THIS WEEK ON OUTQ: JIMI HENDRIX (AND IT'S ON FRIDAY)

Instead of going on The Morning Jolt With Larry Flick tomorrow as usual, this week I'm changing to Friday.  I'll post more about it Thursday night, but I'll be bringing lots of Jimi Hendrix to the show. Today Sony Legacy reissued the Jimi catalog and also released Valleys Of Neptune, a collection of pretty much previously unreleased material.

WATCH THE NEW JIMI HENDRIX VIDEO

This is the "new" video for Jimi Hendrix' "Valleys Of Neptune" which I wrote about before. The song is not quite as "previously unheard" or "unreleased" as they are saying it is. It was previously released on a long out-of-print box set called Lifelines: The Jimi Hendrix Story that came out in 1990. (I have it on cassette!) It was on Warner Brothers Records, which was two or three record labels ago for the Hendrix catalog. Anyway, "Valleys Of Neptune" is included as part of a radio show (I think it was produced by the BBC), but the problem is, the DJ talks a bit over the song. (The first three discs is the radio show, the fourth is a concert recording). I have to pop it in my cassette deck and listen to it again, but I am afraid it may be warped! Anyway, great song. The album, Valleys Of Neptune, featuring some of Jimi's last recordsings, comes out March 9.

JIMI HENDRIX "VALLEYS OF NEPTUNE" DUE OUT IN MARCH

Over the summer, I wrote about how Experience Hendrix - the company that owns the recordings of Jimi Hendrix - was leaving Universal Music at the end of 2009 and moving to Sony Legacy. I wondered, "What could get me to buy more Jimi Hendrix CDs?" Obviously, I love Jimi, but I've purchased the all the studio albums more than once, and ditto for different versions of his BBC recordings, Woodstock, Montery, and his live Band Of Gypsys album.

Well, Experience Hendrix has answered that question: they just announced that on March 9, they will be releasing Valley Of Neptune, which will feature rare and unreleased stuff, including the title track, which was recorded at Jimi's final sessions. That song is actually on the long out-of-print Lifelines box set from 1990 ( back when the catalog was on Reprise Records). Lifelines was a four CD (or in my case, four cassette -- time to see if my car's tape deck is still working!) box set.  The first three tapes were a long BBC radio doc on Jimi (so most of the songs have narration and/or interview clips over the beginning and/or end, so the version of "Valley Of Neptune" isn't "clean"), and the 4th tape was a concert recorded 4/26/69 in Los Angeles.  Sony should reissue Lifelines, and give the option of "clean" versions of the songs. Another good box set from those days (which I also have only on cassette) was Stages, four tapes, each one a different concert from a different year.

Anyway, March 9 will also see the reissue of all three Jimi Hendrix Experience albums, the Smash Hits collection and First Rays Of The New Rising Sun, (all with documentary DVDs) and a Woodstock DVD.