Customer Reviews

Best of Woodstock

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

There must be a better chronicle of the Woodstock festival than this CD. Many of the songs are severely edited. Santana's wonderful "Soul Sacrifice" is greatly shortened (you can get the full complete performance on the 30th anniversary CD of Santana's debut album), as well as Ten Years After's amazing performance of "I'm Going Home". "I'm Going Home" was MUCH longer than the version that's on this CD. They completely butchered a classic performance.

I really can't recommend this CD, it could have been so much more. They could have at least included the complete songs without editing them so drastically. It would have been much better as a 2-disc set. I have to give them kudos for including Richie Havens and Canned Heat, though.

If you want the best of Woodstock, then the 4-disc Woodstock box set would be your best bet.

Overall this is a good selection from the first Woodstock-Double-CD (or triple-LP), but it should be retitled:

"Best of Woodstock, Sly Stone not included...".

So my advice is to buy the Double-CD, because Sly's performance (almost 15 minutes, so that is maybe the reason why it isn't included on this CD) is absolutely essential!

I think it's a great shame the the so called "critics comments" could be printed under such a timeless record. Admittedly, on first listening, some songs like Canned Heat's, "Going up country", seem a little jaunty and silly, I felt that when I first saw the festival in the cinemal three years ago; but in these last three years I have bought CD's/records by nearly all of the bands who performed there because they are so truly wonderful. I listen to Hip Hop and Jazz and other types of music but this CD, and this particular snapshot of psychedelia, is for me the pinnacle of modern music. The experimentation was at its height eg Hendrix... The chilled riffs of Crossby Stills and Nashes song, "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" have not been surpassed for beauty and its layed back qualities; The haunting cries of Ravi Shankar's sitar, The proclamation of peace by Country Joe, Santana's orgasmic "Soul sacrifice".... there are so many more to mention. The truth is that during that festival many people did sacrifice their souls for the music and the love....

Great songs, lousy recording. Unfortunatly the entire CD is a flat, no-fi transfer. Editing could have been better to. 3 minutes of obnoxiuos crowd chant before "Soul Sacrifice" taints slightly one of the greatest songs in Rock and Roll history. Engineer dude must have fallen asleep while putting this CD together. Break out your old WS Lp if you still have it, you'd be better off.

On a trip to Washington, DC, I spotted a cassette of this album in a giftshop at the Smithsonian. I thought it was cool, and I sort of liked all of these bands, especially Hendrix, and I thought about getting it. The next day, I went back to the shop and bought it. I thought it was the most incredible thing I ever heard. It was just about the only tape in my walkman for the rest of our trip. The best part of the album was...yup, you guessed it, Jimi Hendrix. I also enjoyed Country Joe (which I found quite funny) and the Who and CSNY. I love everything about this album. If you know one that can beat it, I would like to know about it.

If you can't afford the full boxed set, this is a nice sampler of the WOODSTOCK experience. Joe Cocker soars on "With a Little Help From My Friends" and after 1001 listens I still get chills. It's an amazing performance. On a technical level this CD is sloppy at times, but the overall effect is wonderful and makes one yearn for more. Pop music has become so lame and such a forum for people who have no talent outside of studio and the effects that can be produced with electronics that it makes one yearn for a time when true talent and musicianship were all that was necessary for an intense musical experience. This disc will give you a taste of what can be called the height of an era when real emotions and raw talent ruled the airwaves and the public's taste for music.

I bought this CD for my 48 year old mom, and she loves it. It has the most famous songs from Woodstock on it.

Woodstock... peace, love, long haired hippies and of course the music. This CD has all of the songs you know and love and one or two you'd like to forget. While the Who, Crosby,Stills and Nash, Joe Cocker and Hendrix make this album memorable, Joan Baez makes it one you'll want to forget.

Overall an excellent soundtrack with some great performances on it.

All of the tracks on this CD are extracted from the classic 2CD (originally 3LP) soundtrack of the film which has been available since June 1970, ten months after the August 1969 concert occurred. Why bother getting only half of that awesome soundtrack which offers so much more in the form of excellent music, funny stage announcements, the actual sounds of the thunder and chaos during the storm, the crowd rain chant, etc.? Woodstock was about so much more than "just" what was happening onstage which this music-only CD misleads you to believe. I suggest getting this *only* if you're a completist like me and have already purchased the *real* 2CD set - otherwise you run the risk of getting this and never realizing just how much fun you've conned yourself into missing. The 2CD set is worth the price just for Sly And The Family Stone's unbelieveably incredible 12-plus-minute medley. Besides, this really isn't "The Best Of Woodstock", IMHO. For that I had to break out Audacity and stitch together my own custom set of tracks from both the original "Woodstock" and "Woodstock Two" follow-up release. If you absolutely must have "The Best Of Woodstock" on one CD, try this instead! :)

1. Canned Heat, "Going Up The Country"
2. Stage Announcements
3. Country Joe & The Fish, "Rock And Soul Music"
4. Arlo Guthrie, "Coming Into Los Angeles"
5. Country Joe McDonald, "The 'Fish' Cheer / I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag"
6. Joan Baez feat. Jerry Shurtleff, "Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man"
7. Joan Baez, "Sweet Sir Galahad"
8. Stage Announcements
9. Crosby, Stills & Nash. "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes"
10. Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, "Sea Of Madness"
11. Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, "Marrakesh Express"
12. John B. Sebastian, "Rainbows All Over Your Blues"
13. Ten Years After, "I'm Going Home"
14. Max Yasgur's Address To The Crowd
15. Sly & The Family Stone, "Medley: Dance to the Music / Music Lover / I Want to Take You Higher"
16. Jimi Hendrix, "The Star-Spangled Banner / Purple Haze / Instrumental Solo"

I grew up on woodstock, you will never hear this type of live concert ever again.woodstock is what the music was all about, 350.000 music lovers enjoying three days of great acts and geting to know one another.this cd. is the best to ever come around. if you love this music, you will love woodstock.