and The Ultimate Experience

THERE ARE RECKONED to have been only six Hendrix albums authorised by the artist himself, but he has been so ruthlessly repackaged, reassembled, re-issued and all round ripped asunder that his devotees must view each release in his name with grave suspicion, while younger bloods, intrigued by the legend, are quite likely to grab something that does little more than dump on his memory. It's a mercy, then, that these two fresh collections will do decent honour to the 50th anniversary of Hendrix's birth this November 27.