Massive Woodstock 50th anniversary box set features every artist from the festival
It seems increasingly likely that Woodstock 50 isn’t going to happen, despite Trump’s lawyer’s best efforts. Though we won’t be celebrating the iconic festival with a new event, at least we’ll be able to relive the original one: Rhino has announced the massive Woodstock — Back to the Garden — The Definitive 50th Anniversary Archive box set, due out August 2nd.
The huge collection consists of 432 tracks spread over 38 CDs, with 267 recordings totaling over 20 hours never-before released. Each of the 32 artists who performed over the course of that legendary weekend in August 1969 is represented in chronological order, including full performances by the likes of Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez, The Band, Grateful Dead, The Who, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Even crowd and stagehand chatter from microphones setup around the festival grounds and stage announcements from stage manager John Morris and lighting director Chip Monck (like the infamous “flat blue acid” warning) have been preserved.
(Read: Why Did American Music Festivals Almost Disappear in the 1970s and ’80s?)
Producer Andy Zax, sound producer Brian Kehew, and mastering engineer Dave Schultz located over 60 multi-track reels recorded by Eddie Kramer and Lee Osborne, plus 100 soundboard reels taken by the stage crew. They avoided tampering with the tapes as much as possible, leaving the audio defects in place like “the sonic equivalent of heirloom tomatoes — slightly imperfect, but delicious.”
Back to the Garden also includes the director’s cut of Michael Wadleigh’s Oscar-winning Woodstock documentary, as well as a hardbound copy of Michael Lang’s book Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music. Other goodies like a replica of the original program, posters, photo prints, a guitar strap, and a recreation of an actual attendee’s diary are as also part of the package, all housed in a screen-printed and numbered plywood box with canvas insert. And get this, the whole thing is limited to just 1,969 copies worldwide, priced at $799.98.
(Listen: The Cinematic Immortality of Jimi Hendrix)
Ahead of the full set’s release, three smaller editions will be available on June 28th: a 10-CD Experience edition and a Collection version on either five LPs or three CDs. Pre-orders for all the versions and more information can be found at the Rhino website.
Below, find a trailer for the box set, along with the tracklist for the 10-CD version.
Woodstock — Back to the Garden — The Definitive 50th Anniversary Archive Artwork:
Woodstock — Back to the Garden — 50th Anniversary Experience Tracklist:
Disc One
Richie Havens
01. Hello!
02. From The Prison>Get Together>From The Prison
03. High Flying Bird
04. With A Little Help From My Friends
05. Handsome Johnny
06. Freedom
07. It seems there are a few cars blocking the road – John Morris
Sweetwater
08. Look Out
09. Day Song
10.Two Worlds
Bert Sommer
11. Jennifer
12. And When It’s Over
13. America
14. Smile
15. Let’s see how bright it can be – John Morris
Tim Hardin
16. How Can We Hang On To A Dream
17. If I Were A Carpenter
18. Reason To Believe
19. Misty Roses
20. We’re a pretty big city right now- John Morris
Disc Two
01. Somebody, somewhere is giving out some flat blue acid – John Morris
Ravi Shankar
02. Raga Manj Kmahaj
Melanie
03. Momma Momma
04. Beautiful People
05. Mr. Tambourine Man
06. Birthday Of The Sun
07. It’s a free concert from now on – John Morris
Arlo Guthrie
08. Coming Into Los Angeles
09. Lotta freaks!
10. Wheel Of Fortune
11. Walking Down The Line
12. Every Hand In The Land
13. Let’s just make the festival, not the other stuff – John Morris
Joan Baez
14. The Last Thing On My Mind
15. I Shall Be Released
16. He already had a very, very good hunger strike going
17. Joe Hill
18. Drug Store Truck Drivin’ Man- featuring Jeffrey Shurtleff
19. That brings us fairly close to the dawn – John Morris
20. I guess the reason we’re here is music – John Morris
Quill
21. They Live The Life
22. That’s How I Eat
Disc Three
01. Can those of you in the back hear well? – Chip Monck
Country Joe McDonald
02. Janis
03. Donovan’s Reef
04. The Fish Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag
05. Those wishing to be lost, those wishing to be found – Chip Monck
Santana
06. Savor
07. Jingo
08. Persuasion
09. Soul Sacrifice
10. An exciting set is understandable – Chip Monck
John B. Sebastian
11. How Have You Been
12. Rainbows All Over Your Blues
13. I Had A Dream
14. Darling Be Home Soon
The Keef Hartley Band
15. Halfbreed Medley: Sinning For You>Leaving Trunk>Just To Cry>Sinning For You
16. Bring Jerry’s nitroglycerin pills to the Indian Pavilion – Chip Monck
Disc Four
01. Go to Mr. Lang’s office right away – Chip Monck
The Incredible String Band
02. Invocation
03. The Letter
04. Gather ‘Round
05. When You Find Out Who You Are
06. If things aren’t going well for you or whatever – Chip Monck & Hugh Romney
Canned Heat
07. Going Up The Country
08. Woodstock Boogie
09. Can we have a little juice on this other microphone, please? – Bob Hite & Chip Monck
10. On The Road Again
11. It’s your own trip – Chip Monck
Disc Five
01. We’ll take care of that right away – Chip Monck
Mountain
02. Theme For An Imaginary Western
03. Long Red
04. Who Am I But You And The Sun (For Yasgur’s Farm)
05. Southbound Train
06. Open your eyes wide – Chip Monck & Joshua White
07. So many people have been able to participate in such a debacle – Ken Babbs
Grateful Dead
08. Mama Tried
9. It’s a sinister plot! – Ken Babbs, Country Joe McDonald, et al
10. Dark Star
11. High Time
12. You’re carrying Janis’s wah-wah pedals – John Morris
Creedence Clearwater Revival
13. Green River
14. Bad Moon Rising
15. I Put A Spell On You
16. It’s going to be a very long evening – Chip Monck
Disc Six
Janis Joplin
01. To Love Somebody
02. Kozmic Blues
03. Piece Of My Heart
04. Music’s for grooving, man
05. Ball And Chain
06. Just in case you should get any ideas about leaving – Chip Monck
Sly & The Family Stone
07. Medley: Everyday People>Dance To The Music>Music Lover>I Want To Take You Higher
08. Are you supposed to be up there rapping? No, man. – Abbie Hoffman & stagehand
The Who
09. I Can’t Explain
10. Pinball Wizard
11. I can dig it – Abbie Hoffman & Pete Townshend
12. We’re Not Gonna Take It
13. Shakin’ All Over
14. My Generation
15. Welcome this new day – Chip Monck
Disc Seven
Jefferson Airplane
01. The Other Side Of This Life
02. Somebody To Love
03. Let’s play it out of tune – Grace Slick
04. 3/5 Of A Mile In 10 Seconds
05. Won’t You Try/Saturday Afternoon
06. We got a whole lot of orange and it was fine – Grace Slick
07. Plastic Fantastic Lover
08. Volunteers
09. If you’re too tired to chew, pass it on – Hugh Romney
10. The roads are fairly clear now – John Morris
11. This is the largest group of people ever assembled in one place – Max Yasgur
Joe Crocker
12. Dear Landlord
13. Feelin’ Alright
14. Let’s Go Get Stoned
15. Hitchcock Railway
16. With A Little Help From My Friends
17. Isn’t the rain beautiful? – John Morris, Barry Melton, rainstorm & audience
Disc Eight
Country Joe & The Fish
1. Rock And Soul Music
2. Love
3. Silver And Gold
4. Rock And Soul Music (Reprise)
Ten Years After
05. Help Me
06. I’m Going Home
07. Come down and say hello to us – Chip Monck
The Band
08. Chest Fever
09. Tears Of Rage
10. This Wheel’s On Fire
11. I Shall Be Released
12. The Weight
13. We’ve just had a slight change in running order – Chip Monck
Disc Nine
01. It’s really a drag – Chip Monck
Johnny Winter
02. Leland Mississippi Blues
03. Mean Town Blues
04. Johnny B. Goode
05. It just doesn’t seem to be necessary – Chip Monck
Blood, Sweat & Tears
01. More And More
02. Spinning Wheel
03. Smiling Phases
04. You’ve Made Me So Very Happy
Crosby, Stills & Nash
05. Tell ’em who we are, man
06. Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
07. Blackbird
08. Marrakesh Express
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
09. Sea Of Madness
10. Wooden Ships
11. Bummer!
12. 49 Bye-Byes
Disc Ten
The Butterfield Blues Band
01. No Amount Of Loving
02. Love March
03. Everything’s Gonna Be Alright
Sha Na Na
04. Test – Chip Monck & Sha Na Na
05. Get A Job
06. Come Go With Me
07. Silhouettes
08. At The Hop
09. Duke Of Earl
10. Get A Job (Reprise)
11. Thank you for making all this possible – Chip Monck
Jimi Hendrix
12. Hear My Train A Comin’
13. Izabella
14. The Star Spangled Banner>Purple Haze
15. Good wishes, good day, and a good life – Chip Monck
