Jimi Hendrix: 'Valleys of Neptune'

Believe it or not there is still unreleased Jimi Hendrix material out there. Here's a sample.

Arriving in stores today are CD/DVD combo packs of the three studio album released during Hendrix’s lifetime, “Are You Experienced,” “Axis: Bold as Love,” and “Electric Ladyland,” and the posthumous “First Rays of the New Rising Sun.” All include short (about 20 minutes), new documentaries on the making of each album. Also out today, a remastered “Smash Hits” CD and a “Live at Woodstock” DVD and Blu-Ray disc.

But the highlight is “Valleys of Neptune,” 12 previously unreleased studio recordings Hendrix nuts have long craved.

“For an artist of Jimi’s stature, his catalog had been picked over and released and compiled in a callous, haphazard manner,” McDermott said during a visit to the Herald. “With Jimi, you can’t just churn the catalog looking to sell a few copies and make a few bucks. These releases, like (previous) Experience Hendrix releases, are meant to present the music in the best way possible, remastered from the original tapes and as close as they can be to the way Jimi put them down.”

Hard to believe, but 40 years after his death there is even more unreleased material to come.

“Back when he was a sideman, Jimi couldn’t get into the studio,” McDermott explained. “So what’s the first thing he did when he got a little money? He didn’t buy Graceland or some mansion, he bought his studio, Electric Ladyland. When he died he was living in a two-bedroom apartment in Greenwich Village. Now he was a young man, he liked women and he liked Corvettes, but he spent most of his time in the studio. And he recorded almost every session he logged in the studio.”

In addition to the hundreds of hours of tapes Hendrix left, McDermott says new Hendrix finds continue to pop up.

A review here.