Rock Band is getting exclusive music from famed guitarist and songwriter Jimi Hendrix as part of a deal between MTV Games, developer Harmonix and the Experience Hendrix company,
according to a report this week in Rolling Stone.
Hendrix's second album, Axis: Bold as Love, released in the late 1960s, will be released in full as a download for
Rock Band games (including
Lego Rock Band) on March 30 for Xbox 360 and Wii, and April 1 for PlayStation 3. Players will also be able to download the songs as separate tracks. Also included in this batch of Hendrix material is the recently-found single Valleys of Neptune.
Notable songs from Axis: Bold as Love include examples of guitar and songwriting virtuosity such as Little Wing, Castles Made of Sand and the album's title track. The downloadable
Rock Band music is being released in conjunction with CD and DVD remasters of First Rays of the Rising Sun, an album Hendrix was working on at the time of his death in 1970. The compilation released earlier this month.
MTV Games' Paul DeGooyer told Rolling Stone that choosing to release Axis before The Jimi Hendrix Experience's first album, Are You Experienced?, was a calculated move. "A lot of people are familiar with the singles [on Axis], but the concept of the album has kind of evaporated from the minds of certain demography over the past decade or so, and so people are cherry-picking songs. Axis may benefit from getting this highlighting and taken together. And it’s tremendously fun to play as well."
He added that the Hendrix catalog is "a whole new level of difficulty unto itself" in terms of gameplay. The report also said that it's possible that Harmonix could go ahead with a full-fledged Hendrix
Rock Band release in the style of last year's
The Beatles: Rock Band, although DLC is the main focus currently.
Below are the songs from Axis that will be available in the coming days for
Rock Band (the package does not include the abstract feedback-laden Axis opener, EXP):
-Up From the Skies (Not included in
Lego Rock Band)
-Spanish Castle Magic
-Wait Until Tomorrow
-Ain’t No Telling
-Little Wing
-If 6 Was 9
-You Got Me Floatin
-Castles Made of Sand
-She’s So Fine
-One Rainy Wish
-Little Miss Lover
-Bold As Love
-Valleys of Neptune
