Originally released in 1971, The Cry Of Love was compiled and mixed by Hendrix's longtime engineer Eddie Kramer and Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell. The bulk of the tracks were recorded between December 1969 and the summer of 1970 at Electric Lady Studios in New York, and were intended to be part of a double LP tentatively titled First Rays of the New Rising Sun.

Rainbow Bridge was also compiled and mixed by Eddie Kramer and Mitch Mitchell in 1971, with the help of Electric Lady Studios engineer John Jansen. Most of the tracks were recorded in 1969 and 1970, during the same sessions that spawned The Cry Of Love.