Four unreleased Jimi Hendrix demo recordings, billed as ‘Better than the originals’, go on sale

Four unreleased demo tracks recorded by Jimi Hendrix are heading to auction, along with some of the American rock star’s dry cleaning receipts, paperwork and tour itineraries.

The auction in London is organized by Propstorea retailer dedicated to selling pop culture memorabilia. Whoever buys the demos will “have the honor of having your own Jimi Hendrix songs that only you can listen to,” as Propstore’s music consultant Mark Hochman tells us. Observer‘s Dalya Alberge.

The four songs up for grabs – “Up From the Skies,” “Ain’t No Telling,” “Little Miss Lover” and “Stone Free” – were recorded in 1968 and are expected to sell for approximately $261,000, reports Artnetby Richard Whiddington. The first three are demos of songs that appeared on the 1967 Jimi Hendrix Experience album, As: Bold as love. Just a few years after the guitarist recorded these demos, he died of an overdose at the age of 27.

The unreleased recordings are “very different in sound and generally shorter” than usual versions of the same songs, the newspaper said lot list. Together the four recordings last only seven minutes, and their compositions differ from each other.

“They are a lot tighter and smoother,” says Hochman Observer. “You hear more guitar, and that’s obviously what Hendrix was famous for. The experts who have visited and heard the recordings all agree that they are far superior to any other version of these songs.

All of the material in the auction was collected by Patricia Sullivan, who began working for Hendrix’s manager, Mike Jeffery, in 1966. As Jeffery’s personal assistant, Sullivan coordinated studio sessions, created itineraries, handled various musicians in Hendrix’s band, and accompanied them on tour. . When Jeffery died in 1973, Sullivan collected a trove of tapes and archive material from his London office, keeping it all secret for the next 50 years.

“When we first had the opportunity to explore this archive, we were immediately fascinated by the depth and significance of the material,” Hochman said in the statement, per CNN‘s Amarachi Orie.

In addition to the demos, the auction includes Hendrix’s handwritten form requesting a copy of his birth certificate, dry cleaning receipts for psychedelic stage costumes, and an extensive collection of photo slides featuring candid snapshots of the musician. Other artifacts illustrate Hendrix’s raucous lifestyle, such as a letter from his record company informing him that he is being deported. Ringo Starr‘s London apartment due to complaints from other tenants, as well as a collection of now-ominous bills from a London doctor addressed to Hendrix and bandmates. As Hochman tells Observer“You can only imagine what that was for in the late 1960s… I think it was for their drugs.”

Propstore will do that auction closed the entire collection in mid-November, alongside other music memorabilia associated with Oasis, Queen, John Lennon and others. As Hochman says in the statement, the Hendrix artifacts are “exceptional” pieces of rock history.

“It’s an incredible collection that not only reflects Jimi Hendrix’s personal life, but also takes you back to a pivotal moment in music history,” he adds.