The author is a well-known veteran of the music trenches, having written the Kurt Kobain overview Heavier Than Heaven. There are maybe a half-dozen bands that, when you go to your local bookstore to see what's available, you can find virtually entire shelves dedicated to. These artists include The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead, Elvis, and Jimi Hendrix. So, to tackle the guitarist and try to present him in a new light is a difficult undertaking.

Cross begins with the legend's birth and not only touches on the obvious - the drugs, the albums, the women, and the tours - but reaches way inside to tell us about his military service; his association with a number of musicians, including Miles Davis, and his rivalry with Mick Jagger; the Woodstock phenomenon; and the continuing estate battle that continues to this day (various members of his family each contend that the fallen hero's legacy belongs to him/her alone).

If you're a Hendrix acolyte - and who isn't? - then you probably already have in your home library, dozens of books written about him. But here, the writer has found a new way to present the information; and through what is seemingly a massive amount of research and time spent in poring over archives and contacting principals, he has created a novel look at one of the world's most wonderful players.

An excellent book about a brilliant musician.