Black Gold (Jimi Hendrix recordings)

Infobox Album |
Name = Black Gold
Type = studio
Artist = Jimi Hendrix
Recorded = 1970
Genre = Rock
Last album = "Nine to the Universe"
(1980)
This album = "Black Gold"

In early 1970, Jimi Hendrix recorded an autobiographical song cycle in his Greenwich Village apartment that he titled Black Gold. [cite book |title=Jimi Hendrix: The Complete Guide to His Music |last=Robertson |first=John |coauthors=Doggett, Peter |year=2004 |publisher=Omnibus Press |isbn=1844494241 |pages=p. 31 |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NZC39WzfzG8C&pg=PA31&dq=%22Black+Gold%22+%2BHendrix+%2Balbum&num=100&sig=GvwssXVvjakhYu4_9MrNhOvjnjg] The tapes consisted of sixteen songs, all created by a solo Hendrix armed only with his voice and a Martin acoustic guitar. Near the end of the collection lies an embryonic two-part rendition of his now-infamous superhero themed funk-rock tune "Astro Man", in which Hendrix sings lines from the 1950s Mighty Mouse cartoon theme and makes humorous yet derogatory references to Superman. Other songs from the Black Gold sessions were also further developed in the studio and thus have surfaced elsewhere in the Hendrix catalog (namely "Stepping Stone", "Machine Gun", and "Drifting"), but at least nine of the songs are known to be unique to the tapes.

Months later, at the Isle of Wight Festival, Hendrix gave the tapes to his drummer Mitch Mitchell to have him listen and comment on the necessary rhythm section requirements for recording the songs. After Hendrix's untimely death in September 1970, Mitchell simply forgot about the tapes, apparently unaware that they were one-of-a-kind masters. For twenty two years, the Black Gold tapes sat unmolested in a black Ampex tape box that Hendrix himself tied shut with a headband and hand labeled with the letters "BG".

It was not until 1992 that avid Hendrix collector and biographer Tony Brown interviewed Mitchell and learned that the mythical Black Gold tapes, thought to have been stolen from Jimi's apartment by vandals who ransacked it for collectibles upon his death, were in fact lying in Mitchell's home in England. By coincidence, Mitchell also possessed the Martin guitar that was used to create the material. Brown was invited to review the tapes and published a summary of his account, but to date the material has not been released and is not available to Hendrix collectors. There is a bootleg compilation titled "Black Gold", but it is not the real material. Only Brown and a handful of friends close to Mitch Mitchell have listened to the real tapes.

Because of the label markings and conventions used by Hendrix to identify the tapes, and the fact that the themed Black Gold songs were the most embryonic of his late catalog, Hendrix aficionados maintain that this demo represents a proposed fifth studio album and predict that the material will reveal the broadest extensions of Hendrix's intended musical direction. Because of this, many consider Black Gold the 'holy grail' of Hendrix collectibles. Mitch Mitchell's association with Experience Hendrix LLC is an indicator that Black Gold may someday see worldwide release.

Tentative track listing

There are precious little to go by regarding the actual names of the tracks on Black Gold. On the only recorded source Jimi had written "Idea for L.P. side 1 suite ... Black Gold" on side A. On the B side of the cassette the only writing was "cont from side A". Some of the tracks have been released on other albums, such as the tracks "Machine Gun" and "Drifting", found on Band of Gypsys and First Rays of the New Rising Sun, respectively.

ide A

#Suddenly November Morning
#Drifting
#Captain Midnight
#Local Comotion
#Here Comes Black Gold
#Stepping Stone
#Little Red Velvet Room

ide B

#The Jungle is Waiting
#Send My Love to Joan of Arc
#God Bless This Day
#Black Gold
#Machine Gun
#Here Comes Black Gold
#Astro Man (Parts 1 & 2)
#I've Got a Place to Go

References

*cite book |title=Black Gold: The Lost Archives of Jimi Hendrix |last=Roby |first=Steven |year=2002 |publisher=Billboard Books |isbn=082307854X