Jimi Hendrix Catalogue Coming to Rock Band Next Week
Published Mar 25, 2010
Judging by lists of the "Greatest Guitarists of All Time," many music fans consider Jimi Hendrix the best axe-slinger in rock history. Given his enduring popularity, we weren't too surprised last month when we learned that videogame company Harmonix was developing a spinoff of its Rock Band franchise based on the rock icon's music.
As previously reported, Harmonix is working on the project in combination with MTV Games and Jimi's estate, Experience Hendrix. Jimi's stepsister Janie Hendrix previously announced that the game "should appear before the end of this year."
While we still don't have a firm release date for game, Music Radar now reports that parts of Jimi's back catalogue will be made available as early as next week.
Starting on March 30, Rock Band players will be able to download the guitarist's second album, Axis: Bold As Love, along with the newly released posthumous single "Valleys of Neptune." This will be followed by the rest of his catalogue, including First Rays of the Rising Sun, which was incomplete at the time of his death.
The songs have all been remastered and feature "improved sonics," according to Paul DeGooyer of MTV Games. He told Rolling Stone, "The remasterings of the catalogue are really incredible and you can hear stuff for the first time in those recordings and we're kind of the beneficiary of that."
We'll have to wait until later this year to see if Harmonix can match the impeccable presentation of last year's Beatles: Rock Band. What we're most curious about, however, is if the gamers will be able to play a replica of Jimi's upside-down left-handed Stratocaster.