aaamusic | On 13, Sep 2010

Sony Commercial Music Group and Experience Hendrix LLC are proud to announce the highly-anticipated release of West Coast Seattle Boy – The Jimi Hendrix Anthology, featuring more than four hours of rare and previously unreleased Jimi Hendrix music on a 5 Disc (4 CD/1 DVD) deluxe box set, available Monday 15 November. Furthermore. a unique and alternative version of ‘Love or Confusion’ will be released as a single on Monday 27 September.

The long-awaited career-spanning box set tracks Hendrix’s remarkable journey from little known R&B sideman to international stardom through an unprecedented assemblage of previously unavailable recordings.  West Coast Seattle Boy – The Jimi Hendrix Anthology is not a collection of existing Jimi Hendrix albums but instead 45 unreleased Jimi Hendrix live and studio recordings including demos and alternate versions of songs from Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold As Love, and Electric Ladyland. West Coast Seattle Boy includes Hendrix’s never before heard version of Bob Dylan’s ‘Tears Of Rage,” solo acoustic recordings of Electric Ladyland favorites like “Long Hot Summer Night” and “1983 (A Merman I Shall Turn To Be)” as well as never before heard live performances from Berkeley and the legendary Band Of Gypsys Fillmore East concert on New Year”s Eve 1969 combined together with such new Hendrix songs as “Hear My Freedom,” “Hound Dog Blues,” “Lonely Avenue” and more.

West Coast Seattle Boy – The Jimi Hendrix Anthology offers the most complete collection of Jimi’s pre-Experience R&B performances (including his singles with the Isley Brothers, Little Richard, Don Covay, King Curtis and more) to ever be officially released, while bringing together the most comprehensive set of never before heard live performances, alternate studio takes, acoustic and electric demos, and other rarities drawn from every chapter of Jimi Hendrix’s remarkable life and career.

The newly curated and assembled West Coast Seattle Boy – The Jimi Hendrix Anthology includes Jimi Hendrix Voodoo Child, a new 90-minute documentary directed by the multiple Grammy award winning Bob Smeaton (Beatles Anthology, Festival Express, Beatles: The Studio Recordings, Band of Gypsys).  An autobiographical journey told in the legendary musician’s own words as read by Parliament-Funkadelic’s Bootsy Collins, the film incorporates interviews with Hendrix, coupled with the artist’s letters, writings and recordings to provide new insight into one of the most enduring icons of popular culture.  The documentary features some of Jimi’s greatest performances as well as rare and never before seen footage and photos including – for the first time ever – examples from the Hendrix family archive of the late guitarist’s personal drawings, postcards home to his father, song drafts, sketches, and lyrics.

Included on Disc One of West Coast Seattle Boy are:

1. Isley Brothers – Testify (1964)

2. Don Covay & the Goodtimers – Mercy, Mercy (1964 – #1 Cashbox R&B – #35 Billboard Hot 100)

3. Don Covay & the Goodtimers – Can’t Stay Away (1964)

4. Rosa Lee Brooks – My Diary (1965 – written by Arthur Lee)

5. Rosa Lee Brooks – Utee (1965)

6. Little Richard – I Don’t Know What You Got But It’s Got Me (1965)

7. Little Richard – Dancing All Around The World (1965)

8. Frank Howard & The Commanders – I’m So Glad (1966 – written by Billy Cox)

9. Isley Brothers – Move Over And Let Me Dance (1965)

10. Isley Brothers – Have You Ever Been Disappointed (1965)

11. Ray Sharpe – Help Me (Get The Feeling) (Part I) (1966)

12. The Icemen – (My Girl) She’s A Fox (1966)

13. Jimmy Norman – That Little Old Groovemaker (1966)

14. Billy Lamont – Sweet Thang (1968)

15. King Curtis – Instant Groove (1969)

* * * * *

Disc Two of West Coast Seattle Boy – The Jimi Hendrix Anthology focuses on 1967-68 and Hendrix’s breakout sessions with the Jimi Hendrix Experience:

1. Fire  (1967) – Previously Unreleased Alternate Recording

2. Are You Experienced (1967)  – Previously Unreleased Recording

3. May This Be Love (1967) – Previously Unreleased Alternate Recording

4. Can You See Me (1967) – Previously Unreleased Alternate Recording

5. Love Or Confusion (1967) – Previously Unreleased Alternate Recording

6. Little One (1967) – Previously Unreleased Recording (featuring Dave Mason on sitar)

7. Mr. Bad Luck (1967) – Previously Unreleased Alternate Recording

8. Cat Talking To Me (1967) – Previously Unreleased Alternate Recording

9. Castles Made Of Sand (1967) – Previously Unreleased Recording

10. Tears Of Rage (1968) – Previously Unreleased Recording

11. Hear My Train A Comin’ (1968) – Previously Unreleased Recording

12. 1983 (A Merman I Shall Turn To Be) (1968) – Previously Unreleased Recording

13. Long Hot Summer Night (1968) – Previously Unreleased Recording

14. My Friend (1968) – Previously Unreleased Recording

15. Angel (1968) – Previously Unreleased Recording

16. Calling All The Devil’s Children   (1968) – Previously Unreleased Recording

17. New Rising Sun (1968) – Previously Unreleased Alternate Recording

* * * * *

Disc Three of West Coast Seattle Boy – The Jimi Hendrix Anthology revisits 1968-1969, both a peak and pivotal period for Hendrix in which the artist was exploring bold new directions on stage and in the studio:

1. Hear My Freedom (1968) – Previously Unreleased Recording

2. Room Full Of Mirrors (1969) – Previously Unreleased Recording

3. Shame, Shame, Shame (1969) – Previously Unreleased Recording

4. Messenger (1968) – Previously Unreleased Recording

5. Hound Dog Blues (1969) – Previously Unreleased Recording

6. Untitled Basic Track  (1968) – Previously Unreleased Recording

7. Star Spangled Banner (1969) – Previously Unreleased Original Mix

8. Purple Haze (1969) – Previously Unreleased Original Mix

9. Young/Hendrix (1969) – Previously Unreleased Alternate Recording

10. Mastermind (1969) – Previously Unreleased Recording

11. Message To Love (1969) – Previously Unreleased Alternate Recording

12. Fire (1969) – Previously Unreleased Recording

13. Foxey Lady (1969) – Previously Unreleased Recording

* * * * *

Opening with Hendrix’s incendiary New Year’s Eve performance of “Stone Free” at New York’s Fillmore East on December 31, 1969 and closing with a previously unheard recording from Hendrix alone in his Greenwich Village apartment in 1970, Disc Four of West Coast Seattle Boy – The Jimi Hendrix Anthology provides a fascinating portrait of an artist at his fiery best, working on the future:

1. Stone Free (1969) – Previously Unreleased Recording

2. Burning Desire (1970) – Previously Unreleased Recording

3. Lonely Avenue (1969) – Previously Unreleased Recording

4. Everlasting First (1970) – Previously Unreleased Alternate Recording (featuring Arthur Lee)

5. Freedom (1970) – Previously Unreleased Recording

6. Peter Gunn/Catastrophe (1970) – Previously Unreleased Alternate Recording

7. In From The Storm (1970) – Previously Unreleased Alternate Recording

8. All God’s Children (1970) – Previously Unreleased Recording

9. Red House (1970) –  Previously Unreleased Recording

10. Play That Riff [Thank You] (1970) – Previously Unreleased Recording

11. Bolero (1970) – Previously Unreleased Alternate Recording

12. Hey Baby (New Rising Sun) – Previously Unreleased Alternate Recording

13. Suddenly November Morning (1970) – Previously Unreleased Recording

* * * * *

West Coast Seattle Boy – The Jimi Hendrix Anthology is the centerpiece of Sony Commercial Music Group second wave of Hendrix catalog releases.  Also arriving on 12 November from the artist Rolling Stone magazine called “the greatest guitarist of all time” are deluxe editions of Jimi Hendrix Experience: BBC Sessions and Jimi Hendrix: Blues, his legendary Live At Woodstock performance, and Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year, the highly collectible Jimi Hendrix Christmas EP.