Jimi Hendrix - Supersession

Jimi Hendrix, Supersession, Machine Head Records, catalog number CD 84-42002, released in Germany in 1994. This is the German CD pressing of a bootleg document drawn from recordings made at the Scene Club in New York, 1968, capturing a loose, late-night session that included Break On Through- The Life and Death of Jim Morrison. The Machine Head Records imprint is a budget bootleg label, and this pressing circulated primarily through European import channels. Collectors tracking down Morrison-related live documents will find this one sitting at the intersection of Hendrix bootleg culture and Doors ephemera.

The physical packaging on CD 84-42002 is exactly what you would expect from a 1994 German budget bootleg release: minimal, utilitarian, and produced on the cheap. The jewel case is standard thickness, and the tray card and booklet, if it can be called that, amount to little more than a folded insert with basic session information and a photograph. The front cover image, such as it is, leans on the familiar visual currency of both artists, placing their names prominently above the title Supersession in a font that reads as period-appropriate without any particular design investment. The color palette is dark and fairly murky, consistent with the underground nature of the release. There is no extensive liner note text, no sessionography with sourced citations, and no discographic detail that would help a collector triangulate exactly where each track originates. The disc itself carries the catalog number and label name, with track titles printed in a straightforward layout. The whole object communicates what it is without pretension: a bootleg assembled quickly for a niche market willing to pay for the content rather than the presentation. Condition on surviving copies varies, as these saw real-world circulation through record fairs and import shops rather than careful archival storage. If you are sourcing this today, inspect the disc surface carefully, since the jewel cases on budget German pressings of this era were prone to cracking and the inserts to water damage. Compared to official Hendrix or Doors releases of the period, the production values here sit well below even the more modest sanctioned reissues; this is not a release that was engineered to impress on a shelf. For collectors building a comprehensive Morrison appearance catalog alongside releases like The Riot Show, the physical modesty of this item is understood as part of the territory.

The content here is the entire reason this disc exists in collector hands. The Scene Club recordings from 1968 captured Hendrix in an informal, after-hours environment, and Morrison, reportedly drunk, joined him on stage for portions of the session. The tracks credited with Morrison participation are Morrison's Lament and Tomorrow Never Knows, with the latter being the Lennon-composed Beatles track that Hendrix's group worked through that night. These are the cuts that drive demand, and they are raw. Morrison's contribution is loose, the recording quality is what you get from a late-1960s nightclub tape, and the whole thing has the chaotic energy of musicians playing for themselves rather than an audience with a ticket. Red House opens the set and is a straightforward Hendrix blues workout; Woke Up This Morning And Found Myself Dead and Peoples Peoples A.k.a Bleeding Heart follow in a similar vein. Uranus Rock, Outside Woman Blues, Sunshine Of Your Love, Goodbye Bessie Mae, and Soul Food round out the program. The Discogs listing notes that tracks 9 and 10, Goodbye Bessie Mae and Soul Food, are flagged as coming from Abtone Studios, which is a separate provenance from the Scene Club material and worth noting when comparing this compilation against other bootleg configurations of the same source tapes. The Discogs community data shows 26 copies owned and 27 on want lists, which is a modest but real collector footprint for a bootleg of this type. The want count marginally exceeding the have count suggests it is not freely available, though it does surface periodically. For collectors building a Morrison live appearance discography alongside documents like The Complete Matrix Club Tapes, this CD occupies a specific and non-duplicated niche. The Scene Club recordings have appeared across multiple bootleg configurations over the decades, so confirming you have this specific Machine Head pressing by catalog number is important before acquiring.

This is a bootleg, and that context should frame every expectation. The audio is not pristine, the packaging is minimal, and the release has no official standing with either the Hendrix or Morrison estates. That said, the Morrison appearances on Morrison's Lament and Tomorrow Never Knows are genuine historical documents, and for anyone building a serious Morrison live catalog, this disc carries material not replicated on any officially sanctioned release. The Discogs want-to-have ratio is close enough to suggest manageable scarcity rather than genuine rarity. Collectors focused on the official Doors catalog, including well-documented sets like The Doors Complete Studio Recordings, will find this a peripheral but legitimate addition if Morrison's off-the-books appearances interest them.