Woodstock 50th Anniv. 38 CD box set out in August

pglbook

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=10&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjS6-ev6o7iAhWmneAKHUxAAkcQFjAJegQIABAB&url=https://www.rhino.com/article/woodstock-celebrates-50-years-with-comprehensive-38-cd-deluxe-boxed-set&usg=AOvVaw0pqiuQ8wkvCHU9_v4kXHZw

Rhino announced yesterday (see link above) its release of a massive 38 CD Woodstock 50th Anniversary Edition box set in August. Limited to 1969 copies. $800. It will be the (near) complete concert festival, every song by every artist, with the exception of 2 Jimi Hendrix songs (of course, EH had to be the one dissenting voice to make it complete) and a Sha Na Na track that was missing or had some other problems.

Wow, I'd love to get it, and have spent lots of money on Grateful Dead and other box sets over the years, but $800 is too much for me, considering I'd probably only listen to most of it once. But it is very cool they are doing this (one reason they are doing it now is to keep it out of Public Domain in Europe according to copyright laws there).

They are also issuing smaller 10 CD, 3 CD, and 5 lp versions of the bigger box.

I have the Woodstock 6 CD box set that come out years ago and that should be enough for me.

chumlie

May get the 10cd set for 150

pumpkinman

I can’t see spending $800 either. Set would not get enough spins to justify that much money.

pglbook

This is not sold out (just announced yesterday) and copies are still available for pre-order sale at $800 but, of course, some shyster already has a copy listed on eBay for $1500.

Emlyn

Based on some articles, a lot of work over many years was put into getting the tapes into shape to produce this set. Is it worth $800? About half of the music is not available elsewhere, so I'm guessing Rhino is protecting the copyright on the material that has already been published elsewhere. Apparently some of the artists have said their performances at the concert were nowhere near what they should have been because of various factors. I'd also be in the camp where the whole set is not of much interest to me, but maybe a few of the CDs would be of interest. Personally, I'd wait for the reviews to come out on what discs are worthwhile and which ones are junk. If Rhino has something on disc, they tend to sell it off piecemeal over time too after the novelty of a little plywood box and a fake guitar strap has worn off.

mhardy6647

Many if not most - possibly all - of the artists were dosed; not always by their choice.
The Dead's performance at Woodstock, e.g., was famously bad (presumably they had their own drugs, though).

Unfortunately, the Woodstock 1969 performance was not as iconic as one would think. The fabled rain had made the stage a potential electrical hazard, which resulted in a final delayed starting time of 10:30pm. Long breaks between songs, inherently dragging tendencies, and substance induced hazes created a notoriously long and sub-par performance for the quintessential hippie jam band.

In the recording of the set, there are about 10 minutes of drug induced banter and confusion which resulted in a 50 minute song; too long even for The Dead. The performance was simply not their best work nor was it conducive for keeping the attention of the crowd. The mere five song set which spanned over 90 minutes was said to have produced a wave of sleepiness over the viewers. Following the set was a hum-drum performance by Creedence Clearwater Revival whose mundane outing is said to be a direct result of the Dead’s prolonged occupation of the stage.

source: http://www.woodstockstory.com/gratefuldead.html

or, as Jerome John Garcia put it himself:

Jerry: Well, we played such a bad set at Woodstock. The weekend was great, but our set was terrible. We were all pretty smashed, and it was at night. Like we knew there were a half million people out there, but we couldn't see one of them. There were about a hundred people on stage with us, and everyone was scared that it was gonna collapse. On top of that, it was raining or wet, so that every time we touched our guitars, we'd get these electrical shocks. Blue sparks were flying out of our guitars.

source: http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2013/11/february-1971-jerry-garcia-interview.html

pglbook

Someone over at the Hoffman site listed the full track list, including track times, for each of the 38 CDs in this box set. And, because each CD is devoted to a single artist, quite a few of the CDs are fairly short; some are in the 32-35 minute range.

afterburnt

I am not sure if I ever want to see or hear it again.

nooshinjohn

Wouldn't mind having it on the hard drive just for giggles, but that would be about it.

Toolfan66

Meh....I have passed on anything Woodstock all these years, never liked anything I have heard from it, definitely not worth $800 IMO!!

Toolfan66

Ok I forgot about Ten Years After performance, that was gold, still not worth $800.. LOL!!

BlueFox

Ten Years After is the only thing I remember from the Woodstock film.