Thirty-eight previously unreleased recordings — from groups such as the Who, the Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Jefferson Airplane — will dot Rhino’s „Woodstock — 40 Years On: Back to Yasgur’s Farm“ box set, which will be released on Aug. 18.
Among the highlights of the six-CD, 77-song collection are a 19-minute rendition of the Dead’s „Dark Star,“ „Amazing Journey“ and „Pinball Wizard“ by the Who, „Feelin‘ Alright“ by Joe Cocker, CCR’s „Bad Moon Rising,“ Blood Sweat and Tears‘ „You’ve Made Me So Very Happy“ and tracks from Sweetwater, Bert Sommer, Tim Hardin, Ravi Shankar, Joan Baez, Melanie, Country Joe & the Fish, Sha Na Na, the Butterfield Blues Band, Johnny Winter and others.
The set, which lists for $79.98, also restores full-length performances of Canned Heat’s „Woodstock Boogie“ (to a whopping 30 minutes) and the Who’s „We’re Not Gonna Take It,“ and it includes the never-released Woodstock performances of Arlo Guthrie’s „Coming Into Los Angeles“ and Mountain’s „Theme For an Imaginary Western,“ which were replaced by better-sounding recordings from other concerts for the original „Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace and Music“ soundtrack.
The track lineup is accurate to the actual running order of the legendary 1969 festival, and it also includes stage announcements (you still need to check the brown acid, apparently), Wavy Gravy’s announcement of „breakfast in bed“ for the crowd estimated at 500,000, Max Yasgur’s famous speech to the crowd and audio of Abbie Hoffman’s encounter with Who guitarist Pete Townshend.
„This will be the most comprehensive collection of Woodstock music yet,“ Rhino Vice-President of A&R Cheryl Pawelski tells Billboard.com. „The goal was to make it as real as possible…as authentic an experience as possible. It feels like dirt. It feels like a field. We wanted to take you there. We worked very hard to make it a true document of that time.“
Co-producers Andy Zax and Mason Williams compiled „Woodstock — 40 Years On“ from the original multitrack tapes recorded during the festival. Their research also allowed them to put the songs and artists in the correct order of performance, and the accompanying booklet will include the accurate sequence complete with full set lists.
One performance is conspicuously absent; Pawelski says Ten Years After would not clear the use of its performance for the box, meaning the group’s epic version of „Goin‘ Home“ will not be included. The Band and Keef Hartley were the only other acts that opted out of the set.
„Woodstock — 40 Years On“ follows Rhino’s re-release earlier this week of „Music From the Original Soundtrack and More: Woodstock“ and „Woodstock 2.“ A new Woodstock.com web site also launched this week, and a new DVD edition of „Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace and Music — The Director’s Cut“ comes out Tuesday. And on June 30 Legacy adds to the onslaught with „Woodstock Experience“ editions of seminal albums by five of the festival’s acts — the Jefferson Airplane’s „Volunteers,“ Janis Joplin’s „I Got Dem ‚Ol Kozmic Blues Again Mama!,“ Santana’s debut album, Sly & the Family Stone’s „Stand!“ and Johnny Winter’s self-titled effort — each with a second CD featuring the acts‘ complete Woodstock performances for the first time ever.
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Wenn ich meinen Hund beleidigen will nenne ich ihn Mensch. (AS) „Weißt du, was ich manchmal denke? Es müsste immer Musik da sein. Bei allem was du machst. Und wenn's so richtig Scheiße ist, dann ist wenigstens noch die Musik da. Und an der Stelle, wo es am allerschönsten ist, da müsste die Platte springen und du hörst immer nur diesen einen Moment.“