The Hendrix Estate has announced that March 9th will be the release date for a new album of studio recordings from the late guitar maestro, Jimi Hendrix.  The tapes of sessions, in which the plan was to create a new concept sound, have been stored in a vault for 40 years.

Called Valleys of Neptune, it was remastered by Eddie Kramer, the same engineer who was there to record the (likely) bluesy, churning songs that are typical of Jimi's style at the time.

Kramer says he spent a year remastering the old analog tapes, using state-of-the-art digital technology to clean up the sound. But not too clean: Kramer says he was trying to bring out the essence of Jimi Hendrix.

"This is Jimi, when he plays the guitar, and it jumps out of the track. The hair on the back of my neck just stands up," he says. "It's so raw and in your face."

"He was the greatest guitarist I ever had the privilege of working with," he says.

If it's anything like his 1994 album, :Blues, it should be amazing.

Link.  (Photo: Creative Commons)