Woodstock 50th Anniversary Releases

[Teasing the Korean]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

Run the sprinklers for a week first.

Ha ha!

[Brad]

On 7/30/2019 at 11:11 AM, felser said:

Me too.  I bought the 10 CD set for a little over $100.

How was it? I noticed that Amazon’s indicating one to two month delivery, which I don’t understand. 

[T.D.]

1 hour ago, Brad said:

I noticed that Amazon’s indicating one to two month delivery, which I don’t understand. 

Means that they don't have it in stock. FWIW, all of my Amazon "1-2 month delivery" orders went unfilled and were eventually cancelled. I would look elsewhere.

[felser]

1 hour ago, Brad said:

How was it? I noticed that Amazon’s indicating one to two month delivery, which I don’t understand. 

Actually haven't played it yet.  Getting very good reviews.  The Amazon shipping info would suggest that they are currently out of stock, waiting for a rerun to provide them copies.  ImportCD's has it for basically the same price.

https://www.importcds.com/woodstock-back-to-the-garden/603497851706

[Brad]

28 minutes ago, T.D. said:

Means that they don't have it in stock. FWIW, all of my Amazon "1-2 month delivery" orders went unfilled and were eventually cancelled. I would look elsewhere.

 

26 minutes ago, felser said:

Actually haven't played it yet.  Getting very good reviews.  The Amazon shipping info would suggest that they are currently out of stock, waiting for a rerun to provide them copies.  ImportCD's has it for basically the same price.

https://www.importcds.com/woodstock-back-to-the-garden/603497851706

Thanks. Just ordered it from Walmart, which has it around $110.  The 38 CD set -- not that I would have bought that -- is sold out and looks like it's fetching high prices on eBay, around $1,600 or so. 

[felser]

29 minutes ago, Brad said:

 

Thanks. Just ordered it from Walmart, which has it around $110.  The 38 CD set -- not that I would have bought that -- is sold out and looks like it's fetching high prices on eBay, around $1,600 or so. 

38 CD set nowhere on my radar in current config/price range.  Spotify has some interesting Woodstock full sets by Tim Hardin and others that have not been available on CD.  And I'll eventually pick up the CD of the Creedence set that just got released.  Sometime it would be interesting to do an analysis of what audio is unique to that 38-CD set beyond the full disc of stage announcements and crowd noises.

https://theseconddisc.com/2019/08/try-and-get-my-soul-free-full-sets-from-woodstock-festival-emerge-on-digital-and-streaming-services/

[Brad]

PBS on their American Experience program showed a 90 or so minutes special on Woodstock this week. It was pretty amazing, with the logistics of pulling it off, people working together to keep it going, the townspeople helping out with food when it ran out, and so forth. Glad I was around during those times. 

[medjuck]

15 hours ago, felser said:

38 CD set nowhere on my radar in current config/price range.  Spotify has some interesting Woodstock full sets by Tim Hardin and others that have not been available on CD.  And I'll eventually pick up the CD of the Creedence set that just got released.  Sometime it would be interesting to do an analysis of what audio is unique to that 38-CD set beyond the full disc of stage announcements and crowd noises.

https://theseconddisc.com/2019/08/try-and-get-my-soul-free-full-sets-from-woodstock-festival-emerge-on-digital-and-streaming-services/

Thanks for this.  How did you even find out about it?  (I'll take any Tim Hardin I can get.) 

Edited August 9, 2019 by medjuck
Drunken spelling

[Brad]

Besides the Creedence one, there is also one by the Band. Steve Hoffmann lists other artists whose performances have come out, https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/woodstock-sets-released-by-individual-acts.867290/

[Brad]

The Times has a Woodstock at 50 page, with several articles.  Looks like a couple of new ones were added today. 

Woodstock at 50

[felser]

7 hours ago, medjuck said:

Thanks for this.  How did you even find out about it?  (I'll take any Tim Hardin I can get.) 

I always check theseconddisc.com and superdeluxeedition,com for upcoming non-jazz reissues.  Great sites.  One us USA-based, the other UK-based, so they often have different radar out.

[felser]

Did a little research on the new Woodstock sets.  The 38-CD, $800 extravaganza has 1733 minutes of music and 439 minutes of announcements.   The 10-CD $110 set has 702 minutes of music, and I'm guessing around 80 minutes of announcements.  So if you just factor music, you are paying 16 cents/minute for the music on the 10-CD set.  On the margin then, you are paying another $690 for another 1031 minutes of music, or 67 cents/minute for the additional music, minus whatever the additional announcements and the package trinkets are worth to you.  Want to factor out the music that has already been available in previously released individual artist sets at some point, as I believe I have all of those (except the new Creedence).  67 minutes of music appears on the 2009 6-CD set which does not appear on the 2019 10-CD set.  Have not compared the 4-CD 1994 set or the original Woodstock/Woodstock II sets.  

[gvopedz]

1 hour ago, felser said:

Have not compared the 4-CD 1994 set or the original Woodstock/Woodstock II sets.  

 

Speaking of the original Woodstock album:

 

…Two of the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young tracks, “Wooden Ships” and “Sea of Madness,” came from a Fillmore East show shortly after the festival, since Neil Young was reportedly happy with the recordings. Arlo Guthrie’s mic gave out during “Coming Into Los Angeles,” so the version heard on Woodstock was taken from a show at the Troubadour in Los Angeles….

 

…The crowd chanting Country Joe McDonald’s “The ‘Fish’ Cheer” (“Gimme an F. . . . Gimme a U…”) weren’t loud enough, so under Blackstead’s direction, a gaggle of studio employees shouted along in the studio. The same went for the famous “Rain Chant,” a clatter of pots and pans that was also concocted in the studio. “There is a ton of fake stuff,” says producer Andy Zax, who sorted through the tapes for an upcoming, unadulterated Woodstock box. “To one degree or another, the Woodstock soundtrack record is a pretty fraudulent artifact. But a lot of it was defensible. There were technical reasons or artist preferences.”

 

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/triumph-tragedy-woodstock-album-producer-eric-blackstead-849575/

[felser]

39 minutes ago, gvopedz said:

 

Speaking of the original Woodstock album:

 

…Two of the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young tracks, “Wooden Ships” and “Sea of Madness,” came from a Fillmore East show shortly after the festival, since Neil Young was reportedly happy with the recordings. Arlo Guthrie’s mic gave out during “Coming Into Los Angeles,” so the version heard on Woodstock was taken from a show at the Troubadour in Los Angeles….

 

…The crowd chanting Country Joe McDonald’s “The ‘Fish’ Cheer” (“Gimme an F. . . . Gimme a U…”) weren’t loud enough, so under Blackstead’s direction, a gaggle of studio employees shouted along in the studio. The same went for the famous “Rain Chant,” a clatter of pots and pans that was also concocted in the studio. “There is a ton of fake stuff,” says producer Andy Zax, who sorted through the tapes for an upcoming, unadulterated Woodstock box. “To one degree or another, the Woodstock soundtrack record is a pretty fraudulent artifact. But a lot of it was defensible. There were technical reasons or artist preferences.”

 

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/triumph-tragedy-woodstock-album-producer-eric-blackstead-849575/

Reason enough to keep the 1994 box then, an authentic record of the fake original releases!  Read the article - very interesting and very very tragic.

Edited August 9, 2019 by felser

[Brad]

That is a pretty sad story.  Sometimes the right people don’t get the credit. 

I’m intrigued by the statement about Andy Zak working on an unadulterated box. I wonder if the writer of the piece was referring to the one that just came out or another one.  If the latter, I can’t imagine we need another box so soon after the Rhino box.

 

Edited August 9, 2019 by Brad

[felser]

1 hour ago, Brad said:

That is a pretty sad story.  Sometimes the right people don’t get the credit. 

I’m intrigued by the statement about Andy Zak working on an unadulterated box. I wonder if the writer of the piece was referring to the one that just came out or another one.  If the latter, I can’t imagine we need another box so soon after the Rhino box.

 

It's the one that just came out.

[Brad]

For those with access to the print edition of the Times, there is a special pullout section in Sunday’s paper that is pretty nice. 

[Brad]

This is a terrific review that appeared in All About Jazz. The writer, John Kelman, focuses primarily on the 10 cd box. In his intro, he goes over the problems fixed in Back to the Garden and so forth. He then goes over each artist, the songs they sung and the ones that appear in the 10cd set, as well as talking about each artist before and after Woodstock. It’s a long article, around 17,000 words. 

Various Artists: Woodstock—Back To The Garden: 50th Anniversary Experience

[Brad]

Here is an interview that Bob Boilen of NPR did with Andy Zak, who produced the 50th Anniversary set, as well as the 40th. Great stuff. 

NPR Interview - Andy Zak

[Brad]

Talk about eBay craziness, the 38cd box sold for a shade under $3,000 tonight 

[felser]

11 hours ago, Brad said:

Talk about eBay craziness, the 38cd box sold for a shade under $3,000 tonight 

 

11 hours ago, Brad said:

Talk about eBay craziness, the 38cd box sold for a shade under $3,000 tonight 

Havent seen that nutsness in a while.  So much for me hoping to get one for $400 or so.

Edited August 17, 2019 by felser

[Brad]

4 hours ago, felser said:

 

Havent seen that nutsness in a while.  So much for me hoping to get one for $400 or so.

I have to think the prices may settle down once this anniversary is over and people control their impulses. 

[T.D.]

On 8/17/2019 at 10:05 AM, felser said:

 

Havent seen that nutsness in a while.  So much for me hoping to get one for $400 or so.

I dunno, John...I live about an hour from Woodstock, and the Woodstock radio station has been replaying the entire event as it happened. As stated above in some thread (maybe this one; I'm too lazy to check), an awful lot of bad music (and many PA announcements, etc. that only the dedicated would care for) is included in those 38 CDs. Driving around the past couple of days, in a bit over 4 hours I heard a lot of stinkers, some mediocre stuff, and unfortunately nothing great. 10 discs would be more than enough for me.

2 minutes ago, T.D. said:

 

 

Edited August 18, 2019 by T.D.

[felser]

2 hours ago, T.D. said:

I dunno, John...I live about an hour from Woodstock, and the Woodstock radio station has been replaying the entire event as it happened. As stated above in some thread (maybe this one; I'm too lazy to check), an awful lot of bad music (and many PA announcements, etc. that only the dedicated would care for) is included in those 38 CDs. Driving around the past couple of days, in a bit over 4 hours I heard a lot of stinkers, some mediocre stuff, and unfortunately nothing great. 10 discs would be more than enough for me.

 

You may well be right.  I have the 10 CD set, and that probably will end up being sufficient, especially considering the sets that are available as standalone releases (Airplane, Santana, Hendrix, Cocker, Sly, Winter, Creedence, parts of Sweetwater, and likely more to come and likely more I am forgetting).  I surely don't need (or want) 700 minutes of stage announcements!

[Brad]

I have listened to half of the 10 cd set and several hours of the XPN broadcast and have heard few what T.D. calls stinkers. Perhaps he can elaborate what he didn't like. Although I wasn't crazy about Melanie, over at the Hoffman forum, where this has been extensively discussed, there were several people who loved the Melanie set.  The stage announcements and the background noise is a very important part of this release, whether in the 10 cd set or big box, because it makes you feel as if you are there. You just don't get that feel in other recorded concerts. Andy Zak, the producer, likened the recordings to field recordings and I think he's right. The more I listen to the box set, the more I'm regretting not having purchased the big box.  

Going back to the prices for a second, one box sold for $3,000 today and another for $3,500. 

Edited August 19, 2019 by Brad