In Ritchie Unterberger's opinion: "although many songs had been laid down in a state of near-completion, there's no telling what Jimi might have added, erased, or otherwise changed, especially bearing in mind his perfectionist nature ... The biggest compromise, however, was the decision to make the record a single disc, rather than the double LP that Hendrix had envisioned. ... For these reasons, ["The Cry of Love"] can't be considered to be the fourth studio album Hendrix would have released had he survived, whether it would have ended up being called "First Rays of the Rising Sun" or something else."