Legacy Plans Jimi Hendrix Bonanza With “Miami Pop Festival” and “Hear My Train A Comin'”

There continues to be plenty to experience from Jimi Hendrix.

On August 20, Legacy Recordings and Experience Hendrix restored the original 2000 “purple box” to the catalogue in a new reissue adding four bonus tracks (B-side “The Stars That Play with Laughing Sam’s Dice,” “Peace in Mississippi” from the “Valleys of Neptune” CD single, and live versions of “Burning of the Midnight Lamp” and “Like a Rolling Stone”) to the original 4-CD configuration.  On November 5, the ongoing Hendrix campaign will continue with two new releases.

The Miami Pop Festival took Hallandale, Florida’s Gulfstream Park by storm when The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention, Blue Cheer, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and others took the stage on May 18, 1968.  Promoted by dolphin activist and Flipper trainer Ric O’Barry and soon-to-be Woodstock guru Michael Lang, the event drew an estimated 50,000 people and inspired Hendrix’s “Rainy Day, Dream Away” when his planned performance on the second day was cancelled due to a rainout.  Lang dubbed the event as “where the seeds of Woodstock were sown.”

The new Jimi Hendrix Experience: Miami Pop Festival preserves the closing set of Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding, and introduces the first recorded stage performances of “Hear My Train A Comin'” and “Tax Free.”  Recorded by Eddie Kramer, the disc also includes the band’s spirited versions of “Fire,” “Hey Joe,” “I Don’t Live Today,” “Purple Haze” and more.  In addition to the complete finale set, Miami Pop also includes two selections from the Experience’s afternoon show (“Fire” and “Foxey Lady”).   Grammy Museum Executive Director Bob Santelli supplies a new essay, and the booklet also features rare and never-before-reprinted photographs of the event.  It is being released as both a single CD and a limited edition numbered double 12″ audiophile vinyl set cut by Bernie Grundman and pressed on 200-gram vinyl.

After the jump: we’ll look at companion release Hear My Train A Comin’!  Plus, we have complete track listings and pre-order links for both titles as well as the recently-reissued Jimi Hendrix Experience box set!

Who Do They Think They Are? Two Deep Purple Box Sets, ’80s Live Show To Be Released

Deep Purple fans – particularly fans of the almighty Mk. II lineup of the ever-changing British rock pioneers – brace yourselves (and your wallets): no less than three catalogue/collectible projects are due for 2013.

Though Deep Purple enjoyed early stateside success with a trio of psych-prog LPs in the late 1960s, it was the crystallization of the Mk. II lineup – guitarist Richie Blackmore, keyboardist Jon Lord and drummer Ian Paice alongside new members Ian Gillan (lead vocals) and Roger Glover (bass) – that broke them worldwide. Tracks like “Speed King,” “Black Night,” “Strange Kind of Woman” and signature tune “Smoke on the Water” became instant rock classics, and anticipated the eventual rise of heavy metal in the decades to follow.

After four Mk. II albums, Gillan and Glover would depart in 1973, making room for new bassist Glenn Hughes and vocalist David Coverdale as Deep Purple Mk. III. In 1975, Blackmore departed the Deep Purple fold to head the neo-classical rock outfit Rainbow with rising vocalist Ronnie James Dio; Mk. IV replacement Tommy Bolin stayed with the band for just under a year before the group disbanded.

But it was Mk. II that wouldn’t be forgotten: in 1984, the classic lineup reunited through 1989, and got together again from 1992 to 1993 for one last album, The Battle Rages On. Deep Purple still performs today, releasing 19th album Now What?! earlier this year; Paice, Gillan and Glover continue to play in the band. (Lord, who left Deep Purple in 2002, died in 2012; two songs on Now What?! are dedicated to him.)

So, having been refreshed on the band’s history, what will you find to satiate your Deep Purple catalogue needs this year? The answers are after the jump!

Buck ‘Em! Omnivore Rides High With New Owens Anthology

Omnivore Recordings is saying, “Buck, yeah!” to the legacy of the late Mr. Owens.  Though the Bakersfield, California country-and-western legend died in 2006, his autobiography will arrive on November 5 from Backbeat Books and Hal Leonard Books.  Colorfully entitled Buck ‘Em!, it’s co-written with Randy Poe, author of Skydog: The Duane Allman Story.  And Omnivore is at the ready with the perfect soundtrack.  Buck ‘Em! The Music of Buck Owens (1955-1967) hits stores the very same day as the book, for the full Buck reading and listening experience!

The new 2-CD, 50-track deluxe anthology follows numerous other Omnivore projects from the Buck Owens/Buckaroos stable including Honky Tonk Man: Buck Sings Country Classics and Don Rich Sings George Jones, Live at the White House…and In Space, The Buckaroos Play Buck and Merle and Don Rich’s That Fiddlin’ Man plus various Record Store Day exclusives (including the personal favorite of this author, the Buck Owens coloring book).

What will you find on Buck ‘Em!?  You know what to do.  Just yell Hee-Haw! and hit the jump!

Lonely Boy No More: Edsel Honors Andrew Gold with Complete Albums Set

If you’ve been looking for a simple way to acquaint yourself with the soft rock stylings of the late Andrew Gold, Edsel may have just the set for you: a triple-disc, bonus-laden compilation of Gold’s four albums for Asylum Records.

The singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist enjoyed his greatest successes as one of the pre-eminent smooth pop tunesmiths of the late ’70s. “Lonely Boy” was a Top 10 hit in 1977, while follow-ups “Thank You for Being a Friend” and “Never Let Her Slip Away” enjoyed respective chart successes in the U.S. and the U.K. (the latter hitting No. 5 in England, while a cover of the former lives on in syndication as the theme to The Golden Girls). Gold’s impressive CV also included songs for Leo Sayer (“Endless Flight“) and Wynonna Judd (“I Saw the Light“), the band Wax with Graham Gouldman of 10cc (Gold had to turn down an offer to join 10cc in 1981, but the duo enjoyed great U.K. success with a Top 10 single, “Bridge to Your Heart“) and a TV theme success of his own: “The Final Frontier,” sung by Gold but written by actor Paul Reiser and Don Was, played over the opening credits to Mad About You for the majority of its seven-season run. It’s an indelible musical legacy that, sadly, outlives Gold, who passed away in 2011.

Edsel’s “four-fer” not only includes all four Asylum releases – 1975’s self-titled debut, 1976’s What’s Wrong with This Picture? and 1978’s All This and Heaven Too and Whirlwind – but a third disc includes all 20 bonus tracks included on the long out-of-print Andrew Gold remasters released on the Collector’s Choice label in 2005. Alternate versions of “Lonely Boy” and “Thank You” are included, along with various gems that had never been released in any format before.

The clumsily-titled Andrew Gold/What’s Wrong with This Picture?/All This and Heaven Too/Whirlwind…Plus is nonetheless a terrific value for fans of soft rock done right (even at a $25 import price for Amazon U.S. buyers). It’s out September 30 and can be pre-ordered after the jump.