People, Hell and Angels

Although this is a posthumously compiled collection of songs Jimi Hendrix had worked on from 1968 to 1970, for a putative fourth album, it is surprising quite how alive and fully realized the music sounds. Moving away from the reverb-drenched psychedelic reveries of his Experience years, he enters a dry, strutting funk (“Earth Blues,” “Izabella”) that pushes his voice further into the foreground and emphasizes the architectural R&B precision of his non-solo guitar work, particularly in the soulful “Crash Landing” and “Mojo Man.”