Jimi Hendrix — Crash Landing: The Album Hendrix Never Finished

The Album Hendrix Never Finished — the Vault Deep Dive on Jimi Hendrix — Crash Landing (1975).

The Story

Jimi Hendrix died in September 1970, leaving behind hundreds of hours of unfinished tapes, jams, and works in progress. "Crash Landing" arrived in 1975, five years after his death, assembled by producer Alan Douglas from those fragments. What makes this record notorious among collectors is the method: Douglas didn't simply mix existing tapes. He brought in session musicians to re-record parts, replacing the original rhythm sections entirely on several tracks. The result is a posthumous album that reached the U.S. Top 5 and went gold, yet remains one of the most debated releases in the Hendrix catalog, cherished and criticized in equal measure.

The Sound

The sound here is cleaner and more polished than most Hendrix fans expect, precisely because the backing tracks were partly rebuilt in the mid-seventies. Jimi's guitar and vocals sit atop newly recorded bass and drums, giving the songs a tighter, more radio-ready feel than the raw studio experiments they began as. The title track and its companion pieces show his melodic instincts and phrasing intact, even when the surrounding arrangement isn't entirely his. It's a strange listening experience: unmistakably Hendrix in the fretwork, yet framed by hands he never played alongside. For that reason it divides purists and fascinates everyone else.

The Sessions

The original recordings span roughly 1968 through 1970, cut across various sessions when Hendrix was constantly experimenting. Alan Douglas took ownership of assembling the posthumous material, working with engineer Tony Bongiovi to strip the source tapes down and overdub fresh instrumentation. Guitarist Jeff Mironov, bassist Bob Babbitt, and drummer Alan Schwartzberg were among the players brought in to replace parts. This overdubbing approach is the album's defining and most controversial fact: the finished tracks blend Hendrix's genuine performances with 1975 studio work, blurring the line between archival release and reconstruction in ways later Hendrix reissues deliberately reversed.

The Legacy

"Crash Landing" was a commercial success, proving huge appetite for unreleased Hendrix, yet its legacy is complicated. The Douglas-era overdubbing became a cautionary tale, and when the Hendrix family regained control of the estate in the 1990s, they systematically remastered the catalog to present the original tapes untouched. Much of what appeared here was later reissued in more authentic form. That history makes this album a genuine artifact: a snapshot of how posthumous archives were once handled. Collectors seek it not despite the controversy but because of it, as a document of an approach the estate ultimately rejected.

What the pressing tells us

The part most listings skip. This is how we grade and how you can tell copies apart:

• Original USA press on Reprise, the label that handled Hendrix stateside.
• Matrix 1 2204-2 SRC+04 M1 identifies this CD manufacturing run.
• CD reissue of the 1975 posthumous compilation, near mint condition.
• Reprise catalog kept this title in circulation long after its LP debut.

Session file

• Original Hendrix recordings date roughly from 1968 to 1970.
• Producer Alan Douglas assembled the posthumous album released in 1975.
• Session musicians overdubbed new bass and drum parts.
• Engineer Tony Bongiovi worked on the reconstructed tracks.
• Album reached the U.S. Top 5 and went gold.

Who played on it

• Jimi Hendrix — Guitar, Vocals, Original Recordings
• Alan Douglas — Producer
• Tony Bongiovi — Engineer
• Bob Babbitt — Overdubbed Bass
• Alan Schwartzberg — Overdubbed Drums
• Jeff Mironov — Overdubbed Guitar

Vault Trivia

1. What was the name of Hendrix's original power trio, formed in London in 1966?

1. The Jimi Hendrix Experience
2. Band of Gypsys
3. The Cry of Love
4. Electric Flag

Reveal the answer

The Jimi Hendrix Experience — The Jimi Hendrix Experience, with Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell; Band of Gypsys came later, in 1969.

2. At which 1969 festival did Hendrix play his famous "Star-Spangled Banner"?

1. Monterey Pop
2. Woodstock
3. Isle of Wight
4. Altamont

Reveal the answer

Woodstock — Woodstock, August 1969. Monterey in 1967 is where he burned his guitar.

3. In which city did Jimi Hendrix die in September 1970?

1. Seattle
2. New York
3. London
4. Los Angeles

Reveal the answer

London — He died in London; Seattle was his birthplace.

4. Which New York recording studio did Hendrix build, opening it just weeks before his death?

1. The Record Plant
2. Hit Factory
3. Mayfair Studios
4. Electric Lady Studios

Reveal the answer

Electric Lady Studios — Electric Lady Studios in Greenwich Village opened in August 1970, his own custom-built room.

5. Before going solo, Hendrix paid his dues on the R&B circuit backing which star?

1. James Brown
2. Little Richard
3. Sam Cooke
4. Otis Redding

Reveal the answer

Little Richard — He toured in Little Richard’s band in the mid-1960s, along with the Isley Brothers.

Come dig through the vault with us — these tapes tell stories no reissue can.

Rare Collectibles Chicago grades and photographs every copy in-house — 20 years, 25,000+ sales. Browse the vault.