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Woodstock set rewards patience
VARIOUS ARTISTS: WOODSTOCK: 40 YEARS ON: BACK TO YASGUR'S FARM (RHINO) ***
Rhino Records
The "Woodstock: 40 Years On: Back to Yasgur's Farm" box set contains nearly eight hours of music over six discs.
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Published: August 13, 2009
Six CDs, nearly eight hours -- even Woodstock veterans might think they took the brown acid if they try to tackle Rhino's new Woodstock box in one sitting.
It's said often that Woodstock was about much more than the music, something this box set makes clear. There is some great music here, but much more in the you-had-to-be-there category.
Disc 1 and the first half of Disc 2 are dominated by the folkies, and while there are some memorable sets here, it all gets a little snoozy. Incidentally, Joan Baez and Jeffrey Shurtleff turn Gram Parsons' "Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man" into the most stilted recital piece you could imagine.
Santana's set, in the middle of Disc 2, is legendary for kicking up the festival's energy level and while it certainly does, it's not until Disc 3 that the electricity gets turned on for good.
Sly & the Family Stone - one of the few black acts on the bill - sound dazzling, some swagger and flash amid the soggy tie-dye. The Who hated its set, but they sound powerful, both playing and while escorting Abbie Hoffman from the stage the hard way.
Joe Cocker is as soulful and powerful as he ever was, while the screams of Jimi Hendrix's Stratocaster on "The Star-Spangled Banner" make the most eloquent anti-war statement of the festival. Or maybe the '60s.
Download this: Sly & the Family Stone's "Dance to the Music" medley
CDs are rated on a scale of zero to four stars.
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