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A new album of unreleased Jimi Hendrix recordings has been launched in London ahead of its release on Monday.

Valleys of Neptune features 12 tracks that were recorded over four months in 1969 during the original Jimi Hendrix Experience’s final studio sessions.

It has been mixed by the guitarist’s original engineer Eddie Kramer, who was at the launch event on Tuesday.

He told 6 Music that listening back to the sessions brought the memories flooding back. “It was surreal in a way but actually it’s incredibly real,” he said.
 
“I’m in the studio listening to the tapes and pulling them apart and hearing all the different conversations between Jimi and myself and Noel [Redding, bassist] and hearing him take the mickey out of all of us.

“That part of it’s really real. That’s the part that makes the hair on the back of your head stand up."

"If you’re going to play the guitar, you’ve got to listen to Jimi first.”

Eddie Kramer

Hendrix, who died in 1970 at the age of 27, was “a communicator in the best sense of the word”, Kramer added.

“He was able to communicate over generations. Kids today – 10, 12, 14-year-old kids – are going to Jimi because he’s the go-to guy. If you’re going to play the guitar, you’ve got to listen to Jimi first.”

The launch party also saw the unveiling of a video of Hendrix playing at a modern-day Glastonbury - created by combining archive footage of Hendrix with recent shots of the festival.

It was created by documentary-maker Julien Temple and even features model Kate Moss apparently watching the rock legend from the side of the stage.

Valleys of Neptune is the latest in a long line of posthumous Hendrix releases, and there is still no shortage of “new” material, according to his estate.

Last year, his sister Janie said there were enough unreleased recordings to keep fans happy for another decade. "Every 12 to 18 months we'll continue to have new releases and official bootlegs,” she said.

"Jimi was a workaholic. We have an amazing amount of original masters, including a lot of material that hasn't been previously released."