Alan Douglas

The producer who reshaped Hendrix's final years by overhauling raw sessions for commercial release.

Alan Douglas was hired in late 1973 as Jimi Hendrix's manager to evaluate hundreds of hours of remaining studio material that had not been used on earlier posthumous albums. He became the first producer for a new series of releases, starting with 'Crash Landing,' which hit the US in March 1975 and the UK in August of the same year. Before Douglas took charge, Hendrix's estate had issued 'The Cry of Love' (1971), 'Rainbow Bridge' (1971), and 'War Heroes' (1972). While those releases utilized mostly finished tracks or filled gaps with demos and live recordings, Douglas adopted a different approach. His tenure began with the intention to polish unfinished works into complete albums, though his methods would immediately spark intense debate among fans and industry figures.

Quick Facts

Notable works: Crash Landing

Facts from the source article.

Lore & Background

Douglas's first project, 'Crash Landing,' became the center of immediate controversy due to his production decisions. The liner notes revealed that Douglas employed several session musicians who had never met Hendrix to re-record or overdub guitar, bass, drums, and percussion on the album. This process erased the contributions of original band members like Billy Cox, Buddy Miles, and Mitch Mitchell, fundamentally changing the feel of the songs while retaining only Hendrix's vocals and guitar parts. The goal was evidently to finish works that were either incomplete or recorded as demos. Douglas even added female backing vocals to the title track. A specific incident involved the track 'Captain Coconut,' which did not exist as a single Hendrix recording; it was a concoction created by assistant engineer John Jansen from three unrelated tracks. When legendary engineer Eddie Kramer discovered this, he strongly criticized Jansen and ordered him to stop, yet Douglas released the track regardless.

Reader's Guide

When exploring the Alan Douglas era of Jimi Hendrix releases, listeners should be aware of the specific personnel changes introduced during the production of 'Crash Landing.' The original lineup on tracks like those featuring Buddy Miles (drums) and Billy Cox (bass) was often supplemented or replaced by session musicians added in 1975. Key figures brought in by Douglas included Jimmy Maelen for percussion, Jeff Mironov for guitars, Allan Schwartzberg for drums, and Bob Babbitt for bass on multiple tracks. Vocal support came from Linda November, Vivian Cherry, and Barbara Massey. To understand the historical context, note that Douglas's work stands in contrast to the earlier posthumous releases which relied more heavily on existing Hendrix recordings. The track 'Captain Coconut' serves as a prime example of Douglas-era fabrication; it was not a genuine recording by the artist but a composite created without the artist's participation or approval.