December 2002

Long renowned as one of the best ‘60s rock and roll concerts ever captured on film, the legendary Monterey Pop was reissued in 2002 as a three DVD box set entitled The Complete Monterey Pop Festival by the NYC-based The Criterion Collection. The box set is being distributed and marketed by Chicago-based Home Vision Entertainment. Taking place in San Francisco during the weekend of June 16, 17, & 18 in 1967, The Monterey International Pop Festival—produced by the late, great John Phillips and rock impresario Lou Adler—was directed and filmed in glorious color by cinema vérité wizard D.A. Pennebaker. The original Monterey Pop film, released in 1968, was a star-studded event featuring music legends such as Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, The Mamas & The Papas, Simon & Garfunkel, Ravi Shankar, Jefferson Airplane, Eric Burdon & The Animals and more. In fact there was so much more than Pennebaker could fit in the original film that the concept of a comprehensive overhaul of the Monterey Pop movie was an event just waiting to happen. Now, 35 years after the famed San Francisco rock festival took place, Criterion Collection and Home Video Enterprises have finally issued the ultimate Monterey Pop DVD box set. Disc one features the original 1968, 79 minute movie, while disc two pairs the entire 12 track Jimi Hendrix appearance with the 5 track Otis Redding appearance. Rock fans might remember that both the Hendrix and Redding performances were culled and released on a trendsetting Lp—one side Jimi, one side Otis—on Reprise Records back at the dawn of the ‘70s. But perhaps the best reason to pick up on this superbly packaged three DVD Monterey Pop box set is disc three entitled The Outtake Performances. This is the fortuitous place where that extra, unused footage that Pennebaker shot really comes into play. Never before seen performances from The Byrds, The Who, Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Association, Buffalo Springfield (ironically featuring a completely animated David Crosby filling in for Neil Young) Al Kooper & The Blues Project and more that didn’t make the original movie cut really shines here. Always the cultural icon and movie-making trendsetter, Pennebaker was right on the money with Monterey Pop and his expert filming of these once in a lifetime performances from the biggest names in 20th Century rock, makes The Complete Monterey Pop Festival one of the most important concert reissues ever put on DVD. The DVD sound is superbly restored by Hendrix engineer Eddie Kramer while the mind-blowing (had to use that phrase somewhere here!) 64 page book that accompanies the 3 DVD set provides a solid music history lesson indeed. Interviews galore and the glorious color movie footage—including behind the scenes footage with the stars, including a resplendent Brian Jones—adds a new glow to that once in a lifetime ‘60s happening simply known as Monterey.
www.criterionco.com / www.homevision.com

There aren’t many music movies that qualify as pop culture milestones yet that honor surely goes to A Hard Day’s Night, the 1964 movie event that made The Beatles a household word. Honoring the movie decades after it’s 1964 motion picture release, Miramax has put together an excellent 2002 double disc package Collector’s Series edition of A Hard Day’s Night that pairs a newly restored version of the original b&w movie with another DVD loaded with eye-opening interviews with many of the featured actors and key behind the scenes biggies like A Hard Day’s Night director Richard Lester, movie producer Walter Shenson, screenplay writer Alun Owen, photographer Robert Freeman and long time Beatles confidant Klaus Voorman to name a few of the legends on hand. While none of the Fab Four appear on the interview portion, The Beatles are represented by their history making producer Sir George Martin who recalls with clarity every little nuance as to just how he and The Beatles made the movie music. The double disc DVD reissue of A Hard Day’s Night on Miramax is a history lesson on ‘60s pop culture, which The Beatles more than anyone else truly defined. The newly restored film looks great and packed with all the bonus material makes it a sure fire winner.
www.miramax.com

Two veritable artifacts from the heyday of The Summer of ‘67, Winds Of Change & The Twain Shall Meet were joined at the hip on a 2002 two CD set from England’s leading reissue label Beat Goes On. BGO’s double disc reissue features intriguing liner notes describing the history and importance of these classics from Eric Burdon & The Animals, who are still best remembered for that great British invasion favorite “House Of The Rising Sun”. This mid-late ‘60s version of The Animals was not too different than the original band that featured Chas Chandler and Alan Price. As BGO's double disc set proves, Burdon—together with fine players like guitarists Vic Briggs and John Weider—was able to make a significant pop culture statement during that pivotal ‘67 period. Burdon’s Animals classics “San Francisco Nights”, “Monterey” and “Sky Pilot”—songs that brilliantly reflected the anti-Vietnam war mood Burdon was going for—are here in their full psychedelic glory. Burdon’s original 1967 liner notes are truly a revelation and new 2002 notes from Alan Clayson tells the whole story of just where both albums fit in the group’s history. The restored sound quality of both these studio gems combined with a detailed booklet makes it another fine example of BGO’s top notch approach to reissue CDs.
www.bgo-records.com