1969 – 40 years on
It’s hard to believe that it’s been 40 years since the Woodstock Music Festival took place on an open field in Bethel, NY.
It’s also pretty amazing that 40 years have gone by since men walked on the moon. For the best account of that unbelievable feat you should read my friend Craig Nelson’s terrific new book “Rocket Men”.
Back to Woodstock. I figured that after all this time we would have read every story, viewed every bit of film and heard every note that was played at the gathering. But, I was very wrong.
Sony’s Legacy Recordings has just released a series of new CD sets called “The Woodstock Experience” with some material that has never before been released.
For instance:
Jefferson Airplane – Includes their album Volunteers coupled with 13 songs from their Sunday wee-hours set at the festival, including six previously unissued live tracks.
Janis Joplin – Includes I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama! , her first and only solo album, coupled with her entire 10-song festival set, including three previously unissued live tracks.
Santana – Includes the debut Santana LP coupled with their entire 8-song set, including one previously unissued live track;
Sly & The Family Stone – Includes their fourth album, Stand!, coupled with their entire 8-song set, including seven previously unissued live tracks.
Johnny Winter – Includes the debut Johnny Winter solo LP coupled with eight songs from his Sunday evening set including seven previously unissued live tracks.
What? No Incredible String Band?
According to Sony, each disc will be packaged inside a mini-LP cover with inner paper sleeves: CD-one replicating the front and back covers of the original LP, and CD-two featuring iconic photography of the artist performing at the festival. These mini-LPs will be housed in a paper-board slipcase sharing continuity of design recognition across all five packages. The slipcase will also contain a two-sided 16×20-inch fold-out poster, with one side displaying iconic photography of the artist performing at the festival, and the other side displaying a classic crowd shot of the audience.
And these albums are just the tip of the 40th anniversary Woodstock iceberg. Expect new documentaries and major motion pictures, books, more albums, repackaging of the movie and original album sets, rememberances (I’ll spare you mine) and endless news reports from the once infamous, historic muddy field.
As we used to exclaim: “Far out! Groovy!”