69 to Release in September

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Experience Hendrix L.L.C. and Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, are releasing Machine Gun: The Fillmore East First Show 12/31/69, fully documenting the debut performance of Jimi Hendrix's short-lived but eternally influential Band of Gypsys on September 30.

The group played four concerts at the Fillmore East in New York City - two on New Year's Eve 1969, and two on New Year's Day 1970.

Never before has the first of these sets been available in its entirety. The vast majority of the performances have never seen the light of day in any configuration.

Machine Gun: The Fillmore East First Show 12/31/69 was produced by Janie Hendrix, Eddie Kramer and John McDermott, the same team who have overseen all of Jimi Hendrix's audio and audio visual releases by Experience Hendrix L.L.C. since 1995. Kramer served Jimi Hendrix as his primary recording engineer throughout his lifetime and the newly mixed Machine Gun: The Fillmore East First Show 12/31/69 from the original 1" 8 track master tapes.

The album was mastered by Grammy Award winner Bernie Grundman and will be simultaneously released, on CD, 2 LP 180 gram vinyl, high resolution SACD and digitally. Machine Gun: The Fillmore East First Show 12/31/69 is available for pre-order.

Machine Gun: The Fillmore East First Show 12/31/69 marks the first ever Jimi Hendrix SACD and high resolution digital release. Additionally, Experience Hendrix is also releasing People, Hell & Angels on the same day.

People, Hell & Angels, a collection of previously unreleased studio recordings, peaked at #2 on Billboard's Top 200 Album chart in March 2013. The album features studio versions of many of the songs featured on Machine Gun: The Fillmore East First Show 12/31/69.

This set presents an assortment of fresh, exciting new songs such as "Earth Blues," "Ezy Ryder," "Stepping Stone," "Burning Desire," and "Machine Gun"--none of which had ever before been issued on disc.

Moreover, nearly all of the group's material had never been performed before an audience.

"We decided that we couldn't do any songs that had already been released," explains Billy Cox.

"We wanted to give them something different. So we went at the project in a joyous, creative posture and ultimately developed the repertoire of the Band of Gypsys."

While promoter Bill Graham had advertised the concerts as 'Jimi Hendrix: A Band Of Gypsys', few could have anticipated what Hendrix had in store. "We had two shows New Years Eve and two shows New Years Day," remembered Cox.

"We didn't know what to expect from the audience and the audience didn't know what to expect from us, but from the time we hit that first note, they were in awe.

You had Jimi Hendrix, a drummer who had been with the Electric Flag and Wilson Pickett, and I was the new kid on the block."

"Machine Gun" stands as one of Hendrix's finest and most influential compositions. Hendrix pushed Delta blues into places its pioneers could not have imagined, fusing his instrumental skills within his passionate expression of man's inhumanity to his fellow man.

"Machine Gun" endures as a classic amongst the already classic-drenched Jimi Hendrix canon.

Fricke notes of this version, the first that Hendrix and company had ever played in concert, "..Here it is, after 46 years, another revelation - a stunning essay in pain, rage and determined survival, fully formed in its initial outing."

Long sought after by the guitarist's worldwide following, Machine Gun: The Fillmore East First Show 12/31/69 presents the complete performance in its original sequence.

Jimi Hendrix - Machine Gun: The Fillmore East First Show 12/31/69 (release date: September 30)

1) Power Of Soul
2) Lover Man
3) Hear My Train A Comin'
4) Changes
5) Izabella
6) Machine Gun
7) Stop
8) Ezy Ryder
9) Bleeding Heart
10) Earth Blues
11) Burning Desire