Customer Reviews

20 Years After - Woodstock Reunion Concert / Timothy Leary, Blood Sweat & Tears, Canned Heat, Iron Butterfly

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Looks like an outdoor concert that could have been in your backyard with the amount of people there. Timothy Leary's comments make up most of the DVD and do not need to be included-he cuts into performances with his relentless rambling on about nothing--Canned Heat was good-Iron Butterfly was good-it had the original bass player (Lee Dorman) the guitarist Eric Braunn (who died a few years ago) was there but where was Ron Bushy(drummer) or Doug Engle (lead vocals)? The singer in this lineup was terrible -I saw this group a few yrs later when they had Bushy, Dorman, and Engle-lots better than this lineup--Electric Flag was good with Nick Granvities (only original member) on lead vocals-- I wish they had interviews with the musicians and named the current members instead of having to listen to the Leary Crap!!!! My advice is to stay away from this one--its no Woodstock material----

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the performances. Vision was O.K. - I could even live the faux psychadelic effects, and the sound was good. Why oh why everytime there's an instrumental break do we have to put up with Timothy Leary crapping on about heaven knows what?? Surely with the high tech wizardery available to DVD producers these days we could at least have the option of switching Leary off. The DVD went back on the shelf and will stay there. US$20+ down the toilet. Save your money, don't make the same mistake I made.

This was a two day event that I attended back in '89, held on the football field at Cal State Dominguez College in California . It wasn't promoted very well, so it didn't do very
well as far as attendance. I remember they were filming the whole thing and have been waiting for this to come out. Here it is, and it's a mixed bag. I don't recall Timothy Leary being there, and even if he was, I don't think it warrants the producers of this DVD to put him on over the bands while they are playing. I wanted to see the bands performing. If they absolutely needed Leary to sell this, they should have put him before the band segments. There are some good performances here,
if you don't expect to see everyone young again. Not all of these bands were at Woodstock. Mark Farner will tell you that Grand Funk was not invited. Let me get what I consider the low points out of the way first. Iron Butterfly,Humble Pie,Spencer Davis all consisted of original members with a bunch of heavy metal looking people that looked like they came from the Troubador.It's A Beautiful Day was actually there,and turned in a great performance,but are not seen here. Mark Farner,Melanie,Country Joe McDonald,Canned Heat,Leon Russel & Edgar Winter,& Electric Flag were all good. The reason to buy this DVD is Blood Sweat & Tears!

As soon as I loaded disc one and pushed play, I knew this release was a terrible joke. It should be called "The Timothy Leary Show". Who in the world would want spaced out Timothy Leary incoherently rambling on about God knows what on a dvd? If that wasn't bad enough he does it OVER many of the performances!!! Couple that with amaturistic video effects and superimposed images over the musicians as they play...ah nevermind. It's all been said before on here so it's redundant to continue.

This release will find itself in the bargin bin in no time. DO NOT BUY THIS no matter how cheap the price gets. I give it 1 star becuase it's not permitted to give any less.

This is an interesting sociological piece as well as a musical one. It's true that some of the bands were not at Woodstock - that crowd has been thinned out a bit - but almost all of those appearing in this video were active musically in the Sixties or very early Seventies. It's very much a Return to, or Remains of the Sixties, as contrasted to the other Woodstock concerts which were distinctly updated versions of the Great Event. So you see (besides Tim Leary and Wavy Gravy) many very 60s icons like Ginger Baker, Spencer Davis, Randy California (from Spirit), Blood Sweat & Tears, Leon Russell, Country Joe, Buddy Miles...

The sound is good and so is the visual. The set is well priced for a three hour run. Found it rather sad, since one was reminded more of the decades of let-down that followed those great Sixties feelings that anything was possible. But hell, we're still here at least, and those guys haven't forgotten how to play.

Absolute crap. You got Leary yammering on about whatever DURING many of the songs.
You got "It's a Beautiful Day" listed as one of the performers but you just get to hear one of their songs while watching footage of an Apollo mission.
You got some very old, very tired folks trying to play in front of a crowd of about four hundred people who just want to eat their sandwiches and leave.
I wasn't aware that Grand Funk Railroad or B S & T or Iron Butterfly were at the original Woodstock, but then, there's a lot I don't know. Like what ever posessed me to buy this bus wreck in the first place.

I thought it would be cool. It's not.

I realize that musical skills may fall off with age, but there is no excuse for this mess. To being with, the musicianship is not much beyond the garage-band level. There may be some talented musicians in these acts, but there is no evidence that they practiced or rehearsed for this concert.

OK, even if we cut them a break on performance skills out of respect for their role in rock history, that still leaves the problem of the poor decisions the DVD producers made. First, they unforgivably had a cachectic Timothy O'Leary narrating at length OVER the music. Second, there are also visual interruptions with 60s newsreel footage playing over the acts. Finally, there are the very amateurish video effects that were added to the performances.

There is food for thought here though. Consider that Melanie, who was one of the sexiest women on the 60s musical scene, has let herself go to the point that she is dangerously overweight. Young people should take heed about maintaining a healthy lifestyle to keep this from happening to them. You can really go to seed in a mere 20 years.

I'm 46, and don't really care for a lot of the new music, so I look to reissues on CD and DVD of bands that I missed the "first time around." This 3 DVD set looked promising, but whatever possessed the producers to have Timothy Leary blather on and on through the performances is far beyond me. There is also an attempt to make the video "psychedelic" with cheezy video effects. This said, the performances of Blood Sweat and Tears are great, and even have new life in them. I also thought Mark Farner's band was great. Alas, most of the other bands are simply sad echoes of what they were, with filler musicians who seem very out of place. If this DVD was re-released WITHOUT Timothy Leary and the cheap effects, it would be a much better product.

Wow, I've just been sitting here getting totally blown away these acts are so good, and the music oh so fine. This was 1989, Dr Tim was alive, God bless him, and these wonderful musicians are still at top form. Many of these groups like It's a Beautiful Day, Leon Russell, Edgar Winter, Iron Butterfly, Blood Sweat & Tears, Spencer Davis, and Grand Funk were never featured on the Woodstock movie, were only there in spirit, or were under played on that heavy edit, given maybe a single song. Just think that Warner Bros movie is only 3 hours long out of 3 days of peace and music! Many acts were practically ignored, and days worth of film remains on the cutting room floor suppressed by who knows who for who knows what reason. What 20 Years After excells at is creating the atmosphere, and making you wish for a "40 Years after" if that would be possible. I'll be there fer shure! God is, Love is, I am.... nice sentiment quoted from the art! Find a friend or a few, drop a hit, load your dvd carosel, and enjoy this 147 minutes of bliss. Sound and video quality are excellent!

this dvd isn't as bad as some have stated. no, the special effects aren't top notch, and leary does appear quite a bit. but nobody talks about the bands...yes, the bands. remember them? some of these bands are the best music has to offer from that time period. so stop whining about the stuff that is so unimportant, and start focusing on what is, the music. enough said! peace!