GUITAR JUST DOES JIMI JUSTICE!

Very, very groovy, baby

Yes, Jimi Hendrix is all over planet this month, as Sony Legacy takes over all but a smidgen of his catalogue, and as usual, Legacy has done a outstanding job on the reissues of Hendrix's first three-and only- studio albums, plus a new CD of unreleased tracks, a compilation, and a live recording. (Much more on that, at the bottom of the page.)

-
But GUITAR mag has also done a bang-up job in its current isssue, with a neat little essay by Allan di Perna on the reissues, and the "new" Valleys of Neptune CD, the first unheard JH in close to 10 years.
-

Entitled "The Lost Year," di Perna retraces Jimi's most chaotic year of our Lord, 1969, and

speculates on what was possibly planned to come out of the year when Hendrix dropped The Experience tag from the billboard.
-

But perhaps the two best features of the article concern the technical, and operational aspects of Hendrix's career.
-

di Perna stresses how much focus left Hendrix when manager Chas Chandler left/got the boot/whatever/ and Jimi was left to

try to keep it all together on his own, basically not having much to
with his new "arrangement" Mike Jefferys, who does not enjoy a very upstanding reputation.
-
Gone were the tight, polished 3 minute song-gems of the first three albums, in were long, messy jams, that even Hendrix recording session veteran Eddie Kramer was not much a part of.

-

But, the GUITAR piece explains how 40 plus years later on, Kramer has come to rescue on the vintage Hendrix master tapes with 21st century technology-Burl Audio Analogue-to-Digital converters and of course, Pro Tools-to turn ancient 4, 12, and 16 track tapes into audio dynamite.
-

Finally, a sidebar gives the lowdown on the next, major offering from Experience Hendrix, a CD and DVD of the famous 1969 Royal Albert Hall concert, which was expertly filmed and recorded for theatrical release.

-

It will finally get that showing later this year.

-

For much-that's MUCH more-on the Hendrix reissues:

http://www.boomermediareview.com/JimiHendrixCDReissues2010.html