Despite his death over 40 years ago, the Jimi Hendrix estate has maintained an impressive release schedule, posthumously releasing 11 studio albums since the iconic guitarists death in 1970.
However, it looks as though the bottom of the barrel is set to be scraped once again as Rolling Stone announced People, Hell and Angels, an album of previously unreleased recordings is due for release in the US on March 5, with no confirmed Australian release date as of yet.
Supposedly a collection of experimental songs that were eventually to make their way to the unfinished follow up to Electric Ladyland, a double-album entitled First Rays Of The New Rising Sun, the album will contain Hendrix toying with horns, keyboards, percussion and a second guitar.
This is not the first time the Hendrix faithful have been promised insight on the fable LP, with almost every posthumous release promising a glimpse into the incomplete First Rays Of The New Rising Sun. With many potential tracks from the record already delivered – as early as on 1970’s The Cry of Love, and as recently as 2010’s Valley Of Neptune – it is hard to define the actual origin and worth of what will appear on this latest compilation.
The latest exercise in gravedigging new (old) material comes only months after what would have been the legendary icon’s 70th year had he still been alive today. Fans of Hendrix can however celebrate his birthday with a special theatrical screening of his 1969 Woodstock Performance entitled Hendrix 70: Live From Woodstock.
Screening in Australian cinemas on the 28th of November, the footage has been reassembled using extensive archival footage by Academy Award winning director Michael Wadleigh, and directed by Grammy Award winner Bob Smeaton.
The documentary contains the iconic performance in its full original sequence, with singular songs such as ‘Voodoo Child’, ‘Foxy Lady’ and Hendrix’s visceral rendition of ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ all which made it one hell of a show. The film also contains interviews with band members Billy Cox and Mitch Mitchell, engineer Eddie Kramer and Woodstock’s promoter Michael Lang.
Digitally restored from the original 16mm footage with the audio mixed in 5.1 surround sound, the film is a tribute to the myth of Woodstock and its enigmatic headliner. Tickets to the one time only cinema event can be snagged at jimihendrix.com.
