Woodstock – Back to the Garden: 50th Anniversary Experience

Woodstock – Back to the Garden: 50th Anniversary Experience is a live album by various artists, packaged as a box set of ten compact discs. Released by Rhino Records during the summer leading up to the fiftieth anniversary of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, it contains selections from every performance at the music festival, which took place on August 15–18, 1969, in Bethel, New York. The discs also include stage announcements and miscellaneous audio material. The package contains essays by producer Andy Zax and Jesse Jarnow, details about the performers and notable festival figures, and photographs. This box set is a compilation derived from its limited edition parent box set. A smaller three-CD or five-LP sampler was also released.

Background

Although expanded issue sets from the festival had appeared for the 25th anniversary in 1994 and the 40th anniversary in 2009, this set proved more ambitious both in method and scope. Producer and archivist Zax spent more than a decade putting it together from hundreds of tapes that had never been consolidated in one place. In the process of reconstructing the festival for these sets, Zax corrected for some flaws in how the music was issued earlier. To wit:

These recordings have suffered a lot of indignities over the years: bad mixes, poor mastering, vocal and instrumental overdubs, rerecordings, sweetenings, deceptive edits, fake applause, fake cricket noises, fake rain chants, fake audience members yelling along with 'The Fish Cheer,' and entirely fraudulent tracks recorded at [other locations]...

Zax, along with mix engineer Brian Kehew and mastering engineer Dave Schultz, referred to photographic documentation which allowed them to situate the performers within the mix based on where they were standing onstage. Although efforts were undertaken to limit any interference in the original sound of the tapes, Zax and the production team were able to turn the surviving mono recording by Ravi Shankar into a true stereo mix.

Content

Unlike previous collations on record of music from the Woodstock Festival and like its parent box, 50th Anniversary Experience presents music from every performer and in the correct order chronologically they appeared over the course of the festival's three days. Discs one and two include all eight of the mostly folk artists who performed on the first day, starting Friday, August 15. The 14 performers from the second day, starting in the afternoon of Saturday, August 16, commence with the final performers on disc two Quill and end with the first performers on disc seven, Jefferson Airplane. The ten performers on the third and final day starting in the afternoon of Sunday, August 17, continue on the rest of disc seven through disc ten. One artist, Country Joe McDonald, appears twice having played a solo set on day two and another set with his band on day three.

Of the 162 tracks on the set, 117 are musical performances. Interspersed among the musical numbers are stage announcements comprising the remaining 45 tracks, mostly by the festival's unofficial mc's Chip Monck and John Morris. Farmer Max Yasgur, upon whose farm the festival took place, addresses the assembled crowd on day three. Also included is the 'confrontation' between Who guitarist Pete Townshend and activist Abbie Hoffman, the latter interrupting the Who's set to pontificate upon the prison sentence of White Panther John Sinclair. The edit for the performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" into "Purple Haze" by Jimi Hendrix seems to duplicate that found on the original soundtrack album. Although not appearing at the festival, the presence of counterculture icons Bob Dylan and The Beatles is felt via songs covered in this box set — five artists sing Dylan songs, and three sing the Beatles.

Track listing

Disc one – Richie Havens, Sweetwater, Bert Sommer, Tim Hardin

Disc two – Ravi Shankar, Melanie, Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, Quill

Disc three – Country Joe McDonald, Santana, John Sebastian, Keef Hartley Band

Disc four – The Incredible String Band, Canned Heat

Disc five – Mountain, Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival

Disc six – Janis Joplin, Sly and the Family Stone, The Who

Disc seven – Jefferson Airplane, Joe Cocker

Disc eight – Country Joe and the Fish, Ten Years After, The Band

Disc nine – Johnny Winter, Blood Sweat & Tears, Crosby Stills Nash & Young

Disc ten – Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Sha Na Na, Jimi Hendrix

Personnel

Musical artists

Day one

• Richie Havens — vocal, guitar; Paul 'Deano' Williams — guitar, vocal; Daniel Ben Zebulon — congas
• Sweetwater Nansi Nevins — vocal, guitar; Albert Moore — flute, vocal; August Burns — cello; Alex del Zoppo — keyboards, vocal; R.G. Carlyle — electric guitar, bongos, vocal; Fred Herrera — electric bass, vocal; Alan Malarowitz — drums; Elpidio 'Pete' Cobian — congas
• Bert Sommer — vocal, guitar; Ira Stone — electric guitar, organ, harmonica; Charlie Bilello — bass
• Tim Hardin — vocal, guitar; Richard Bock — cello; Gilles Malkine — guitar; Ralph Towner — guitar, piano; Glen Moore — bass; Muruga Booker — drums
• Ravi Shankar — sitar; Alla Rakha — tabla; Maya Kulkami — tambura
• Melanie Safka — vocal, guitar
• Arlo Guthrie — vocal, guitar; John Pilla — guitar; Bob Arkin — bass; Paul Motian — drums
• Joan Baez — vocal, guitar; Richard Festinger — guitar; Jeffrey Shurtlieff — vocal, guitar on "Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man"

Day two

• Quill Dan Cole — vocal; Phil Thayer — keyboards, saxophone, flute; Norman Rogers — guitar, vocal; Jon Cole — bass, vocal; Roger North — drums
• Country Joe McDonald — vocal, guitar
• Santana Gregg Rolie — keyboards, vocal; Carlos Santana — guitar; David Brown — bass; Michael Shrieve — drums; José Areas, Mike Carabello — timbales, congas, percussion
• John Sebastian — vocal, guitar
• Keef Hartley Band Henry Lowther — trumpet, violin; Jimmy Jewell — saxophone; Miller Anderson — guitar, vocal; Gary Thain — bass; Keef Hartley — drums
• The Incredible String Band Mike Heron — vocal, guitar, piano, various; Robin Williamson — vocal, guitar, piano, violin; Christina 'Licorice' McKechnie — organ, vocal; Rose Simpson — bass, recorder, vocal, percussion
• Canned Heat Bob Hite — vocal, harmonica; Alan Wilson — vocal, guitar, harmonica; Harvey Mandel — guitar; Larry Taylor — bass; Adolpho de la Parra — drums
• Mountain Leslie West — vocal, guitar; Steve Knight — keyboards; Felix Pappalardi — bass; Norman 'N.D.' Smart — drums
• The Grateful Dead Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir — vocals, guitars; Ron 'Pigpen' McKernan, Tom Constanten — keyboards, vocals; Phil Lesh — bass; Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann — drums
• Creedence Clearwater Revival John Fogerty — vocal, guitar, harmonica; Tom Fogerty — rhythm guitar, vocal; Stu Cook — bass; Doug 'Cosmo' Clifford — drums
• Janis Joplin — vocal; Luis Gasca — trumpet; Terry Clements — tenor saxophone; Cornelius 'Snooky' Flowers — baritone saxophone, vocal; Richard Kermode — keyboards; John Till - guitar; Brad Campbell — bass; Maury Baker — drums
• Sly and the Family Stone Cynthia Robinson — trumpet; Jerry Martini — saxophone; Sly Stone — vocal, keyboards; Rose Stone — keyboards, vocal; Freddie Stone — guitar, vocal; Larry Graham — bass, vocal; Gregg Errico — drums
• The Who Roger Daltrey — vocal; Pete Townshend — guitar, vocal; John Entwistle — bass, vocal; Keith Moon — drums
• Jefferson Airplane Marty Balin, Grace Slick — vocals; Nicky Hopkins — piano; Paul Kantner, Jorma Kaukonen — guitars, vocals; Jack Casady — bass; Spencer Dryden — drums

Day three

• Joe Cocker — vocal; Chris Stainton — keyboards; Henry McCullough — guitar, vocal; Alan Spenner — bass, vocal; Bruce Rowland — drums
• Country Joe and the Fish Country Joe McDonald — vocal, guitar; Mark Kapner, Barry Melton — guitars; Doug Metzner — bass; Greg Dewey — drums
• Ten Years After Alvin Lee — vocal, guitar; Chick Churchill — keyboards; Leo Lyons — bass; Ric Lee — drums
• The Band Richard Manuel — vocal, piano, organ; Garth Hudson — organ, piano; Robbie Robertson — guitar, vocal; Rick Danko — vocal, bass; Levon Helm — vocal, drums
• Johnny Winter — vocal, guitar; Tommy Shannon — bass; John Turner — drums
• Blood, Sweat & Tears Lew Soloff, Chuck Winfield — trumpets, flugelhorns; Jerry Hyman — trombone; Fred Lipsius — alto saxophone, piano; Dick Halligan — keyboards, trombone, flute; David Clayton-Thomas, Steve Katz — vocals, guitars; Jim Fielder — bass; Bobby Colomby — drums
• Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young David Crosby, Graham Nash — vocals, guitars; Stephen Stills, Neil Young — vocals, guitars, organ; Greg Reeves — bass; Dallas Taylor — drums
• Paul Butterfield Blues Band Keith Johnson, Steve Madaio — trumpets; David Sanborn, Trevor Lawrence — saxophones; Gene Dinwiddie — vocal, tenor saxophone; Paul Butterfield — vocal, harmonica; Howard 'Buzzy' Feiten — guitar; Rod Hicks — bass; Phillip Wilson — drums
• Sha Na Na Alan Cooper, Dave Garrett, Frederick 'Dennis' Greene, Richard Joffe, Rob Leonard, Scott Powell, Donny York — vocals; Joe Witkin — keyboards; Elliot Cahn, Henry Gross — guitars; Bruce Clarke III — bass; Jocko Marcellino — drums
• Jimi Hendrix — vocal, guitar; Larry Lee — rhythm guitar; Billy Cox — bass, vocal; Mitch Mitchell — drums; Juma Sultan — percussion; Jerry Velez — congas

Production

• Andy Zax, Steve Woolard, Brian Kehew — reissue producers
• Eddie Kramer, Lee Osborne — original location recording engineers
• Dave Schulz, James Clarke, Mike Sawitzke — mastering and mixing engineers
• Suzanne Savage — project supervision
• Mike Engstrom, Shannon Ward — product and packaging managers
• Sheryl Farber, Allison Boron — editorial supervisors
• Lisa Glines, Masaki Koike — art supervision, direction, and design
• Henry Diltz, Dan Garson, Baron Wolman — photography

References