Review of Woodstock Diaries (reissue)

Introduction

This disc is a re-release of a previously issued disc of the same name, though this version has had a Digital 5.1 and DTS audio makeover. The disc comprises three one hour-long documentaries (originally made for TV) tracing three days in the summer of `69 that rocked the world - Woodstock. Who would have believed that such a half-baked, ill prepared, badly conceived, naively planned rock-fest would continue to have such resonance, setting the template for outdoor rock festivals to this day.

These three one hour documentary chapters each take a single day of the festival (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) and intersperse contemporary interviews (1994) with D.A. Pennebaker`s original 16mm film of the event. It`s a formula that works and its surprisingly compelling viewing - the kind of documentary that you catch on the box and can`t wait for the next instalment. The music is wildly varied, and there are unarguably some incredible performances amongst them, but it`s the social backdrop combined with the ham-fisted logistical planning that make this tale so fascinating.

Some 500,000 people descended on this farm, some 100 miles outside NYC, many without tickets, accommodation, food or money. A further 150,000 gridlocked the roads leading to the festival, which had made no provision for the extra traffic. The most compelling of the interviews are with the two starchy young business men who invested their own inheritance money into the event and apocryphally `took a bath` in terms of re-numeration as the `free love festival` became a `free festival` for many in every sense of the word. You really feel for the duds as you hear how mercenary rockers `The Who` amongst others held them effectively to ransom on the night of their performance by demanding $50,000 in cash before they`d play. No wonder Daltry was able to afford that trout farm!

Friday kicks off with a couple of rousing acoustic numbers from Richie Havens, who opened the festival because `…he seemed to be the only guy ready`, and he did it in great style. His is one of the most enduring performances of the festival, and he also had the foresight not to introduce his particular contributions with `far out man` or variant. Sensible man. Which is more than can be said for John Sebastian, (Lovin` Spoonful) who drivels on about rainbows, love and peace before going into one of his perfectly pleasant ditties.

In-between these, Country Joe McDonald and the Fish deliver one of the Woodstock highlights, the black-humour filled anti-Nam song, `Fixin` to Die`.

Arlo Guthrie gets the vote for `most stoned` on day one, and Joan Baez for the most long-winded. Remarkably, she appears to think that each of the 500,000 strong audience are close friends and has a cosy, intimate chat with them all. She then delivers her two tracks here with sublime elegance and expertise. Truly a songbird of the old school!

Saturday`s a rockin` day and highlights for me included an incredibly young Carlos Santana and band delivering a blistering version of `Soul Sacrifice`, with his searing guitar set against a wall of Latin percussion.

Canned Heat are great too, being the first of the Blues oriented acts at the festival - visually notable as their singer, the late great Bob "The Bear" Hite, a renowned blues historian in his own right, makes Meat Loaf look like one of the cheeky girls.

Sly and the Family Stone certainly look stoned and a little wild and wayward but they bring some mighty fine funk to the field.

Janis Joplin is simply mesmerising. It`s genuinely difficult to tally the powerhouse vocals with this plain and un-assuming looking lady. Her performance of `Ball and Chain` is pure soul blues, closer to Stax than to traditional Rock.

The Who blast out `My Generation` with some aplomb, and the night (which looks like it`s turned to day) closes with Jefferson Airplane singing `Somebody to Love` (currently doing the rounds as Ad music again) and, of course, `White Rabbit`.

Sunday`s highlights include a Joe Cocker doing a typically croaky voiced rendition of `Let`s get stoned`, though it looks like the crowd need very little encouragement!

Ten Years After run through their pumped up blues favourite, `Goin` home` with Alvin Lee doing his flat-out-blues licks routine with great flair. Johnny Winter`s `Mean Time Blues` shows this fine guitarist at the height of his powers, making a complex riff, with his own vocals across the top, look pretty simple.

Crosby, Stills and Nash show how powerful perfect three-part harmonies can be on their version of `Blackbird, and Paul Butterfield offers up another nod at the blues. Sha Na Na are a little anomalous as the only period rock n` rollers on site, but they go down a storm with their classic rendition of `Duke of Earl`. The whole set closes with (who else?) Hendrix burning through three numbers here, inclosing `The Star Spangled Banner`, and a long untitled improvisation. This was never considered his finest hour (see Isle of Wight for that) but it`s great stuff none-the-less.

In-between the music are scenes of nude bathing, rainstorms, dope smoking, lovemaking and lots of appreciative dreamy nodding.

Video

This is curious to say the least. Whilst the video interviews are forgivably soft, even Pennebaker`s 16 mm stuff looks a little soft and saturated too. I suspect that this 4:3 release may be transferred from NTSC digital video tapes to PAL. But it `s good enough to enjoy.

Audio

I understand that previous releases were criticised for `muddy sound`. That`s certainly not the case here. The DTS track is crisp and clean - and remarkably so for a field recording of this age.

Features

To complain that there are few worthwhile extras on this disc seems surly. After all - you get some three hours of really compelling music programming. What you do get is some text should you want it, either in scrolling form on your monitor or TV, or in printable form from the DVD-Rom. These include band biographies and `The Woodstock Story`.

Conclusion

This DVD, featuring three one hour documentaries previously aired on television, has enjoyed an audio make-over that makes it a joy to sit through. Sure the pictures aren`t up to much - something curious has happened to Pennebaker`s original 16mm footage during transfer - but it`s a compelling story well told. There are a number of contemporary interviews with those that made it happen and plenty of supportive visual material to make it work. And of course much of the music itself is quite magnificent. (Richie Havens, Janis Joplin, Hendrix, Johnny Winter, Santana etc).

It`s a great way to learn about the mother of all festivals, the one that started it all off, and it`s a really fascinating record of the hippy culture that hadn`t yet been destroyed by Manson and Altamont. Great stuff and well worth getting hold of.