In the Studio

Hendrix acolytes have been inundated with outtake releases since day one (at last count there were over 160). The boom in CD technology just made it easier to scoop up and digitise any studio reels that could be found. Compare that to the quintet of original vinyl (Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold As Love, Electric Ladyland, Smash Hits and Band Of Gypsys) and the mind boggles at how an artist who only recorded for four years could possibly amass so much unreleased material. After his untimely death in September 1970, the floodgates well and truly opened. Posthumous albums such as Rainbow Bridge and Hendrix In The West are still essential, but no one in their right mind would give a passing glance to disgraces the likes of Woke Up This Morning & Found Myself Dead. We’ve had some fine stabs at compiling the lost Hendrix: Live & Unreleased and the incredible, 56-track, purple-boxed Jimi Hendrix Experience. But nothing has really shown how he developed his music. In The Studio does just that with aplomb. Using original tapes sourced from the Michael Jeffrey Estate (a private contact says a skip in New York!), on Disc 10 you can hear just how enthusiastic and fast Hendrix was recording Are You Experienced. Some of the versions of Can You See Me and Fire contain such succulent psych guitar that you’re left begging for more. Disc One covers at the Axis sessions, and Hendrix’s focus in Olympic Studios is clear. The best disc has a first proper Castles Made Of Sand outtake and two incredibly psychedelic versions of Little One: a Hendrix sitar-drone jam with Traffic (allegedly including Brian Jones). History states that Chas Chandler couldn’t stand the Electric Ladyland sessions once they moved to New York City. Yawning jams with Hendrix gobbling LSD and snorting cocaine drove him back to England. At least half the set is taken up with these: a 36-minute Voodoo Chile, and one disc almost dedicated to Rainy Day Dream Away are for fanatics alone. The sleevenotes, attributed to Jon Kirkman, are full of howlers and should be treated with caution. One track, Closer To The Truth (March 1969) is credited to Hendrix as a ‘sound collage’. A call to Kathy Etchingham confirmed that it’s just a stoned Hendrix reciting poetry to a New Animals record. But in terms of sound quality and exhaustiveness, In The Studio is the best Hendrix outtakes set extant. www.spincds.com