Coming March 9: "Valleys of Neptune" CD (12 unreleased Jimi Hendrix recordings)

[Amerigo Vespucci]

With the exception of James Dean, who made only three films, there might be no pop-culture icon who has done more with less than the late Jimi Hendrix. The ultimate guitar hero released just three studio albums before his death in 1970, but new generations of music fans keep plugging into his amplified legacy.

The volume of Hendrix's music is about to get turned up.

Today, the Hendrix estate and Sony Music Entertainment will announce the March 9 release of a "new" Hendrix album, "Valleys of Neptune," which will feature a dozen unreleased recordings.

The late star's sister, Janie Hendrix, calls the material a "major revelation" about her brother's musical directions at the time of his death, but the project and Sony's intense interest in it also reveal plenty about the modern music marketplace -- namely that proven stars of the past, even the dead ones, are growing more important to an industry facing an uncertain future.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-hendrix11-2010jan11,0,4872832.story?track=rss

[mix]

1. looking forward to that nt

[dbt]

2. Anybody tried accessing jimihendrix.com this morning?

The FastCGI pool queue is full.

:evilgrin:

[SteppingRazor]

3. Translation: We're gonna release some crap that was left on the cutting-room floor...

when Jimi was recording Electric Ladyland.


Caveat: There's a definite possibility that even Hendrix's crap will prove far from crappy.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

4. The battle over the rights to his material...

...was driven...emotionally, at least...by the notion that Alan Douglas, the guy making the decisions on what got released, had tainted the legacy by releasing half-assed compilations and "crap that was left on the cutting-room floor..."

Yes, having a glimpse into the unreleased stuff could be promising, or it could be more crap.

Hard to say.

I think the stuff Jimi wanted heard was released in his lifetime. So much of the posthumous stuff...like the two 4-CD box sets from Reprise...has drifted off to eBay land, because it was sub-standard to begin with, just more PRODUCT.

We shall see.