I often find myself wondering, when subjected to South African commercial radio, just how many of the ‘artists’ they feature will still be talked about in 40-50 years time. Yeah, there are some catchy tunes, but are we really going to remember some girl singing about junk in her trunk in 2060?

There are a few ways to ensure rock ‘n roll immortality and one of them is to be an electrical guitar genius who dies at the fabled age of 27. Long before Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse burned out bright there was a guy called Jimi Hendrix. He took the world by storm in 1967 when he melted eardums and then set his guitar alight at the Monterey Pop Festival, becoming one of the most acclaimed musical geniuses of his generation before choking to death on his own vomit in 1970. Like we said, rock star.

Now previously unheard of recordings of Jimi have come to light, with The Daily Beast reporting:

In 1965, back before he fronted the Jimi Hendrix Experience and melted the faces of a counterculture, Hendrix worked as a hired gun, performing with other acts, including Little Richard and the Isley Brothers…[and] New York-based R&B group, Curtis Knight and the Squires…

Last year, Experience Hendrix, the family-run LLC founded by his father that controls his legacy, finally acquired the recordings…

The result? An entire collection of previously unheard or hard to get tracks featuring, and some written by, Hendrix.

The song up top, ‘Station Break’, was written by Hendrix and features him tearing it up on the guitar. The full album, entitled ‘You Can’t Use My Name: Curtis Knight & The Squires (Featuring Jimi Hendrix) will be released on March 24.

[source:thedailybeast]