South Saturn Delta - Background

Background

When the Hendrix family acquired the rights for Jimi's catalog in 1995, they signed a contract with MCA Records (predecessor to the Universal Music Group) to release compilations of rare or newly discovered material. The first album that resulted of this contract was First Rays of the New Rising Sun, which was released in 1997 and was an attempt to rebuild the album left unfinished at Hendrix's death. South Saturn Delta followed it some months later and is a collection of unreleased material. It has been re-released by the Hendrix Family in a special CD/DVD digipak package on April 12, 2011. The track list includes tracks from out-of-print albums such as Rainbow Bridge ("Look Over Yonder", "Pali Gap"); War Heroes ("Bleeding Heart", "Tax Free", "Midnight"); and Loose Ends ("The Stars That Play with Laughing Sam's Dice", "Drifter's Escape") along with new mixes of songs ("All Along the Watchtower").

"Look Over Yonder" is an outtake from 1968 featuring the original Experience line-up. The incorrectly tagged "Little Wing" is a demo tape performed solely by Hendrix and Mitch Mitchell and musically identical to "Angel". "Here He Comes (Lover Man)" is a well known Hendrix concert staple song that never made it to any of his albums. "South Saturn Delta" is a horn-laden funk-jazz song while "Power of Soul" and "Message to the Universe (Message to Love)" are studio versions of two Band of Gypsys tracks, the latter performed by Hendrix's Woodstock band Gypsy Sun and Rainbows. "Tax Free" is a studio recording of the song written by the Swedish instrumental duo Hansson and Carlsson, occasionally played on stage by Hendrix. "All Along the Watchtower" is the same take that appears on the Electric Ladyland album, but this one is the earlier mix by Chas Chandler. The stereo mix of "The Stars That Play with Laughing Sam's Dice" (originally the B-side to "Burning of the Midnight Lamp") is taken from the Loose Ends album, which was released in 1974 in Europe and Japan. "Midnight" is an instrumental song from the Electric Ladyland sessions. "Sweet Angel" is an early demo version of the song "Angel" featuring Hendrix using a primitive drum machine (the original tape had become slightly damaged some years back, although suspiciously, the same version remains intact on the Jimi Hendrix Experience box set). "Bleeding Heart" is a jam based on an old blues song that appeared in 1972 on War Heroes and in 1994 on Blues. "Pali Gap" is an instrumental. Hendrix' cover of Bob Dylan "Drifter's Escape" also appeared on Loose Ends but in a posthumous mix created by John Jansen. The version that appears on South Saturn Delta uses the original mix prepared by Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Kramer in August of 1970. "Midnight Lightning" is a demo tape of Hendrix's delta blues song featuring Hendrix alone tapping his foot to keep time while playing.