Woodstock's 50th Anniversary

Today was the final day of the 50th anniversary of Woodstock's 3 day (Actually 4) groundbreaking festival of peace, love and music. Supposed to only be 3 days, rain pushed it to an extra day. It wasn't the first of it's kind, but at the time, it was the largest collection of people in one place. It had the biggest stars in rock and roll and set the precedent for rock concerts moving forward. On August 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th, the hippie movement coalesced into a beautiful, idyllic moment that was often imitated in the months preceding, but never duplicated.

As a teenager, I dove head first into anything "hippie", so Woodstock was always this mythical beast, the ultimate hippie happening that was the perfect coming together where the only thing on people's minds was peace and music. And...it's almost that way. It's less idealism and more capitalistic. The only reason the concert was free was because the festival runners couldn't handle the sheer amount of people who showed up. Hell, Jimi Hendrix made 18 thousand bucks for his performance (125 thousand in today dollars) but honestly, learning the backstage stuff later on wasn't the reality shattering gut punch to a young wannabe hippie's mind as I'm making it out to be but there is a period of naivete where you may think it was put on for completely unselfish reasons.

Woodstock really was the peak of the hippie movement, as never again would there be such a big gathering of like minded people, showing that the younger generation could really get it together and live peacefully for a few days. Later that year there was Altamont and we all know the tragedy that occurred and the year after there was the Isle of Wight Festival (1970's was the 3rd edition of the festival but most notorious) which was supposed to be England's Woodstock but the English had a much more hostile reaction to the large hippie crowds that demanded to be let in for free. Seriously, watching the Isle of Wight doc, it's pretty amazing how angry and disgusted the promoters are at the audience, contrasted with the people running Woodstock just shrugging it off and letting it happen.

One of the many pieces of trivia I find more interesting about the artist that appeared at the festival are the number of artists/groups that either didn't make it or declined. Jeff Beck Group broke up before being able to appear and Iron Butterfly got stuck at an airport and demanded a helicopter fly them in. They were then sent a telegram where the first letter of each sentence read "FUCK YOU" so...obviously they weren't getting a helicopter. Both Frank Zappa and Jethro Tull were invited but both declined for similar reasons as Zappa said he didn't want to play in mud and Ian Anderson said he, "Did not like hippies and had other concerns including inappropriate nudity, heavy drinking and drug use." Other groups either had previous engagements and thought Woodstock wouldn't be that big of a deal like The Doors and The Byrds where some, like Chicago, were advised against it by their manager. Most of the groups that declined later regretted it, not realizing how big of a deal it was going to be.

Where Monterey Pop two years prior made stars of Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, Woodstock had similar effects on groups/artists like Sly And The Family Stone, Ten Years After, Santana and Joe Cocker. These groups put everything they had to make sure they made a mark, whether it was Sly And The Family Stone's rave up during "I Want To Take You Higher", Ten Years After's Alvin Lee's face-melting guitar fireworks on their "I'm Going Home" or Joe Cocker's unmatched belting of The Beatles' "With A Little Help From My Friends".

But it wasn't all great for the groups. Some bands have said Woodstock ranks amongst their worst performances. The Grateful Dead were notorious for bombing the big shows and this was no exception, though technical difficulties may have been more the reason than anything else. Apparently they kept getting small shocks from their microphones and even from their instruments so they probably played a lot less feverishly than they would, especially in this period of the group. Another group that weren't high on their own performance was CCR who, ironically, played right after the Dead. John Fogerty later said that because the Dead played so long, that by the time CCR went on, a huge chunk of the audience went to bed. Both groups were not in the subsequent film, probably due to each group not being very proud of their performances. Other not so hot performances, in my opinion anyways, was Sha-Na-Na who, by all accounts played well and they were always a huge hit with the hippie crowd but I've always disliked them. I thought their schtick was hokey and cringey and though it was supposed to be tongue-in-cheek, I still think they were dumb. Another group which I admit my opinion is biased negatively is Jefferson Airplane. Out of all the big bands that came to "define" the 60's, the Airplane has always been my least favourite, but unlike Sha-Na-Na who performed well but just didn't vibe with me, objectively, the Airplane bombed (pun absolutely intended). They look and sound drag-ass tired and they're sloppy (they usually were), their harmonies are off (they usually were). Also, the less that's to be said about The Incredible String Band on any platform the better.

Most of the more famous performances have been well documented. From Jimi Hendrix's Star-Spangled Banner to Country Joe MacDonald getting the entire crowd to spell out fuck, I don't need to go into the details as those performances have been talked about at length. 

Some more great performances that don't get mentioned I feel are Arlo Guthrie's funny, rambling folk set, John Sebastian's stoned-as-hell comments between songs (he mentions that he was told that someone just gave birth as he was playing, to which he said, "Whew, your kid’s gonna be far out."), or Mountain's amazing "Beside The Sea" which unfortunately never made the film.

Overall, Woodstock deserves it's praise as the monumental event that it was. Though the world never became the blissful, peaceful utopia that was promised at Woodstock, it seemed like it could exist, even if just for a few short days. I can't watch the film without leaving feeling a sense of hippie pride and it really makes you hopeful even if you know what comes next.

Rhino released a 50th anniversary 10 CD/3 LP edition of the festival called Back To The Garden which you can purchase on their website or you can check out the 1970 documentary. I personally have the 40th anniversary Director's Cut which has some super cool extra stuff like some groups that didn't appear in the original film and also some awesome memorabilia like replicas of the original ticket stubs and info of Woodstock by the numbers. I implore everyone to at the very least, watch the film as it is a perfect encapsulation of the 60's counterculture movement. Even if you're not a fan of the music, it's still an amazing time capsule that should be viewed by everyone.

Tyrannosaurus Rex - Unicorn (1969)

Lots of people know T. Rex. One of the biggest groups of the early 70's, Marc Bolan was able to capture the imaginations of young kids from a period of roughly 3 years to become almost as big as The Beatles. Lots of people point to Led Zeppelin as The Beatles of the 70's, but from 1970-1973, the group scored four no.1 hit songs in England. Led Zeppelin were massive, but they were never successful on the singles charts. In fact, not a single one of their singles charted at all in England. T. Rex were also arguably the group responsible for the glam rock boom. David Bowie kicked the doors wide open with Ziggy Stardust in 1972, but he might not have without seeing his friend Bolan appear on Top of The Pops a year earlier in a glittery, make up glory. You could be forgiven to think Bolan and T. Rex were a brand new group breaking out of nowhere, but Marc had been around for a few years before, just under a longer name and vastly, vastly different sound.

Now while the first, self-titled T.Rex album from 1970 bridged the gap pretty well between their earlier work as Tyrannosaurus Rex and the simple glam rock that would make them worldwide sensations, I don't think anyone familiar with songs like Get It On or Metal Guru expect the utter difference that Tyrannosaurus Rex is. There's no chunky electric riffs, no 12 bar blues. This is psychedelic folk at it's most fantastical. Sure, Bolan's lyrics were more poetic than the next glammer, with even the most simple song like Get It On having lines like, "Well you're an untamed youth/
That's the truth with your cloak full of eagles" but with songs about beasties, unicorns, sentient salamanders and crocodiles to name a few, this is pure English fantasy. The formula was perfected, in my opinion, on their third album, 1969's Unicorn.

Only a duo here, Bolan and original percussionist Steve Peregrine Took up the ante from their previous two records with the inclusion of electric guitar and a full drum set. Nowhere does this become them rocking out, but is a logical progression of their sound and adds a new dimension to the songs. Bolan had a way with creating an extremely tangible atmosphere in these songs. Even though there are times where it's difficult to make out what he's singing (apparently on purpose) but the sound, the vibe and the little bits and pieces you get here and there firmly sits you in a cozy, warm glow where if you close your eyes, you can really believe you're in an English garden where all of these fantastical things are happening all around you.

I have an emotional attachment to this album, as when I first found this album, I was dealing with a lot of anxiety issues and going through the first throes of panic disorder. I didn't quite know it was panic disorder yet, but I knew something was wrong, as every day I would have horrible panic attacks. It was the summer of 2005 and since it was the summer time, I wasn't in school so I didn't really need to be anywhere. This, along with having no idea why I was basically freaking out every day caused me to isolate myself from my friends and family. I'd spend most of my time in my room listening to music. I already knew of T. Rex but had no idea they had music that was any different from the boogie glam that made them famous. I got a copy of Unicorn and listened to it non stop that entire summer. It really relaxed me and put me in a tranquil state of mind which I really needed. I have vivid memories of pulling all nighters (which is not good for panic disorder let me just say that) and having that overtired fuzz in my head combined with the sunrise and Unicorn it just being a very idyllic, almost spiritual thing.

I could almost see the characters Bolan was singing about come to life in front of me as I was listening to it day in and day out. One thing I think Bolan lost a bit with T. Rex was his penchant for writing some extremely amazing melodies. T. Rex's music is catchy as hell, and some of the ballads, especially on Electric Warrior and The Slider like "Life's A Gas" and "Spaceball Ricochet" are gorgeous, but here, it's just an acoustic guitar and percussion and you either make up something that sticks in people's brains or it just becomes simple, by-the-books singer songwriter-y pap. There's absolutely nothing simple or pedestrian about Unicorn. This album is wacky and it's a shame that after this, the original duo of Bolan and Took splintered as Took's drug use became too much to handle and Bolan would finally begin moving towards the sound that made him a megastar. There was one more Tyrannosaurus Rex album after this, but the writing was on the wall. The Tyrannosaurus Rex that once was was no more and Bolan was onto his next image and his next sound. But I'll always have the memories of Unicorn.

Key Tracks: Chariots of Silk, The Seal of Seasons, The Throat of Winter, Cat Black (The Wizard's Hat), She Was Born To Be My Unicorn, Warlord of The Royal Crocodiles, Evenings of Damask, The Sea Beasts, Iscariot, Nijinsky Hind, The Misty Coast of Albany

His chariot legs
Are tree green and autumn brown
His crown of dusk 
Is a glimpse of things to be

The Grateful Dead - Aoxomoxoa (1969)

50 years ago, The Grateful Dead released their 3rd studio album, Aoxomoxoa. Originally released on June 20th, 1969, it bridged the gap between the lysergic, balls to the wall psychedelia of the first two albums and the rustic, country-tinged flavours of their early 70's material. This is also the first album with lyrics by Robert Hunter, who would be the group's principal lyricist starting with Dark Star the previous year all the way up until their final year in 1995.

Aoxomoxoa is probably my all time favourite Dead album. The combination of psychedelic weirdness and country/folk/bluegrass works extremely well in this setting. Though the melding of these disparate influences wasn't uncommon in those days, especially around 1969/1970, sometimes it hits the mark and sometimes it doesn't. I think the Dead are able to make it work because they were unlike any other band of their day. Though they were lumped in with fellow San Francisco bands (Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and The Holding Company, Quicksilver Messenger Service, etc) by the press, I always felt that The Dead were unique amongst their peers. They had all the same attributes as the other groups of their time (ties to the underground movement, penchant for anarchist things like drugs and free love, long winding jams) but they were able to make things their own. I attribute this uniqueness with the joining of Robert Hunter. Musically, before Hunter, The Dead were like their contemporaries, taking old folk and blues and twisting and transmuting them into strange psychedelic beasts, but with Hunter's poetic lyrics, it seemed to cause the rest of the group to streamline their sound to match the heavy poetry. That's not to say there aren't batshit insane moments on the record. I mean, if you can sit through all 8 + minutes of whatever STP trip What's To Become of Baby is supposed to be, then you're a better man than I, but it all seems to fit within a theme. Aoxomoxoa is, for me, the first album by the group that feels like an album. Their self titled debut felt like a covers record that was a watered down version of their live sets and Anthem of The Sun is definitely an experience, but more of an experience than a album. This combination of The Dead really coming in their own as songwriters and performers with Hunter's amazing lyrics finds the group at their peak of what is called "Primal Dead". Interestingly, Jerry Garcia and bassist Phil Lesh went back in 1971 and remixed the album, removing some things and adding new vocal takes on some songs. The 50th anniversary edition that was released in June of this year contained both the original 1969 mix and 1971 remix that appeared on most CD reissues. I'm most familiar with the remix due to the original mix not being widely available until now and while the original mix is certainly interesting, I think the group made the right decision. It's less experimental than the original, but in my opinion, it's to the album's benefit. Some may not agree, but I think making the album a little more easy to digest made the album better. While there are tracks that would take on a life of their own in live settings, which was a common thing with the group, there are tracks here that I believe have their best versions right here on the album. The Dead wouldn't release another studio album like this again, as their next venture was the cowboy Americana of Workingman's Dead so this, plus their first live album, Live/Dead was the last of "Primal Dead" put on vinyl.

Key Tracks: St. Stephen, Dupree's Diamond Blues, Doin' That Rag, Mountains of The Moon, China Cat Sunflower, Cosmic Charlie

Well when I get those jelly roll blues
Why I'd go and get anything in this world for you