Woodstock

Everyone knows the importance of this collection in the history of modern American music and culture, and most people old enough to remember know where they were that summer (if not that weekend) in 1969.

This CD is a great collection, capturing the essence of those times. The list of musicians is a Who's Who of the acts that shaped the baby boomer generation. The music is compiled into four CDs, each with its own personality and power. None of the tracks are timed and one song often flows into another (unlike the concert where time between acts was long, largely due to logistics.) The song pointers are a little strangely placed, where a long introduction is considered part of the previous track, not the current. I imagine that makes it easier for radio disc jockeys to cue up a song, but tends to cut out the familiar casual introduction. I would have preferred to see these defined as additional tracks. For instance, Joan Baez talks intimately to the crowd about her husband's draft protest in prison, yet this is still considered part of Arlo Guthrie's set. Her track begins when the music starts, while I consider the introduction part of her work.

All of the music is interwoven with crowd sounds and in some cases the crowd dominates. Country Joe McDonald's "FISH" Cheer is a good example (although the actual spelling is not politically correct.) You can clearly hear the self-confidence of this large group of rain-soaked free spirits making a statement while making history.

This collection makes us part of the crowd. We hear some of the bands worry about the lightning and receive various announcements from time to time. There are fifty different songs by twenty-two different artists including Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Santana, Mountain, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, The Band, Joe Cocker, and Jefferson Airplane. This is too much to cover in any depth in the space allotted here, so I will provide a few highlights.

Richie Havens opens the CD with a few beautiful tracks, especially the lively Freedom. Carlos Santana gives us eleven minutes of Soul Sacrifice, one of the numbers that anchors the entire boxed set. It is a strong performance by an artist who has lasted a long time and still dazzles me. Arlo Guthrie and Joan Baez provide a good reference to that moment in time when this generation faced college, the draft, and the future. Jefferson Airplane's set, five tracks full, is a pleasure to hear now after all these years. Joe Cocker rocks a terrific pair of songs, including the Lennon and McCartney tune With a Little Help from my Friends. Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young provide six more tracks on the fourth CD and they are excellent. Each of these four artists wrote at least one of these numbers and it is easy to see how their music had such an impact on the audience. Jimi Hendrix closes out the collection with three tracks, sandwiching the now famous Star Spangled Banner.

In addition to all of this great music, the collection is boxed and includes an artistic booklet including photos, quotes, interviews, and an interesting fact sheet. For example, promoters originally planned on having 60,000 people attend. 186,000 tickets were sold and an estimated 400,000 people were there. Another 250,000 never made it due to traffic.

Pick this CD up, though, and you can relive it all---without the mud.