The Stories Behind All 85 Posthumous Jimi Hendrix Albums

Jimi Hendrix released only three studio albums and one live record during his brief career. But since his death on Sept. 18, 1970, there have been more than 80 new releases bearing his name.

In the below rundown of the Stories Behind All 85 Posthumous Jimi Hendrix Albums, we look into the various collections of studio outtakes, concert recordings and best-ofs. The market flooding began almost immediately, with 1971’s The Cry of Love consisting of songs recorded for First Rays of the New Rising Sun, the proposed follow-up to Hendrix’s final studio LP, 1968’s Electric Ladyland. Five more albums, including two separate ones featuring highlights from Hendrix’s final full-length U.K. concert at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival, were on shelves before the year was over.

Since then, only five years — 1976, 1977, 1985, 2014 and 2021 — have passed without at least one new piece of Hendrix product, most of which promised previously unreleased material. The live albums, in particular, were a mess for decades, often packaging together performances from disparate concerts.

The sheer volume of music in Hendrix’s vault posed a dilemma as to how to best present it: Should it be released virtually untouched for the purpose of historical accuracy, even if the quality isn’t always up to par? Or should a producer create the best listening experience from the tapes, editing takes together or overdubbing new parts? Everything has been tried with Hendrix’s catalog over the years.

Because we needed to draw a line somewhere, we’ve omitted reissues of the records released during Hendrix’s lifetime, multi-artist compilations that offered no new material and unofficial collections of his work as a sideman before his star-making move to England. The Stories Behind All 85 Posthumous Jimi Hendrix Albums are below.