By Phyllis Pollack
Experience Hendrix LLC & Legacy Recordings announced yesterday that they will mark the legendary life and groundbreaking musicianship of guitar legend Jimi Hendrix with the release of People, Hell and Angels on March 5.
All versions of the release will include previously unreleased studio material and Mono Audiophile 12" Vinyl Editions of Are You Experienced and Axis: Bold As Love.
Experience Hendrix LLC and Legacy Recordings will ensue a year-long campaign promoting his music. The guitar icon would have been aged 70 years old on November 27, 2012, had he lived.
A previously unreleased Jimi Hendrix Studio track entitled "Somewhere" will be released as a single on Tuesday, February 5.
The single was recorded, not at Electric Ladyland Studios, but previous to that period, at New York's Sound Center on March 13, 1968. The sixth and final take from reel two, this newly available master is wholly different from previously available version.
Mixed Eddie Kramer, "Somewhere" features Hendrix on guitar and vocal with Stephen Stills of CSNY and the Buffalo Springfield on bass and Buddy Miles on drums during the artists first session in America where he assumed the mantle of producer alongside performer.
Still performing in a trio context, Jimi's experimental vision comes through on the song.
"Somewhere" will be available as a digital single, a limited edition vinyl single (available at independent record stores) and a CD single (available at Walmart).
The b-side of the vinyl single is a previously unreleased studio recording of "Power of Soul" by Band of Gypsys, mixed by Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Kramer in August 1970. The CD single features the b-side, "Foxey Lady," a previously unreleased Band of Gypsys performance recorded live at the Fillmore East in January 1970.
Both the vinyl and CD versions of "Somewhere" will be struck in limited, numbered editions.
The anticipation of the album will culminate with a broadcast on "Elwood's Bluesmobile," the radio show, hosted by Dan Akroyd, airing on 180 commercial stations across the United States, Canada and the Armed Forces Network.
A fan essential, the upcoming album will premiere twelve previously unreleased studio recordings completed by Hendrix.
People, Hell and Angels showcases the legendary guitarist working outside the original Jimi Hendrix Experience trio. Beginning in 1968, he grew restless, eager to develop new material with old friends and new musicians.
While at the time, Jimi Hendrix, and the Experience, were rock's largest grossing concert act, with two albums in the US Top 10, Jimi was busy working behind the scenes, evolving into his next musical journey.
These twelve recordings feature a variety of unique Hendrix-style sounds and genres, incorporating many of the elements, including horns, keyboards, percussion and s second guitar, Jimi wanted to incorporate within his new music.
People, Hell and Angels reveals some of Hendrix's post-Experience ambitions, visions and directions, as he worked with "new" musicians, including past drummer Buddy Miles, Billy Cox, with whom Hendrix had served in the 101st US Army Airborne and later played on the famed R & B 'chitlin circuit' together, and others.
The 12 previously unreleased Jimi Hendrix recordings premiering on People, Hell and Angels include "Earth Blues," "Somewhere," "Hear My Train A Comin'," "Bleeding Heart," "Baby Let Me Move You," "Izabella," "Easy Blues," "Crash Landing," "Inside Out," "Hey Gypsy Boy," "Mojo Man" and "Villanova Junction Blues."
Musically, the album serves as a close cousin and successor to 2010's Valleys of Neptune, the critically acclaimed album showcasing the artist's final recordings with the original Jimi Hendrix Experience.
People, Hell and Angels offers new clues as to the direction the guitarist, singer and songwriter was considering for First Rays of The New Rising Sun, his planned double album sequel to 1968's historical Electric Ladyland.
People, Hell and Angels is co-produced by Janie Hendrix, Eddie Kramer and John McDermott.
In addition to People, Hell and Angels, Experience Hendrix and Legacy Recordings will release 12" vinyl editions of Are You Experienced (both US and UK versions) and Axis: Bold As Love, newly manufactured on 200-gram audiophile vinyl. Each of these albums is individually numbered and features original artwork and sequencing.
Taken from the original monaural mixes created by the late Chas Chandler, Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Kramer in 1967, with all analog mastering by top notch studio wizard Bernie Grundman, these much-sought-after mixes of Are You Experienced and Axis: Bold As Love have been unavailable for decades.
Are You Experienced, the debut from the Jimi Hendrix Experience, is inarguably one of the most influential and significant rock albums of all time. There are, however, two distinctly different editions of this cornerstone in the rock pantheon.
The original version, prepared and sequenced by the guitarist and producer Chas, was issued throughout Europe In May 1967, and excluded the group’s first three UK singles ("Purple Haze," "Hey Joe," "The Wind Cries Mary").
While there has never been a mono release of the UK's version of Are You Experienced in the US, the classic US version, which has the fish-eye cover, was only available in mono for a brief period following its original release in August 1967.
The original monophonic mixes for both the UK and US editions for Are You Experienced have been transferred to disc from the original master tapes by noted mastering engineer Bernie Grundman.
Grundman’s all analog mono mastering process preserves the integrity, while projecting the vitality, of the original recordings.
Axis: Bold As Love, the iconic sophomore release of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, emphasized Hendrix's yearning for experimentation and breaking musical boundaries, while flaunting his early R&B and soul music influences.
Remastered from the original two-track mixdown master tapes, Axis: Bold As Love’s 13-songs capture the musically evolving trio, nearing the apex of their career, spawning a string of classics including “Spanish Castle Magic,” “Little Wing,” “Castles Made Of Sand,” and “If 6 Was 9,” the classic Easy Rider anthem.
The original monophonic mixes have been transferred to disc from the original master tapes using Grundman’s all analog mono mastering process.
The tracklist will include the following Hendrix works:
Are You Experienced - US sequence and artwork
Side 1
Purple Haze
Manic Depression
Hey Joe
Love or Confusion
May This Be Love
I Don't Live Today
Side 2
The Wind Cries Mary
Fire
3rd Stone From the Sun
Foxey Lady
Are You Experienced
Are You Experienced - UK sequence and artwork
Side 1
Foxey Lady
Manic Depression
Red House
Can You See Me
Love or Confusion
I Don't Live Today
Side 2
May This Be Love
Fire
Third Stone From The Sun
Remember
Are You Experienced
Axis: Bold As Love
Side 1
EXP
Up From The Skies
Spanish Castle Magic
Wait Until Tomorrow
Little Wing
If 6 Was 9
Side 2
You Got Me Floating
Castles Made of Sand
She's So Fine
One Rainy Wish
Little Miss Lover
Bold As Love
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