News

Jimi Hendrix Experience's Final Studio Recordings

• 16th Feb 2010

Experience Hendrix LLC and Sony Commercial Music Group will launch their monumental 2010 Jimi Hendrix Catalogue Project on Monday, March 8, with the release of Valleys of Neptune, a newly curated album of 12 stunning studio recordings.

This collector’s item contains more than 60 minutes of music never commercially available on a Jimi Hendrix album, from the artist Rolling Stone magazine called “the greatest guitarist of all time”.

Centered around tracks recorded during a pivotal and turbulent four-month period in 1969, Valleys of Neptune unveils the original Jimi Hendrix Experience's final studio recordings. Here the group lays down the foundation for its follow-up to Electric Ladyland, alongside the guitar superhero's first sessions with bassist Billy Cox, an old army buddy he'd recruited into his new ensemble.

Valleys of Neptune provides an essential, compelling, and largely unseen view of what Jimi Hendrix was up to musically in the critical period between the release of Electric Ladyland in October 1968 and the 1970 opening of his own Electric Lady Studios in Greenwich Village. The state of the art facility is also where he would begin his final project, the ambitious double album First Rays of the New Rising Sun.

Janie Hendrix, CEO of Experience Hendrix LLC, the Hendrix family-owned company entrusted with preserving and protecting the legacy of Jimi Hendrix, noted, “My brother Jimi was at home in the studio. Valleys of Neptune offers deep insight into his mastery of the recording process and demonstrates the fact that he was as unparalleled a recording innovator as he was a guitarist. His brilliance shines through on every one of these precious tracks.”

Valleys of Neptune offers more than 60 minutes of previously unreleased Jimi Hendrix music, originally recorded, and newly mixed for this historic release, by Hendrix's longtime engineer Eddie Kramer, who first worked with the guitarist on Are You Experienced? in 1967. Valleys of Neptune is produced by Janie Hendrix, John McDermott (who contributes detailed liner notes to the album) and Eddie Kramer.

Other highlights on Valleys of Neptune include blazing studio covers of Elmore James' classic “Bleeding Heart” and Cream's “Sunshine of Your Love,” as well as premier performances of original Hendrix compositions like “Ships Passing Through The Night,” “Lullaby For The Summer,” and the original recording of the Jimi Hendrix Experience rendition of “Hear My Train A Comin'.” Also included in Valleys of Neptune is “Mr. Bad Luck,” a Jimi Hendrix Experience track, produced by Chas Chandler during the 1967 Axis: Bold as Love sessions.

As part of the opening wave of releases for the Jimi Hendrix Catalogue Project, Sony Commercial Group will also be releasing new deluxe CD/DVD editions of Are You Experienced?, Axis: Bold As Love, Electric Ladyland, and First Rays of the New Rising Sun, also available on vinyl, on March 8.
Each of the essential titles in the Jimi Hendrix catalog to be reissued by Sony Commercial Group will feature a bonus DVD featuring newly created documentaries directed by the Grammy award winning Bob Smeaton [Beatles Anthology, Festival Express, Beatles: The Studio Recordings] and featuring interviews with Experience members Noel Redding, Mitch Mitchell, Billy Cox, original producer Chas Chandler, and engineer Eddie Kramer. In addition, Smash Hits, Jimi's original compilation, will be reintroduced. The critically acclaimed Live At Woodstock will be available as a standard DVD, as well as a Blu-ray Disc.

“The UK has always had a deep emotional connection with the music of Jimi Hendrix which flourishes to this day”, commented Richard Connell, General Manager of Sony Commercial Music Group. “We are proud and honoured to continue that tradition by partnering with Experience Hendrix and our US colleagues at Legacy Recordings in releasing Valleys of Neptune. The album is a treasure for Hendrix fans both new and experienced and marks a fantastic first step in fulfilling our collective vision for the catalogue of this exceptional artist.”