Hendrix in the studio in 1968 (credit: Eddie Kramer Archives)
The Hendrix estate–in conjunction with Sony Legacy Recordings–will be releasing the guitar legend's Valleys of Neptune on Tuesday. According to the NY Times, it's "the first album of previously unreleased studio recordings by Hendrix in more than a decade." Perhaps there's be more we can hear without the 10-year wait: The article also quotes Janie Hendrix, president and CEO of Experience Hendrix, who says there's "about 10 more years of music" in the company's vaults.
The album documents Hendrix's creative output in 1969. While many people feel that Hendrix tried to stay above the fray of all the turbulence going on in the country at that time, Living Colour's Vernon Reid–who's part of the Experience Hendrix tour that kicked off yesterday–has a different take:
“He was the Movement, his very existence,
without his having to put his fist in the air,” Mr. Reid said. “When
you hear ‘Machine Gun’ or ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,’ there was much
more said in those tunes than if he was a speechifying dude. In the
world of great guitar solos, ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ just stands in
this weird other place. He created, he was, the soundtrack of the
nation at that time.”
Additional link:
- Wikipedia entry on Valleys of Neptune
- New York Times: "Beyond the Jimi Hendrix Experience" by Anthony DeCurtis, February 28, 2010
