Woodstock 50th Anniversary Releases

[felser]

I know I'm likely to absorb a good bit of snark for posting this, but also suspect there are others beside me who will find it of interest.  Rhino is planning several different size releases of Woodstock material to mark the 50th anniversary.  I'm certainly not paying $800 for the 38-disc extravaganza (I would pay an equitable price), but expect to be in for the 10-disc set once it is appropriately discounted by Amazon, ImportCDs, and other online retailors.  And my primary interest is in the performances by the "lesser" names that have not previously seen the light of day (Bert Sommer, Tim Hardin, expanded Richie Havens, Keef Hartley Band, Sweetwater, etc.).

https://theseconddisc.com/2019/05/developing-rhino-celebrates-woodstock-50th-with-massive-complete-38-cd-box-set/

DEVELOPING: Rhino Celebrates Woodstock 50th with Massive, Complete 38-CD Box Set (UPDATED WITH RHINO ORDER LINKS)

MAY 8, 2019 BY JOE MARCHESE 11 COMMENTS

PRE-ORDER “50TH ANNIVERSARY ARCHIVE” FROM RHINO

Rolling Stone has broken the news this morning that Rhino Records is getting back to the garden in a big (make that BIG) way. Woodstock 50 – Back to the Garden: The Definitive 50th Anniversary Archive, dueAugust 2, will live up to its name as the last word on the legendary festival.  This 38CD/1BD set, limited to 1,969 copies, will include every note performed onstage by every act at Yasgur’s Farm over those three days of peace and music, save two tracks by Jimi Hendrix (omitted at the request of his family) and one song from Sha Na Na (which couldn’t be used due to a tape gap).  Many of these recordings are being released for the very first time.  In total, the set boasts an astounding 432 songs, 267 of them previously unreleased – plus crowd announcements and other “sonic memorabilia” from audience members.  A Blu-ray of the director’s cut of Michael Wadleigh’s film is also included.

“There have been large boxed sets devoted to particular eras or tours – the Grateful Dead do a great job of that sort of thing – but there’s never, to my knowledge, been an attempt to present a large-scale durational experience of this sort,” Andy Zax, the producer and archivist who co-produced the set with Rhino’s Steve Woolard, told Rolling Stone. “The Woodstock tapes give us a singular opportunity for a kind of sonic time travel, and my intention is to transport people back to 1969. There aren’t many other concerts you could make this argument about.”

The box will retail for $799 and will include swag such as a hardbound book by Michael Lang, a replica original program, replica posters, photo prints, a guitar strap, and more, all housed in a screen-printed plywood box with canvas insert.

10CD, 5LP, and 3CD highlights versions will also be released on June 28.  Woodstock – Back to the Garden – 50th Anniversary Experience features 162 tracks across 10 CDs and is the first Woodstock collection to feature live recordings of every performer at the festival.  This version will be also available via digital download.  Woodstock – Back to the Garden – 50th Anniversary Collectioncollects 42 tracks, and will be available on 3 CDs or 5 LPs.

And that’s still not all.  Vinyl Me Please will have a special 10LP package (due in early August) limited to 1,000 units pressed on tie-dyed-style colored vinyl.  This set contains Woodstock Vols. 1, 2, 3 and 4, which haven’t been in print on vinyl since 2009.  Get more information here!

Visit Rolling Stone for the rest of Andy Zax’s interview about this monumental undertaking.  The Definitive 50th Anniversary Archive will not be released to general retail, and will be available exclusively through direct to consumer retailers such as Rhino, Woodstock.com, and dead.net.  Head to Rhino to pre-order all iterations.  Orders placed with Rhino for the big box will include exclusive Dale Saltzman 18×15 lithographs based on banners from the original festival.

A complete track listing isn’t currently available for the Archive, but you can find the Experienceand Collection track listings and Rhino’s trailer below!  All titles are currently available for pre-order at Rhino.com.

 

[Brad]

37 CDs seems like overkill unless you're a completist, which I'm not, at least not for this concert and at that price. However, 10 CDs sounds palatable although that probably won't be cheap either. Figure a minimum of $200. 

[JSngry]

It's always seemed to me that Monterrey was the one that has held up, musically and culturally.

[felser]

43 minutes ago, JSngry said:

It's always seemed to me that Monterrey was the one that has held up, musically and culturally.

I agree, and was shocked that NOTHING (to my knowledge) was done as far as 50th anniversary issues of that.  May be that it wasn't fully recorded, and there wasn't anything else to issue beyond what was issued in 1992 for the 25th anniversary, I guess, though I have a bootlegishy CD of the Airplane's full set there, which has not been officially released.  By 1969, after the success of the Monterey documentary, they knew to record everything,  To me, some of the best music from Woodstock was less heralded than some of the worst.  Johnny Winter, for example, was fantastic there.  I have that set on CBS/Sony.  Cocker's whole set was good, the Airplane's was fascinating, including a 20 minute "Wooden Ships".  Sly's set was excellent.  I thought Hendrix was awful there, musically lost, and that CSN were horribly out of tune, like they always have been performing live.    For that matter, I thought Hendrix at Monterey was a victory (of sorts) of showmanship, not of music.   I know he could burn musically live, as evidenced on things like the Winterland box set, but not so much at those festivals.  

[Scott Dolan]

I’m actually glad the festival itself got cancelled. Every previous attempt to “re-live” the Woodstock experience has been a disaster. 

Just admire that cultural moment in time for what it was and move on. 

[Big Beat Steve]

This ran here in a pop culture/"zeitgeist" mag in 1984:

 

"Woodstock 15th anniversary reunion".

 

[Brad]

2 minutes ago, Big Beat Steve said:

This ran here in a pop culture/"zeitgeist" mag in 1984:

 

"Woodstock 15th anniversary reunion".

 

Funny, but isn't that the truth!

[JSngry]

If Monterrey was The Birth Of A Nation, and if Altamont was The Death Of A Nation, Woodstock was the Early Warning Signs That Went Ignored.

In retrospect, of course.

[soulpope]

23 minutes ago, Big Beat Steve said:

This ran here in a pop culture/"zeitgeist" mag in 1984:

 

"Woodstock 15th anniversary reunion".

😄 ....

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I thought all of Hendrix's performance has already been released? What 2 tunes are his family asking to omit?

[Rooster_Ties]

35 minutes ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

I thought all of Hendrix's performance has already been released? What 2 tunes are his family asking to omit?

For an archival set like this massive 38-CD affair, they probably should have included those two tracks -- but I've heard 'em a few times, and they're nothing to write home about (to put it mildly).  Thought I could find uploads of them on YouTube, but I guess they've been taken down (and kept down).  No great loss, trust me.  Lee's vocals were really pretty weak, and out of tune a fair bit too.

https://jimihendrix.fandom.com/wiki/Gypsy_Sun_and_Rainbows

• Jimi Hendrix – lead guitar, vocals
• Mitch Mitchell – drums
• Billy Cox – bass
• Larry Lee – rhythm guitar, lead-vocals (on "Mastermind" and "Gypsy Woman")
• Juma Sultan – percussion
• Jerry Velez – congas
• Tofta-Janne – air guitar

PS:  "Mastermind" (from Woodstock) can be heard on this page:

https://woodstockwhisperer.info/2016/03/07/guitarist-lawrence-larry-lee/

I mention "from Woodstock" because, believe it or not, there's a studio version of "Mastermind" too (with Lee on vocals), that Jimi leant his guitar to -- and it actually did come out (legit), on the Hendrix "West Coast Seattle Boy" box (nothing all that great either, though).

PPS:  And you can hear "Gypsy Woman" (from Woodstock) here...

 

Edited May 9, 2019 by Rooster_Ties

[felser]

1 hour ago, Scott Dolan said:

I’m actually glad the festival itself got cancelled. Every previous attempt to “re-live” the Woodstock experience has been a disaster. 

Just admire that cultural moment in time for what it was and move on. 

[T.D.]

3 hours ago, felser said:

[Cancellation of 50th anniversary festival] 

I'm not too far (1 hr drive) from Woodstock and have seen a lot of news coverage. There were originally two 50th anniversary events planned: one at Watkins Glen and the other at Bethel Woods (concert venue at site of original).

In February, the Bethel Woods event got downsized and replaced with a few individual concerts.

The Watkins Glen promoter claims the event may still happen, but his whole schtick seems dubious and doesn't hold water IMO (I sure wouldn't invest money with that dude).

I'm shedding no tears and wouldn't have attended either one.

[felser]

2 minutes ago, T.D. said:

I'm not too far (1 hr drive) from Woodstock and have seen a lot of news coverage. There were originally two 50th anniversary events planned: one at Watkins Glen and the other at Bethel Woods (concert venue at site of original).

In February, the Bethel Woods event got downsized and replaced with a few individual concerts.

The Watkins Glen promoter claims the event may still happen, but his whole schtick seems dubious and doesn't hold water IMO (I sure wouldn't invest money with that dude).

I'm shedding no tears and wouldn't have attended either one.

Really, you don't think Miley Cyrus is the Spirit of Woodstock LOL?!    That is the Watkins Glen event, which looks really bizarre, a money grab by Michael Lang.  Some of the Bethel Woods concerts look good, and the Museum and complex are very nice and well worth seeing (was there in 2017).

[Brad]

Miley Cyrus? What a joke. 

[sonnymax]

10 minutes ago, Brad said:

Miley Cyrus? What a joke. 

Really? Why? Cyrus is a social activist, offering her time and money to support programs for LGBT youth, the homeless, animal welfare, etc. Sounds like the kind of spirit that characterized a lot of the artists who performed at Woodstock.

[JSngry]

And she's relatively sober (most of the time, I guess) more or less, maybe, so....yeah,

PLUS - she's got her own money. If she wants to stay idealistic-ish, that's a big plus for going forth.

[Brad]

1 hour ago, sonnymax said:

Really? Why? Cyrus is a social activist, offering her time and money to support programs for LGBT youth, the homeless, animal welfare, etc. Sounds like the kind of spirit that characterized a lot of the artists who performed at Woodstock.

Sorry, not the person I’d want to see in concert. Don’t need to see a twerker. 

[Scott Dolan]

Agreed. Shame of it is that she has an absolutely wonderful voice. But the schtick is just too much. 

Kinda the same with Lady Gaga, though I have completely fallen in love with her in recent years as she has really expanded her art away from the whole Madonna clone thing. 

[JSngry]

LOL-ing at the notion that anybody over the age of 30 or so feels the need (much less the ability!) to have a "relevant opinion" about Miley Cyrus.

[Scott Dolan]

Ah, so music has age limits now. Hopefully that’s the dumbest thing I read today. 

BTW, I listen to modern Pop/Hip Hop daily. It’s the only thing I play in my truck. So I’m very saddened to learn that I can’t have a “relevant opinion” on it because of my age. 

[JSngry]

"Music" has got jackshit to do with it.

Pop culture!

You can have an opinion all you want, and you may think its relevant, but that's the great conceit/delusion of middle-age and older, that what we think about pop culture matters.

It happens without us, and gleefully so. Our only possible role is to be/act pissed off to drive commerce. If we're anything, we're their poor ignorant slutwhores. And we LOVE it!

Until we don't give a damn anymore.

[Scott Dolan]

I have no issues with Pop Culture, that’s just you projecting your own hang ups on the rest of us to make yourself feel better. A needless and irrelevant lesson you feel has to be taught. 

Unfortunately, none of it is even remotely true. At best it is laughably stereotypical. 

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Apparently no one here has heard Miley Cyrus' recording "Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz", where she is backed by the Flaming Lips. Free on Spotify:

No twerking involved.

[JSngry]

55 minutes ago, Scott Dolan said:

I have no issues with Pop Culture, that’s just you projecting your own hang ups on the rest of us to make yourself feel better. A needless and irrelevant lesson you feel has to be taught. 

Unfortunately, none of it is even remotely true. At best it is laughably stereotypical. 

Lash on, bro, LASH ON!!!

maybe YOU'RE the target market for a twerking teenager growing up right before our eyes (although, if Miley has Daddy issues, maybe you unwittingly actually are), but I'm not sure I'd advertise that on this part of the internet!

Otherwise, yeah, 40-something white guys drive pop/youth culture. SURE they do.