New Jimi Hendrix album announced featuring 10 previously unreleased songs
A new Jimi Hendrix record boasting 13 studio recordings made between 1968 and 1970 will be released next spring.
Following 2010’s ‘Valleys of Neptune’ and 2013’s ‘People, Hell and Angels’, the new album ‘Both Sides of the Sky’ is the third and final release in a trilogy of albums that present the best and most significant unissued studio recordings remaining in Jimi’s distinguished back catalogue.
Available to buy on CD, digital and normal 180-gram audiophile vinyl 2LP formats on Friday 9th March 2018, ten of the 13 songs on the record have never been released before.
John McDermott, one of the album’s co-producers, together with long-term Hendrix collaborator Eddie Kramer and Jimi’s step sister Janie Hendrix, says: “Since Experience Hendrix began its restoration of the Jimi Hendrix music catalogue in 1997, our goal has been to present these important recordings to Jimi’s fans in the best possible quality.
“We are excited about achieving that. We’ve also been intent on generating album releases which present this amazing music in its proper context.”
Opening with a cover of Muddy Waters’ ‘Mannish Boy’, much of the album was recored by the trio that would eventually dub themselves Band of Gypsys; Jimi on guitar and vocals, Billy Cox on bass and Buddy Miles on drums.
Previously unheard versions of Hear ‘My Train A Comin’’, ‘Stepping Stone’, ‘Jungle’, ‘Cherokee Mist’ (featuring Hendrix on both electric guitar and sitar) as well as the January 1968 recording of ‘Sweet Angel’ also feature.
Guest performers on album tracks include Stephen Stills, Johnny Winter and Lonnie Youngblood.
Janie Hendrix, President and CEO of Experience Hendrix, L.L.C, says: “We have a growing commitment to preserve the legacy of Jimi and also to continue to give the worldwide family of Jimi fans quality releases. That’s what ‘Both Sides of The Sky’ reflects…our ongoing commitment. In a deeper sense, it’s the keeping of a promise.
“Jimi and I once made a promise to each other. He said he would take care of me and I told him I would take care him. Through his music and our preservation of his work, my brother and I honour one another. We are now in our third decade of watching over Jimi’s creative works and our resolve to maintain the integrity of what he left us has only grown stronger with time.”
Eddie Kramer says: “Jimi’s true home was the studio, that’s where the music and the magic happened. He loved everything about recording and it’s been my distinct pleasure and an honour to play a part in that process both then and now.”
The ‘Both Sides of the Sky’ track-listing is as follows:
1. Mannish Boy*
2. Lover Man*
3. Hear My Train A Comin’*
4. Stepping Stone*
5. $20 Fine* (ft. Stephen Stills)
6. Power Of Soul
7. Jungle*
8. Things I Used to Do (ft. Johnny Winter)
9. Georgia Blues (ft. Lonnie Youngblood)
10. Sweet Angel*
11. Woodstock* (ft. Stephen Stills)
12. Send My Love To Linda*
13. Cherokee Mist*
* previously unreleased
