Lost Hendrix Album Confirmed

Lost Hendrix Album Confirmed
07.10.2008

A long lost album of tracks Stephen Stills recorded with Jimi Hendrix over 30 years ago has surfaced, and is being readied for release, according to a report from MusicRadar.com that cited confirmation of the recordings' existence and their imminent release from John McDermott, a long-time Hendrix historian and archivist.

"Stephen has been working with Experience Hendrix to compile an album's worth of sessions recorded with Jimi Hendrix during 1969 and 1970," McDermott told MusicRadar.com. According to the report, no official information on the recordings has been released yet, though McDermott did say he would be the collection's co-producer.

Stills apparently found the lost Hendrix recordings among a stack of old tapes he recorded in the 1970s, either by himself or with various other musicians. According to a report in the Las Vegas Sun, Graham Nash—Stills' long-time bandmate in Crosby, Stills and Nash—is also involved in the collection's release. It is one of 13 CSN-related projects Nash is currently working on.

"In the '70s, he was a recording fool," Nash told the Sun. "He just found a bloody album he made with Hendrix."

Stills' reaction to finding it? "'Oh yeah, I forgot that,'" Nash said. "I want to listen to every track he ever recorded in case he recorded with Al Jolson."

Apparently, several purported recordings of Stills and Hendrix together have previously appeared on various bootlegs, though the authenticity of those recordings had always been in doubt. Only one song from that period—titled "Old Times, Good Times"—has ever officially been released, appearing on Stills' self-titled album that was released in 1970.

It now appears the imminent release of Stills' recent discovery will settle several long-standing debates regarding the authenticity of those bootlegs. One source with close ties to the project told MusicRadar.com, "We have tapes in our archive—Jimi on guitar and bass—plus Stephen had some from his 1970 solo album that he wanted to finish, fix, and mix. From a musical point of view, it's definitely Stephen with Jimi helping, as opposed to a joint collaboration. But it is still a very nice project."

Stay tuned for more updates.—Gabriel J. Hernandez

Thanks to Gibson.com for this article.