NEWS

DON COVAY (19.5.2008)
Atlantic / Rhino has released a new Don Covay compilation cd, "The Platinum Collection". I can't comment on the sound quality or contents as I haven't heard it yet but with Rhino being involved it should be good. Amazon.com & Play.com amongst other shops are selling the cd.

1. Seesaw
2. Mercy Mercy
3. Come on In
4. Take This Hurt off Me
5. Sookie Sookie
6. Boomerang
7. Please Do Something
8. Sweet Pea (Don't Love Nobody But Herself)
9. Everything I Do Goin' Be Funky
10. You Must Believe Me
11. Fat Man
12. Iron out the Rough Spots
13. Come See About Me
14. You're Good for Me
15. Mad Dog Blues
16. But I Forgive You
17. Key to the Highway
18. I'll Be Satisfied
19. I Never Get Enough of Your Love
20. Usual Place

UPDATE (12.6.2006)
The site has not been updated for quite a while and most emails have gone unanswered. My apologies for this, the hosting had to be renewed and I took the opportunity to change the hosting company at the same time which didn't go quite as planned. Access to email has been on and off and some emails have probably gotten lost altogether. If you did email me in the past 6 months and never got a reply please send another mail, i might have not received the message you send at all.

The site is back now on a new server by a company that I know provides a good stable service so everything should now be back to normal...

WOODSTOCK DVD (22.7.2005)
A new deluxe edition of Woodstock will be released 12th of September 2005. According to the press release one of the new bonus features is "NASHVILLE ROOTS - Band members Billy Cox and Larry Lee recall their friendship with Jimi Hendrix and their shared journey from the fabled R&B 'chitlin circuit' to the greatest rock festival ever conceived."

DOCUMENTARY (19.3.2005)
A film about Jimi's Nashville years is in production, read about it here.

RSVP (16.2.2005)
Jerry Simon is auctioning a 6-song reel of Curtis Knight recordings on eBay. The listing includes a load of new info, see updates in the 1965 & 1966 Curtis Knight studio recordings and the Curtis Knight Timeline-entries.

PRESS RELEASE (26.11.2004)
Interesting press release from Gold Star Studios: http://steveeastis.tripod.com/id19.html
This contains some suspicious info, contradictions and sensationalism which is no surpise as Gold Star Studios is about to make it into a book so it's time for some good publicity. Compare to the Timeline and the Rosa Lee Brooks artists-entry. Main problems are that Hendrix probably wasn't in LA yet in January 1965, the original single does credit Arthur Lee which would be strange if he had nothing to do with the composing of "My Diary" and that Jimi had already recorded with the Isley Brothers previous to this session.

DVD - ONCE MORE WITH FEELING (26.11.2004)
I finally saw the "Last 24 Hours". The artwork was changed one more time before release, and there is no bonus cd. Ed Chalpin apparently also pulled out of this project, no sight of him anywhere on the disc. Wise move as this "documentary" is a load of rubbish. Only Early Hendrix content that eventually made it to the finished product are a couple of photos that have been published several times before. Don't buy this disc.

DVD AGAIN (24.9.2004)
The "Last 24 Hours" DVD has finally been released, and contrary to the press releases the finished product doesn't include a bonus audio cd or the advertised 40min Hendrix interview. The sleeve art has also been replaced with yet another design. I haven't got the disc yet so can't say if it actually has any "Early Hendrix" content after all.

DVD (10.6.2004)
A new Hendrix dvd is about to be released on the 14th of June entitled "The Last 24 Hours". This one was first announced as "Feedback", then that title disappeared from upcoming releases and the dvd re-appeared with a new title and identical contents. The package will include a documentary, 40min audio Hendrix interview and a bonus cd. Tracklist of the disc has been given as follows:

Ballad of Jimi, Spanish Castle Magic, Don’t Accuse Me, Little Wing, Future Trip, You’ve Got Me Floating, Blue Me Monday, She’s So Fine, Hush Now, Little Miss Lover, Level, Bold As Love, No Business, Better Times Ahead, Takin’ Care Of No Business, Flashing, Get That Feeling, Happy Birthday, Instrument Fever, Love, Odd Ball

The documentary will apparently include an interview with Ed Chalpin, and the bonus cd will include several Curtis Knight tracks. The disc seems to include 2 new titles, but a fair guess would be that "Blue Me Monday" is actually "Gloomy Monday" and "Instrument Fever" probably is one of the existing instrumentals. Rest of the disc seems to continue with the "official" bootlegging of recent years.

Overall at this point it looks like another rip-off release, though actually getting to see & hear an Ed Chalpin interview will be interesting as he's always kept an extremely low profile.

P.S. If anybody has the withdrawn "Feedback" cover art in a larger size than above please let me know...webmaster@earlyhendrix.com

BLUES & SOUL POWER (29.8.2003)
Got this cd now, "Blues & Soul Power - Funky R&B And Rockin' Soul Crossovers 1964-72 (Warner 0927-49064-2)", if the liner notes are to be trusted this has also been released on vinyl. It does contain both sides of the Ray Sharpe 45, in mono. Recommended disc, nicely put together and with good sound quality.

NEW CD (28.7.2003)
A new compilation of tracks recorded by various artists for Atlantic has just been released, "Blues & Soul Power". Included are both sides of the Ray Sharpe 45 (according to the tracklist that is, I haven't heard the cd yet)

1 Mojo Hannah - Little Esther Phillips
2 Help The Bear - Ted Taylor
3 Help Me (Get The Feeling) Pt.1 - Ray Sharpe
4 Help Me (Get The Feeling) Pt.2 - Ray Sharpe
5 Maggie's Farm - Solomon Burke
6 Polk Salad Annie - Tony Joe White
7 Let's Get An Understanding - Wilson Pickett
8 What You Got (Is Good For Me) - The Soul Brothers Six
9 Sweet Pea (Don't Love Nobody But Herself) - Don Covay & The Jefferson Lemon Blues Band
10 Cross Cut Saw - John Hammond
11 Man Of Many Words - Buddy Guy
12 Me - Otis Rush
13 Funky - Freddy King
14 Whole Lotta Love - King Curtis & The Kingpins
15 Born To Be Wild - Wilson Pickett
16 Everything I Do Goin' Be Funky - Don Covay
17 Sardines & Turnip Greens - The Dynamic Eight
18 Freedom Blues - Little Richard
19 The Weight - Aretha Franklin
20 Stud-Spider - Tony Joe White

TWO GREAT EXPERIENCES (27.7.2003)
Just a note as I might not bother with a full review of this cd. Released on Empire Records / BMG in April 2003 (82876 51686 2). The only new thing on this cd is the track "Mother, Mother", and it's pretty much the only reason for buying it. It's nice but not earth shattering, and as customary with releases of this material one instrument has been wiped, there are faint traces of a sax solo at circa 6.09 - 6.45. Very interesting why the producers would have done this if they had the multitrack masters. "Mother, Mother" was recorded years later than the other tracks, possibly in 1969.

The Fairmount singles and the instrumental mix of "That Little Old Groovemaker" are another reason as they haven't been released on cd before, although "Groovemaker" has been quite poorly de-noised making the vinyl versions still preferable.

None of these tracks come from original multitrack masters and although it's claimed that these are free of overdubs it's not true, the same posthumous sax & guitar overdubs that every release of these tracks has had are still here. Many of the tracks have been spoiled by de-noising, and one of the versions of "Under The Table" is in a new mix as the producer tried to remove a guitar overdub by mixing only one of the stereo channels into mono.

The liner notes are rubbish with (apart from the Fairmount singles) Lonnie taking credit for composing, singing and producing all of the tracks. If you don't know yet what the real credits for these tracks should be you can find them here.

So this cd just continues the good old rip-off tradition and adds some new variations, compare for example the picture on the back of the cd to the one on the front of the original Maple lp release and you'll notice that the conga player and Lonnie's mike stand have mysteriously disappeared along with a few other items...

NEW CD (13.4.2003)

A cd called "Two great experiences" has just been released. Apparently this should be the old Maple lp with bonus tracks including the Fairmount 45 mixes and a previously unreleased 1969 Hendrix & Youngblood recording "Mother, Mother", all taken from the master tapes. What it really contains I don't know as I haven't got it yet, I'll include a review & information here once I get the disc. The tracklist:

01 Mother, Mother 08:01
02 Under The Table (Take 1) 01:35
03 Under The Table (Take 2) 02:54
04 Wipe The Sweat (Take 1) 02:49
05 Wipe The Sweat (Take 2) 03:32
06 Wipe The Sweat (Take 3) 02:46
07 Go Go Shoes 02:50
08 Go Go Place 02:04
09 Soul Food 03:31
10 Goodbye Bessie Mae 02:24
11 Sweet Thing 02:33
12 Groove Maker (Take 1) 02:19
13 Groove Maker (Take 2) 02:16
14 She's A Fox 02:39
15 Go Go Shoes (Fairmount 45) 02:36
16 Go Go Place (Fairmount 45) 01:49
17 Soul Food (Fairmount 45) 02:48
18 Goodbye Bessie Mae (Fairmount 45) 02:30

GOLDMINE (13.4.2003)
Issue 591 (or Vol 29 No 6 March 21 2003) of Goldmine magazine features an article written by Steve Roby, "Jimi Hendrix the R&B years 1962-66". Also included is a short interview with Lonnie Youngblood where he claims that the Jimmy Norman, Billy LaMont & the Icemen tracks were demo recordings done by him where the vocals where later overdubbed on...

PPX (28.12.2002)
Rolling Stone reported about the ongoing Leon Hendrix vs Experience Hendrix law suit and included this interesting bit: "Dieffenbach recently secured rights to the "PPX" tapes, sixty-six titles recorded between 1965 and 1967, featuring Curtis Knight on vocals, and Hendrix on guitar and vocals. "This is an impressive body of work that few people know about," Dieffenbach says."

Craig Dieffenbach bought Jimi's Seattle childhood home a while back, and is now financing the Leon Hendrix lawsuit. One wonders what is meant by "securing rights"?

Don Covay again (7 august 2001)
Whoops, wrong info. The "Yo Yo" cd is actually a compilation of tracks with only two of them from the Don Covay lp "Funky Yo Yo". The title of the cd is "Yo Yo 70s jazz, soul & funk rarities from the old school" CMRCD104, and it has already been released on 26th of march 2001. The Covay tracks included are "Yo Yo part 1" & "Yo Yo part 2".

Don Covay (8 july 2001)
Sanctuary Records Group is going to release the Don Covay album "Funky Yo Yo" on cd. The release will be titled "Yo Yo" with catalog number CMRCD104. Release date is not known.

Jungle records (8 july 2001)
Experience Hendrix has forced Jungle records to withdraw it's two releases of Curtis Knight material, "Driving south" & "Knock yourself out", on the grounds that they contain live tracks, which EH says weren't part of the settlement made in 1968 which granted Ed Chalpin the right to issue and licence the Curtis Knight studio material. This is the first time that Experience Hendrix has taken action against a release of Curtis Knight material.

Little Richard live tape (6 june 2001)
This is actually old news, but anyway...A live tape of Jimi Hendrix playing with Little Richard apparently exists, recorded by Little Walter. Date and location unknown. John McDermott reportedly listened to the tape in september 2000.