The packaging of The Woodstock Experience (Legacy Music) series belies its stylized graphics and ultimately renders the limited edition run (box set or individual cd’s) more than just an exercise in marketing. Each set consists of one CD containing the respective artist’s entire performance from the famed 1969 festival plus a poster of the performance from the Woodstock stage (all folded up?!). In addition, the studio album of the time is included in remastered form.
No live recordings can truly capture the cumulative effect of the famed festival, but these five selections illustrate the range of performance from brilliant to mediocre. The quality of the sound of the concert discs varies as well depending on the extent to which Eddie Kramer, on-site for the 1969 event, was subsequently involved, but the best of these releases constitute significant milestones for the artist, even apart from their association with the seminal festival.
Johnny Winter: Just one artist whose profile was on the rise when he played Woodstock, the albino’s wraith like appearance suited the skeletal trio lineup and the stark blues they played. While it was somewhat difficult to connect with the gigantic audience during his nighttime set, the Texan wasn’t so far into his own world that he didn’t fascinate through the sheer speed and intensity of his playing. He was not self-conscious in the least, relaxed enough, in fact, to offer a newly recorded (at the time) track with brother Edgar; only a slight hint of the more exploratory work this Texan would do within a year, this recording is a valuable document of Winter’s early purist days and further validates The Woodstock Series concept. The bluesman’s Columbia debut is a perfectly complementary companion piece.
Janis Joplin: On both the live and studio recordings here, Janis Joplin’s music is as out of focus as the cover photo of Kosmic Blues. Clearly the earthy chanteuse was in a transitional phase at this point, aiming for a more conventional R&B/soul style than she could achieve with Big Brother & The holding Company(from whom guitarist James Gurley was a holdover). If Janis wasn’t overshadowing the band and trying to carry more than her share, the impact of this altered artistic direction might’ve been more effective. Not all the pictorial graphics in The Woodstock Series are wholly stylish and in this case, the overall portrait isn’t wholly flattering.
Sly and The Family Stone: In contrast to Joplin, this rock and soul unit had everybody participating and so made their conquest of the Woodstock multitudes look easy. With each increase in musical intensity, more of the audience became caught up in the performance, so that, as he lead his well-practiced unit while he exhorted the gigantic audience to join in, Sly made it look and sound like working listeners into a frenzy was perfectly natural. Because there was no bonus material on the previous reissue of Stand!, the essential studio work enclosed, this Woodstock Experience set transcends the series to become the indispensable Sly & the Family Stone: this package capturing the group at the absolute pinnacle of his career and.
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Santana: The debut album included here in remastered form (in its second appearance as such with their Woodstock set–see Santana Legacy Edition) hadn’t even come out when Santana appeared in its prime but nevertheless imposing slot Saturday afternoon. Yet whatever nerves afflicted the fledgling group they channeled into energy, plunging headlong into an feverish set, the orgasmic conclusion of which appears in the solo of Michael Shrieve: "Soul Sacrifice" was the capper of the show, not to mention it’s defining moment, to the extent that the drummer is as much of a star in this performance as guitarist/leader Carlos himself.
Jefferson Airplane: One of the genuine headliners of The Woodstock Music and Arts Fair, JA rose to the occasion in an extended early morning set. The thinness of the live recording (no Kramer credit here!) deadens the impact of the music somewhat but there’s no denying the force of playing here as the sextet incorporated the brilliant presence of British pianist Nicky Hopkins (who had worked with The Rolling Stones and The Who, among others at that point) into its extended improvisations. Accordingly, conducting themselves like a renaissance band of sorts, The Airplane’s choice of material mirrored the diversity of the group’s individual personalities as depicted on the forthcoming Volunteers: "Go ride the music!" indeed.
