Jimi Hendrix - The Sotheby Auction Tapes FLAC album

There are outtakes and there are outtakes, and then there are versions of songs that were for some reason left on the cutting room floor, while another version was chosen. All too often these adventures have been gathered up, remastered, packaged, and marketed to the diehard fans who are hungry for anything new ... even if it’s just an artist rambling on in the studio. For my mind, or ears, most of these are just a waste of time and money, but here on The Sotheby Auction Tapes, we’ve been treated to a significant gem.

The backstory goes something like this: Way back when, many years before most of you were even a sparkle in your parents eyes, Jimi Hendrix and his magical band The Experience laid down eight reels of tape, three five inch, and five seven inch. These reels were recorded at the famous Olympic Studios in 1967 and 1968 [before Jimi returned to America as the Psychedelic Flower Power Wonder], featuring Jimi on guitar, The Experience, often with Dave Mason on bass, and features Brian Jones on sitar. These tapes surfaced in 1981 as part of Sothebys’ Auction, and were once the property of Kathy Etchingham, onetime girlfriend of Jimi. It seems that these jams and session mixes from Axis: Bold As Love, along with some BBC Sessions were deemed unworthy to be saved by Ms. Etchingham, and were thrown away, then removed from the trash and saved, or perhaps covertly spirited from her possession; we may never know the full truth. Regardless, they were sold along with Jimi’s hand written notes, and have been presented to us for due consideration ... and a worthy consideration they are. Just listen as a bluesy version of “Electric Ladyland” washes across your head, connect with a lengthy take of “Jazz Jimi Jazz”, then hear Brian Jones reach back across the years, laying out a haunting bit of sitar on “Little One,” or try your luck at returning from an instrumental version of “Spanish Castles” that will creep so deeply into your soul you’ll wonder why it was never released in two fashions to begin with.

This is a keeper, it’s worth searching out, it’s more than a taste of what Jimi was conjuring ... it’s a ghost walking through your dreams, and a memory that will both haunt and delight.