The pre-"Experience" Hendrix is the the R & B master sideman Hendrix with alot more to offer on record than one might expect. Cuts with Don Covay, Isley Brothers, Little Richard, and others. Also with an East Coast Rock and Soul shouter, Curtis Knight. I guess many JH fans are most familiar with that Christmas show in Hackensack, on record, and not bad, with some great covers.

Here we have more "covers" (or "cover" - "Day Tripper); I'm not familiar with the rest) and originals, not by Jimi, but by Curtis Knight, and there's not a bad one here.

Nothing for the time-capsule vocally by Knight, but some groovy goings-on with "Get That Feeling", a Gospel riff, supporting an exciting, shouting vocal. Voice too far back but still engaging. "Gotta Have A New Dress", real beaty and catchy, more bluesy than some others. "Love, Love" sounds not unlike Jimi singing lead....the afficionados will no doubt inform us.

Hendrix's "pre-fame" career is very mysterious, something like the entire career of his mentor, Richard Penniman, and so the 1967 tracks suggest to this Reviewer that since Hendrix did owe Knight three years of maerial based upon a 1965 contract, he just may have contributed more to these songs that what many writers, and Jimi hinself, have expressed.

"Early Classics". How about...No "Classics". Just some "cool stuff", mostly for fans.