Electric Ladyland - Genius At Work

I have been listening to Jimi Hendrix's 1968 magnum opus Electric Ladyland for over 50 years. There are periods where I haven't heard it for a while. Then I listen again and marvel at just what an amazing, visionary, unique musician it was who created this work. 

I've had another one of those epiphanies this week, writing about when Jimi first came to London and settled into the only period of domestic bliss he ever knew, with Kathy Etchingham. 

In 1968, when Jimi and Kathy were shifting from Ringo's flat in Montagu Square to the loft apartment on Brook Street, Jimi was working on his third album, the double LP that would become Electric Ladyland. His band, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, with Mitch Mitchell on drums and Noel Redding on bass, were out touring in the US and Europe. In between, Hendrix would spend time in studios on either side of the Atlantic. 

Jimi Hendrix was a fabulously inventive guitarist, who at his best had no equals at that time. His exploration of the recording studio as an instrument in itself, pushed the boundaries of the primitive eight-track recorders then available, with the patient help of his most loyal engineer Eddie Kramer and the Record Plant's Gary Kellgren.

He told Disc magazine, "My music is my personal diary. - a release of all my inner feelings, aggression, tenderness, sympathy, everything."

Within the double album scope, Hendrix was able to express his range of emotions more fully. This tested the patience of some in his circle, who wanted him to follow a straighter course. 

Notably, his mentor and manager Chas Chandler withdrew from working with him during the slow gestation of Electric Ladyland, because Jimi wouldn't listen to his advice to keep it simple and give his audience more of the same. 

The finished album isn't perfect (find me a double album that is...) but then Hendrix wasn't perfect. Still a young man, not willing to be tied down in any way, he made missteps, allowed too many hangers-on into his sessions and probably abused true friendships and the support of those around him. But there's no denying his genius as a guitar player and musical visionary. 

Above all, it's important to assess Electric Ladyland in the context of what else was being produced at the time. In terms of musical innovation and imaginative use of the studio, it's hard to think of anything, apart from Sgt Pepper, that even comes close. From the opening sounds of And The Gods Made Love, you are being taken on a sonic and sensory trip. Hendrix used his guitar and effects in ways that no one else could even fathom at the time. 

The swirling guitar effects dissolve into the slow soulful Have You Ever Been...to Electric Ladyland. Jimi plays some wonderfully fluid guitar and sings high and handsome. He may not have had the smooth tones of Smokey Robinson - maybe closer to Curtis Mayfield - but he was a great soul singer when he wanted to be. 

Jimi's handwritten lyrics

Then, as if to say, OK that was nice, now dig this, he rocks out with Crosstown Traffic. Funky, melodic and psychedelic at the same time, Hendrix puts down a marker that this album is going to be a real step up in production terms.

And before you know it, the mood has changed again. We're live in the studio, for a blues jam - Voodoo Chile - with a bunch of guests, including Steve Winwood on organ and Jack Cassady on bass. 

Everyone gets a chance to blow on this one. It's 15 minutes long. Jimi sings the blues and gets wild as the jam reaches its crescendo. Winwood is the master accompanist and helps the tune to build, but the guy who really drives the whole thing is Mitch. His groove is monumental and his soloing on this is some of the best he ever did on a Hendrix track. So ends side one of the vinyl album.

I'll be honest, side two doesn't match the invention and transcendence of side one. It starts off tamely with a Noel Redding tune, which is out of place in my view. The other tracks are all fine, but they don't hang together or match the overall quality of the other three sides. There is a suggestion that some of them, like the cover of Earl King's Come On, were just filler tracks and when you look at the four sides, there's some truth in that. 

The experimental and exploratory sounds on side three of the original vinyl take us further out still. The dreamy shuffle of Rainy Day, Dream Away features Buddy Miles on drums and Mike Finnigan on organ. Hendrix's guitar is drenched in wah-wah and he's clearly having fun with his lyrics. 

Well, I can see a bunch of wet creatures, look at 'em on the run
The carnival traffic noise it sinks into a splashy hum
Even the ducks can groove, rain bathing in the park side pool
And I'm leaning out my windowsill, digging everything
And you too

The shuffle groove fades slowly as we're transported to Jimi's underwater fantasy world, with beautiful guitar and the gorgeous melody of 1983...A Merman I Should Turn To Be. Jimi's guitar carries the listener off to Atlantis, with Mitch alternating between a slow march and a kind of bolero snare drum pattern. His solos that link the various underwater dream passages show off his Elvin Jones-style chops to great effect. I don't know what you'd call this music, but I do know it's marvellous.

Easily the trippiest track on the album, the denouement of side three - Moon, turn the tides... gently, gently away, is Jimi taking you deeper underwater, or wherever your mind chooses to go, now he's got you under his spell.

Chas may not have been alone in wishing Jimi would stick to more conventional music, but Hendrix was adamant that he wasn't just playing around; this was serious music he was making. 

Don't look on it as self indulgence. Consider it as the artist showing you the full breadth of what he or she can do. 

Steve Vai said something that I thought was pretty cool: "Everyone is a genius when they find what they love and they throw themselves into it without any excuses." That definitely applies here. 

Side Four showed Jimi still had plenty more of his singular music to share with us, leaving two absolute masterpieces to the very last. 

All Along The Watchtower was recorded in January 1968, only a month or so after the release of the Bob Dylan album from which is was taken, John Wesley Harding. It showcased Hendrix's extraordinary range as a guitarist, with solos played on various guitars in different styles. Dylan reportedly said that Hendrix found things in the song that others people wouldn't think of finding there. 

Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) once again defies categorisation because it's completely unique. There isn't a guitarist alive who could have come up with something as brilliant as that. Astonishing technique, amazing use of the studio, completely a one-off. 

Voodoo Chile - in his own handwriting

The reason guitar players and listeners still revere Jimi is because he was an innovator, with a completely unique musical vision. 

Of course, it's tragic his life was cut short at 27, especially when you listen to Electric Ladyland's touchstone moments and imagine what he would have been capable of, if he could just have got back on the straight and narrow on his return to London. But time ran out for Jimi, leaving this album as the most complete expression of his genius and vision. 

If his reputation has suffered posthumously, it's because so many have sought to exploit the demand for 'new' Hendrix material with sub-standard recordings that Hendrix would never have approved.  

Jimi was kept busy in '68

Anyone coming to him now would be well-advised to stick to the records he released during his lifetime, as a true testament of his abilities and his legacy. 

Was Electric Ladyland filmed?

I am reading the booklet that came with the Experience Hendrix mid 1990s CD reissue of Electric Ladyland.

I'm intrigued by this passage in the notes to the CD: 

"For 16 days in May 1968, an ABC-TV film crew followed the Experience to stage and studio. Shooting began at the Record Plant on May 3....The footage begins with scenes of a groupie sketching Jimi as he records Voodoo Chile. The scene cuts to the control room where Eddie (Kramer) tells an interviewer 'Jimi's music is here to stay'. Mike Jeffrey and Chas Chandler were also interviewed while Jimi was filmed writing lyrics."

I think I know a fair amount about film footage of Jimi, but I have never heard or seen anything related to this ABC footage. Surely, it it does exist, it would have seen the light of day by now. But if it didn't exist, how could the Experience Hendrix CD notes be referencing it? 

The latest extended release of the Classic Albums program, now made available by Experience Hendrix as 'At last...the beginning: the making of Electric Ladyland' offers some glimpses of the Record Plant sessions, visuals only, no sound.

The DVD is worth getting for the extra footage, most of which features engineer Eddie Kramer peeling back the layers of the backing tracks to show the detail and the unique vision that Jimi applied to the album. Some of this is just beautiful, especially the rhythm tracks behind 'Have you ever been...'

Another thing this extended episode reveals is that on the original acetate of the album, the 'white-coated men at CBS' had got the name of the album wrong. Many years before Kirsty MacColl turned it into a joke album title of her own, here it is, Electric Landlady!

Here's a clip from the original Classic Albums program, which contains brief footage from the Record Plant sessions at the very beginning:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2gdC99R93A

 

IF YOU LIKE MY BLOG, PLEASE HIT THE FOLLOW BUTTON ON THE SIDE PANEL THANKS

Also on this blog:

Jimi Hendrix - Sunday Night At The Saville Theatre

Hendrix releases the Band of Gypsys album

Handel and Hendrix - Neighbours in London

Five Days of Drama at the Isle of Wight festival, 1970

Jimi Hendrix - The Last Interview

Handel and Hendrix - neighbours in London

Music lovers in London have a wealth of options when it comes to visiting historical locations. Top of many people’s list, to judge from the ever-present crowds nowadays, is the crossing on Abbey Road in St. John’s Wood, made famous on the cover of the 1969 Beatles album. I wrote about my association with Abbey Road here.

This year, I paid a visit to the specially restored residences of George Frideric Handel and Jimi Hendrix, two musical geniuses who lived next door to each other, 200 years apart.

Handel lived in the four-storey terrace at 25 Brook Street, Mayfair from 1723 until his death in 1759. In 1968, Jimi Hendrix moved into an adjoining top-floor flat at number 23. He described it as “the only home I ever had".

Handel had moved to London in 1713, with Royal patronage and lived there for the rest of his life. Having established himself in English society, Handel took a lease on the house at 25 Brook Street in 1723.

Set in the heart of Mayfair, the poshest address in London, the Handel house is a splendid example of how a prosperous artist could live in relative comfort 250 years ago.

The decoration and furnishings are true to the period. A great deal of pride has been taken in the restoration, from the basement kitchen to the loft.

Here, in 1741, Handel composed his most famous work, Messiah. The exhibits at Brook Street include his harpsichord and manuscripts, along with a display of costumes, wigs and other personal items.

Accounts of the time show that the house was used frequently for recitals. Handel also had staff living in the loft rooms, with a kitchen/scullery in the basement (or the lower ground floor, in estate agent speak).  

The restoration of the house as it had been in the 18th century was greatly helped by the comprehensive inventory of his belongings that Handel prepared, right down to kitchen utensils.

Although none of Handel's original furniture has been found, pieces have been placed in the rooms which adhere as closely as possible to the inventory. The large full tester bed with its crimson hangings has been reconstructed, using a period bed. 

Handel also owned an extensive art collection. By the end of his life he possessed over 80 paintings and prints.

After periods of ill health and failing eyesight, Handel died at his home in Brook Street in April 1759 at the age of 74. In his will Handel left bequests to his servants, the Foundling Hospital and a number of charities. He also bequeathed £600 for his funeral and a memorial in Westminster Abbey, where he was buried.

The Jimi Hendrix flat is a more modest abode.

His girlfriend Kathy Etchingham said, "It wasn’t very grand, though the carpets and curtains were quite expensive. It was just right for a couple. 

The Hendrix flat at 23 Brook Street

"Jimi loved being able to go out and buy cigarettes or whatever and even if people recognised him they would not bother him. He could walk to the clubs with me and sometimes we went on the Tube. We went ice-skating at Queensway and lived a normal life."

The Brook Street location was perfect for Jimi, giving him proximity to the vibrant scene of clubs and music venues that had been a familiar environment for him in New York's Greenwich Village.

Jimi and Kathy Etchingham at Brook Street

In this flat, Jimi and Kathy were close to the West End and Soho. Their social circle consisted mainly of music business people. Kathy worked as a DJ at the top clubs in London, such as the Cromwellian in South Kensington and the Scotch of St. James.

So, while Chas Chandler was Jimi's manager and knew many of the British musicians, Kathy also knew the groups because they came to the clubs, and she was able to introduce Jimi to the scene in London.

As she put it, "Everyone in the business knew everyone else and socialised together." 

When Chas brought Jimi over from New York, they arrived at the Scotch on the first night, and a fight broke out; nothing to do with Jimi, who had already begun chatting up Kathy. 

Chas was concerned that the police might come in to the club and told Kathy to get Jimi away from the trouble, because he didn't yet have a visa. They went back to his hotel near Hyde Park.

In December '66, the couple moved into Ringo Starr's flat at 34 Montagu Square, occupying the basement flat, with Chas and his fiancee Lotte on the ground floor. This is where Hendrix composed The Wind Cries Mary, after an argument with Kathy.

As Kathy remembers, they were both hot-headed at times and neither would back away from an argument. She went out and when she returned, he had written the words:

After all the jacks are in their boxes
And the clowns have all gone to bed
You can hear happiness
Staggering on down the street
Footprints dressed in red
And the wind whispers
"Mary"

It became the third hit single for The Jimi HendrixExperience.

There is now a blue plaque outside 34 Montagu Square, but not for Jimi. It's for John Lennon, who lived there after Jimi, when he began his relationship with Yoko Ono.

This contact sheet was a guide 

In July 1968, Jimi and Kathy finally found a place they could call home, at 23 Brook Street. They occupied the top two floors of the house, where they could hide away if they wanted. "It was not as busy as you might think. Jimi and I both valued our privacy".

The flat at 23 is now accessed from an upper floor of the Handel house. The living room and bedroom have been assembled to look how they would have looked when Jimi lived there, as well as housing a permanent exhibition about his life and musical legacy in the back rooms.

Although not as extensive as the house next door, the restoration of the living room was so accurate Kathy said she felt disoriented when she attended the official opening of the flat in 2016, like she'd been transported back in time.

The attention to detail includes period dial phones, ashtrays, rugs, throws, an old radio, acoustic guitar, written lyrics and a tape recorder. 

There's a record player, amp and vintage 1960s stereo speakers, along with facsimiles of Jimi's actual record collection, including albums by Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Howlin' Wolf, Johnny Cash, Frank Zappa and, naturally, Handel.

IF YOU LIKE MY BLOG, PLEASE HIT THE FOLLOW BUTTON ON THE SIDE PANEL THANKS

See also on this blog:

Kathy Etchingham talks about her time with Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix wows Monterey 1967

Sunday Night at the Saville Theatre, 1967

Five Days of Drama at the Isle of Wight, 1970

Jimi's Last Interview, September 1970

Jimi Hendrix - the last interview, September 1970

Jimi in London the day before he died

"I'm happy - it's gonna be good."   That is how Jimi Hendrix signed off his interview with Roy Hollingworth that appeared in the September 5th 1970 edition of UK weekly Melody Maker.

With hindsight, the optimism he expressed about his future is hugely poignant given that only a few days later, aged just 27, Hendrix would be dead.

Whichever way you look at it, Jimi's death from an overdose of sleeping pills on September 18th was a sad and tragically sudden end to his story.

As the MM article said back then, Hendrix was rock's most influential guitarist. Then as now, he remains the guitarist considered by many as the greatest of all time.

But he was a troubled soul and by 1970 he had lost much of the creative momentum built up during the making of his masterpiece 1968 album Electric Ladyland.

The MM interview, click to enlarge

In this interview with Melody Maker, he acknowledged he had taken his music as far as he could in its present form and how he hoped to make more mind-expanding and spiritually uplifting music in the future.

On the 50th anniversary of his passing, there will be plenty of speculation about what might have been - whether he would have gone in a more jazzy direction; the rumoured collaborations with Gil Evans and Miles Davis. In the same way that Jeff Beck reinvented himself as a jazz fusion player, Hendrix could easily have moved away from his blues roots - and he planned to.

In his own words, Jimi saw his return to the UK in the summer of 1970 as a new beginning. It was widely acknowledged that he had lost his way creatively and his life seemed to be increasingly a tale of drug busts and legal issues of one sort or another. Jimi himself said as much. "It's all turned full circle. I'm back to where I started. I still sound the same, my music's the same and I can't think of anything new to add to it in its current state."

Jimi in his pomp, 1967

As a new decade was beginning, he saw it as a cut-off point for the revolutionary 1960's music culture. "This era of music sparked off by The Beatles has come to an end. Something new has got to come and Jimi Hendrix will be there."

Jimi wanted a big band, he said: "full of competent musicians I can conduct and write for. It's going to be something that will open up a new sense in people's minds. They are getting their minds ready now. Like me, they are going back home, getting fat and making themselves ready for the next trip."

Jimi looked increasingly unwell in 1970

That Hendrix needed to get himself together physically is clear. In his last photos, he looks tired. The Who's Pete Townshend was most vocal about his shock at the state Hendrix was in, thin and withdrawn, the effects of the drugs and alcohol, the travel and constant hassles having aged him.

As Charles Shaar Murray wrote in his excellent Hendrix book 'Crosstown Traffic', "Hendrix's dope consumption, which was fairly monstrous even at the best of times, was escalating dramatically."

Jimi's perspective on it was that, in his utopian vision of "a new form of classical music", you didn't necessarily need drugs.

"You know the drug scene came to a big head. It was opening up things in people's minds, giving them things they just couldn't handle. Well music can do that you know, and you don't need any drugs.

"It's going to be a complete form of music," he said of his ideas for a musical reinvention. "It could be something along similar lines to what Pink Floyd are tackling. They don't know it, but people like Pink Floyd are the mad scientists of this day and age."

Hollingworth asked Hendrix when he would start to form this big band. He said people wouldn't have too long to wait and that his Isle of Wight performance might be the last of that type with the three-piece format.

The MM's review of Hendrix's performance late on the Sunday night at the IOW concluded: "We're convinced that Jimi's trouble stems from internal conflict between his blues roots and a desire to progress. He has the technique to play a mass of different sounds, but his confidence seems to ebb and he gets confused when he wanders into the freestyle freaky effects, so revolutionary back in 1967.

"All it needs is some nice new songs, some rehearsal and bingo. As it happened, the miracle and magic worked towards the end of his two-hour set, with the air of a medley of hits. The magic was there all the time with the talent of Hendrix, Mitchell and Cox. They just need a little time...and they'll get it all together."

Jimi's hair was a little tamer now, observed the interviewer, Hollingworth. Did he feel he was a tamer person? He said no, maybe now and then he got a spark of maturity, but he reckoned he was a better guitarist than he used to be. "I've learnt a lot, but I've got to learn more about music. With the big band, I don't want to be playing as much guitar. I want other musicians to play my stuff."

He said he would not be doing so many live gigs. "I'm going to develop the sound and then I'm going to put a film out.

"It's so exciting - it's going to be an audio visual thing that you sit down and plug into - and really take in through your eyes and ears.

"I'm happy - it's gonna be good."

Remembering Jimi - friends and associates talk about him

Kathy Etchingham talking about her time with Jimi

Planet Rock broadcasts live from Jimi Hendrix's restored old flat at 23 Brook Street

IF YOU LIKE MY BLOG, PLEASE HIT THE FOLLOW BUTTON ON THE SIDE PANEL THANKS

Also on this blog: 

Electric Ladyland - Genius At Work

Five Days of Drama at the Isle of Wight, 1970

Jimi Hendrix releases Band of Gypsys

Hendrix and Handel - Neighbours in London

2-Tone and possibly my best gig ever

Queen's 1976 Free Concert in Hyde Park

Memories of the Reading Festival, 1975

Five Days of High Drama at the Isle of Wight, 1970

From Pinner to LA - Elton's Big Breakthrough, 1970

My Woodstock 50th Anniversary Diary

A Wizard, A True Star - my all-time favourite album

Blonde On Blonde - Bob Dylan's Artistic Peak in the 1960s

 Joni Mitchell - The Hissing of Summer Lawns

Jimi Hendrix and some Christmas gift suggestions

HO HO HO!!! HERE'S MY GROOVY NEW LP, JUST IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS.

Yes, it's December 1967 and Jimi's playing Santa Claus, bringing you seasonal joy with his new waxing Axis: Bold As Love.

The second of his three classic studio albums, 'Axis' combines some of Jimi's most psychedelic guitar experiments with his most sensitive songwriting. Tracks like Little Wing (truly one of his greatest songs) and Castles Made of Sand showed Jimi was so much more than the wild man of Borneo he was portrayed as by the media back then.

The recording was done mostly in London at Olympic Studios. Despite the ground-breaking guitar effects and stereo panning featured on tracks such as If 6 Was 9 and Bold As Love, the album could potentially have sounded even better if Jimi had not left a master tape of side one in a London taxi. The lost tape had to be remastered in one overnight session and Jimi always felt the rushed nature of it compromised the record. But to these ears it still sounds amazing, especially considering the limitations of using 4 track recorders.

Fast forward to December 1969 and Phillips/Fontana were trying to convince us to buy these goodies right away, because if we waited until Christmas eve they'd be sold out. Now let's be honest, Santa would not have been delivering many copies of any of these records. Scott 4 is beloved of wise-after-the-event hipsters, but it was his worst selling of the four 'Scott' albums.

The 'David Bowie' album, renamed Space Oddity in 1972 after his second coming with Ziggy Stardust, was another flop in 1969.

And Flaming Youth are only remembered now because their drummer was Phil Collins - that's him at the bottom of the diamond on the cover.

Of the four featured albums, Greek diva Nana Mouskouri was probably the best seller at the time; popular with the mums and dads, don't you know.

And of the others, well Blue Mink were having hits and Melting Pot is one of their best, so that would have probably been the best seller of the lot.

Elsewhere in this pre-Christmas 1969 edition of UK music paper Melody Maker, CBS would have had a bit more luck promoting the new album from Janis Joplin, I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!

With a new more soulful sound, a shift away from the psychedelic rock of Big Brother & The Holding Company, Janis was ready to rip up the joint as she did at Woodstock that summer. The new album should have done better sales-wise but a lot of fans were put off by the change of direction. Judged on its own merits, the record has some strong songs, including Try (Just A Little Bit Harder) and To Love Somebody. Check out those links, seriously. It's probably my favourite of her albums.

Island Records were also advertising in this edition of Melody Maker in December 1969. One or two of these albums, notably Fairport's Liege & Leif, Jethro Tull's Stand Up and In The Court of the Crimson King, had already been on the charts. Others, such as Quintessence, Mott and poor old Nick Drake would see little Yuletide activity.

My Woodstock 50th Anniversary Diary

Bethel Woods, Wednesday 14th August 2019

This is a special day - my first visit to the sacred ground, the field at Bethel in upstate New York, where the 1969 Woodstock Music & Arts Fair was held, in all its catastrophic glory.

 

I've travelled a long way for this, from New Zealand, via Hong Kong and the UK; an eight week tour culminating in this pleasure pilgrimage to where the mother of all festivals took place.

As I have travelled around, a lot of people have been asking me if I was at the original Woodstock. Well no, I was 10 years old and living in England. But like many others of my generation, I am imbued with the spirit of peace, love and music. I grew up listening to the music of the 1960s and a great deal of it has stayed with me. Reading Michael Lang's book The Road To Woodstock took me closer to how this amazing event unfolded during 1969. I'm fascinated by it and have always wanted to come here and see it for myself.

One of New York's legendary jazz clubs

I spent last week, prior to coming upstate, in New York City having business meetings and visiting favourite haunts. One of the things I love about New York is you can see top musicians playing in small clubs virtually any night of the week.

One night I went to see the Bill Frisell Trio at the Village Vanguard in Greenwich Village. Wow, those guys are good. They improvised around half a dozen tunes for 90 minutes straight - no between song breaks, just one tune merging into the next seamlessly. That's impressive.

This morning I packed my things ("suitcase and guitar in hand") and caught the Trailways bus from the Port Authority bus terminal at 42nd Street. The bus headed north along the Hudson river, up to the town of Woodstock.

As many will know, this is not where the 1969 festival was held. The organisers of 'Woodstock' had planned to open a recording studio in Woodstock town and had the idea of holding a festival there to promote the studio. They imagined encouraging local musicians, including Bob Dylan, to record at the facility. That plan didn't come to anything, but the four individuals involved in 'Woodstock Ventures' decided to pursue the festival idea.

The house where I stayed in Woodstock town

It was the Age of Aquarius and the proposed festival was billed as 'An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music'. No one could have dreamt it would become a moment that defined a generation.

But it nearly didn't happen at all, after town officials in Woodstock and landowners in nearby Saugerties closed ranks to block the festival plan. Woodstock had been an artists colony since the 1920s, but even before the festival was proposed, local people were complaining about the number of long hairs who were camping out on public land in and around the town. Lang and Co's festival idea was nipped in the bud. 

Arrangements and infrastructure development for the festival were more advanced in the town of Wallkill, before that too was voted down by local councillors, all wary of the long-haired freak invasion.

With only a few weeks to go, the organisers found an alternative site - the perfect bowl at Bethel, 40 miles west of Woodstock - and a sympathetic dairy farmer, Max Yasgur, who rented them the land for their festival. The rest is all laid out in the movie and the books. Ang Lee even made a movie - Taking Woodstock - about the bizarre circumstances that brought the promoters to Bethel. It's a story of blind devotion and blind luck, showing that peace, love and music can overcome most anything. 

So I'm staying one night at an Airbnb here in Woodstock town. The house is owned by a local lady who lives alone with her cats, surrounded by paintings and many sculptures created by her late father. It's rustic, laid back and bohemian.

On the road to 'Woodstock'

This area of upstate New York is actually little changed from 50 years ago. The main highways are maybe a little wider and the trees have grown taller, but the houses - in that distinctive Catskills style - are still the same, all quite spread out. The region is mainly farmland, with mountains and forest in close proximity.

During the week, the area is very quiet. There is not much local industry and many of the houses are only occupied at weekends by people coming up from their jobs in the City.

Someone told me that as many as 60% of homeowners in Woodstock are weekenders. So the local tourist trade and events in the wider area, such as the Bethel Woods concerts, are a big deal for the local community.

Now an official 'historic place'

This afternoon I'm driving over to the festival site. It's the day before the festivities are due to begin and I'm driving south west about 40 miles to the town of Bethel.

As I get nearer, I begin to recognise the gently rolling highway 17B I've seen in photos, that leads to the White Lake community which Bethel is part of.

I arrive at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts - the site of the 1969 festival - to collect the necessary entry and parking passes. Security will be tight in the immediate vicinity during the weekend, to prevent a repeat of what happened in '69, when half a million people turned up, many of them without tickets.

Bethel Woods Center for the Arts was created in 2006 after the 800 acre site was acquired by a local entrepreneur.

The '69 festival field, with the new pavilion in the background

It takes inspiration from and commemorates the Woodstock generation, while taking that spirit forward in a wide-ranging community arts and learning centre.

It's really impressive what they've done, in preserving the original festival field and restoring some of the areas around it, like the Bindy Bazaar and the trails in the woods where many of the 1969 concession stands were.

The view across the bowl in '69

I wandered across to the festival field. It's a breathtaking vista, even though I've seen it a thousand times in photos.  This hallowed ground is relatively quiet today, with the site still being prepared for the weekend's festivities. There's a special vibe, provided by the people milling around the monument and in the festival field itself, many of whom were here in 1969.

The festival field from the monument at Bethel

Walking across the field, halfway down the hill towards the stage area is a big 5-0 (with the zero as a peace sign) mown into the grass. There I met two people, Jeannie and Van, who had met up on the road to Woodstock in '69. She was 16 years old and had run away from home in Atlanta - she didn't say why. He was a bit older, maybe late teens and picked up Jeannie and her friend who were hitch-hiking.

They arrived two weeks before the festival began and attached themselves to the different groups who were supposed to provide food and facilities. During the festival, Jeannie helped out with supplying food, not as part of the legendary Hog Farm, who worked for free, but as one of the contracted suppliers, Food for Love who, it transpired, were hopelessly under resourced to feed 400,000 people.

Van and Jeannie, veterans of Woodstock '69

Van worked as security - again, not as part of the Hog Farm's 'Please Force', but as a paid employee of the festival organisers. He got $138 for the weekend, which would have been pretty good money at the time.

They lost touch with each other after the festival. Jeannie stayed on to help with the clear up and ended up providing childcare to a family in nearby Monticello before moving back down south when the weather got too cold.

By the wonders of the internet, Jeannie and Van made contact again after 40 years when Van spotted Jeannie in an online chat about Life Magazine's Woodstock special edition.

They are both named in the credits at the end of the Woodstock movie. The 50th anniversary week is a special occasion for them and they are making the most of it, by sharing their memories. Jeannie was carrying with her a folio of pages from Life Magazine's original report on Woodstock. She is the girl in the photos.

I met several other people today who were at the festival in '69, all of whom spoke fondly of the spirit in the crowd, despite the conditions they endured over the weekend, with the lack of water, food, adequate toilet facilities - and any way to escape! Everyone said how well behaved people were and that there was a sense, even then, that they were part of something historic.

Me on the '69 festival field, Sunday afternoon - just before the concert, the sky turned black

There were periods of rain on Friday night and Saturday morning. Although the weather was mostly warm and sunny on the Saturday in 1969, the Life Magazine photos really convey just how bedraggled those who stuck it out became after the big storm on the Sunday. Later on in my weekend, I would get a vivid illustration of how dramatic the weather can be in these parts. 

Thursday 15th - Woodstock, Bethel and Livingston Manor

I drove back to Woodstock and stayed one night there, just to get a feel for what the town is like. A guy I met in Bethel yesterday told me "Woodstock never left the 60s" - and he has a point.

Woodstock town

The main street’s over-riding theme (tie-dye t-shirts, peace and love) is the 1969 festival. The locals claim now that the spirit of Woodstock resides here, which is ironic in view of the fact they didn't want the freaks there back in '69.

Woodstock the town is home to many artists and musicians, some of whom told me how much they enjoyed the lifestyle here. They manage to scrape a living. Like many towns in the area, Woodstock would be quite depressed if it weren't for the links to the festival and the resulting Airbnb and taxi trade. But for old hippies, it's a home from home.

Arlo Guthrie, 50 years on from his first visit

Thursday night back at Bethel there was an official opening evening, with live music from Arlo Guthrie and the plan was to show the Woodstock movie on the festival field. Arlo's set included some old favourites like 'Ukelele Lady', his old man's song 'This Land Is Your Land' and a fine cover of Bob Dylan's 'Gates of Eden'.

Here's a link to Arlo's set:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W36wI5UBKE

The pavilion and lawn at Bethel Woods

The weather altered plans for a showing of the movie on the field though, with a thunder storm moving in that evening. So the film showing shifted to the Pavilion, where the concerts are held nowadays.

It's a fine auditorium, open at the back and sides in a natural bowl, but the movie fell a bit flat with the weather closing in, and people began to drift away. 

I did too, just in time to meet a (rare) Uber driver as the mountain sky became lit up by lightning. With an electric storm passing overhead, marshalls at the Bethel Woods centre were very keen that we should all move indoors. I had to obey their orders and was pleading with my Uber driver by text to wait for me. Eventually I made a run for it through the storm to meet up with the driver on 17B, since they wouldn't allow him onto Hurd Road. It was a pretty dicey ride through the storm back up into the mountains to my next Airbnb. I'm amazed we found it, frankly.

My accommodation at Livingston Manor

Friday 16th
It's pretty wild where I'm staying in Livingston Manor, 20 miles north of Bethel. It's bear country and there's plenty of other wildlife here too. Some of the best fishing in the country apparently.

The lady I'm staying with is originally from Taiwan, so we chatted about the troubles in that part of the world, with Taiwan and Hong Kong both at odds with big brother on the mainland.

Her chief problem here at the house is dealing with the beavers who continually dam up her ponds and risk flooding the area when it rains. Though she really doesn't want to, she may be forced to bring in someone to exterminate them.

The pond and beaver dam at bottom left

After a peaceful morning in this wilderness, to lower my blood pressure after last night, I picked up my car and drove back to Bethel, where the Woodstock anniversary weekend kicked off in fine style, with music from Blood, Sweat & Tears, the Edgar Winter Group and headliner Ringo Starr with his All-Starr Band.

The weather was kind - a clear blue sky and low humidity meant that tie-dyes and all manner of retro-hippy garb were on display. Everyone carried a positive vibe - I was among friends.

I wore my 1969 Abbey Road 50th anniversary t-shirt, bought last month when I was in London and visited the famous studio in St John's Wood. (Almost 30 years ago, I met my wife at the apartment block on the other side of the road, across the famous zebra crossing).

I sat with some lovely people for the show tonight; like me, who grew up with the Woodstock movie and were heavily influenced by the music of the late 60s and early 70s.

An appropriate shirt for Ringo's show

Blood, Sweat & Tears were really good, with their distinctive horn section and big band swing feel. BS&T played at the original Woodstock festival in 1969 and were playing almost the exact same set as they did then.

Actually, it was just like listening to their first album. Smiling Phases, More and More, And When I Die, Spinning Wheel etc. Good start.

This is BS&T doing the Laura Nyro song 'And When I Die' at Bethel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU5ohS76Nqw

Edgar Winter was quite brilliant. I was a big fan of the 'White Trash' and 'They Only Come Out At Night' albums back in the 1970s and he started his set with 'Free Ride' - such a great song.

Edgar's a consummate showman and his interactions with the young guys in his three piece band - all really good musicians - were very entertaining. Of course, they finished their set with Frankenstein, Edgar on key-tar, sax and percussion.

Here's a link to the Edgar Winter Band doing 'Frankenstein' at Bethel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFs4keBPMRU

There was talk that Paul McCartney might appear as a guest with Ringo, but I wasn't holding my breath, which was just as well, because he didn't.

Ringo's show is as much a showcase for his band as it is a chance for Ringo himself to sing a few tunes. For this show, Gregg Rolie, the keyboard player with Santana (and later, Journey), was given pride of place, since he had performed here in '69 with Santana.

Gregg Rolie, another Woodstock veteran

Gregg spoke about the impact of playing "over there", pointing to the festival field - just as Santana were about to release their first album (it was released on August 30, 1969).

The Santana songs played by Ringo's band were Evil Ways, Black Magic Woman and Oye Como Va, with Toto's Steve Lukather doing the Carlos duties.

Here is their take on Oye Como Va
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anjxVN_0NGU

The good thing about the Ringo show is that every tune is a big hit and there's a lot of variety. Other highlights included Colin Hay's two contributions from his Men At Work days, 'Down Under' and 'Who Can It Be Now'. The Average White Band's Hamish Stuart's led an excellent Pick Up The Pieces. Lukather did Toto's Rosanna and Hold The Line.

Here's a clip of them doing 'Who Can It be Now?'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHm7vXs__7c

Ringo did all his hits and, at times, his was a bit of a cabaret act compared to the others, so it was probably well-judged that he took his seat at the drums for much of the show. His finale of 'With A Little Help From My Friends' was excellent, though.

Here's the clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYpn6zn576w

A great night of music. Looking forward to Saturday night with Santana and the Doobie Brothers.

Richie Havens faces the crowd who had waited many hours for the music to start on Friday in 1969

Saturday 17th

Before the show today, I visited the Bethel Woods museum, which contains a wealth of memorabilia from 1969 and some revealing artefacts, such as papers regarding the negotiations for the festival. It's clear the organisers went to great lengths to placate the locals, some of whom were against holding the festival in the area and threatened to boycott Max Yasgur's dairy. This archive is mixed in with contemporary history, for those too young to know the political background of 1960s America.

Dan (in the yellow shirt) and Pete, on the bus

There are also exhibits from some of the lesser-known official photographers at Woodstock. Here I met Dan and Pete who attended in '69 as 16 year olds up from Florida.

They are pictured here atop a psychedelic bus. Dan explained that when the rains came, they were taken under the wing of a bunch of students from Berklee who owned the bus and allowed them to hide under it during the rainstorm.

Tonight raised the bar musically, with two of my favourite bands. I'd always wanted to see the Doobie Brothers and they delivered one hell of an opening act for Santana. All the hits and a few choice album tracks such as 'Clear As The Driven Snow' from the 'Captain and Me' album. Played crisp and true to the originals, and with Bill Payne from Little Feat on keyboards too. The crowd loved every minute of it.

Here's one of the encore songs - Blackwater:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsg-QFkU_Tk

My shirt for Santana's show, bought in Woodstock

The festival vibes were also raised on Saturday. Last night I had seats in the covered area, but tonight I was on the lawn, which it turns out is party central. I put down my Mexican rug, to match my Mex-Afro shirt and met some lovely folks!

The weather intervened for a short while and just before Santana took the stage it started to rain quite heavily. Then the video screens started showing the rain dance from the Woodstock movie and tonight's crowd joined in with the chant - WOAH-OOOOOO!!

Then the lights went up and Santana launched immediately into Soul Sacrifice - just like on the Woodstock album - what an entrance!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q-JDkfsLgI

And it stopped raining!

Santana's show was a stunner - wave upon wave of great music

Santana's show is tremendously varied in musical style, including rock, latin, jazz, reggae, afrobeat and rap. Carlos likes to acknowledge all the greats that have influenced him: John Coltrane, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, The Grateful Dead etc, and he works in these many musical themes and riffs into his set.

Santana devoted the early part of the set to material from the first albums - a rousing Jingo Lo Ba and Evil Ways, as well as Soul Sacrifice from the first album; Black Magic Woman, Oye Como Va and Hope You're Feeling Better from Abraxas. He threw in some snatches of Welcome and Borboletta too.

"How many people here are on acid?" enquired Carlos. "Or Mescalin? Give me some!"

Their set was like a musical history lesson. At one point they did Bob Marley's 'Exodus' and 'Get Up, Stand Up', then Jimi's 'Voodoo Chile'  and later on they did a little bit of 'Miss You' by the Rolling Stones.

Coltrane's 'A Love Supreme' has been a feature of his set for many years, but Carlos always finds a way to keep the music fresh. His son Salvador is one of the singers and proved to be an accomplished rapper. Cindy Blackman (Mrs Santana) on the drums sang and played John Lennon's 'Imagine'. There was so much to absorb and enjoy.

Santana at Woodstock in 1969. Their first album had just been released

Carlos talked to the audience a lot about Woodstock, the special spirit of those times and how important it remains.

He didn't hold back in his view that Bethel and the spirit of Woodstock is "the real America, not the bullshit politicians, liars and hate speech peddlers."

He concluded the show with a message of peace and brotherhood, before playing out with a cover of The Youngblood's 'Get Together'.

Come on people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another
Right now

Carlos Santana leaves you in no doubt that he still has the fire and he can put on a fantastic show.

Here's another perspective on the Santana show at Bethel.
And this couple travelled to see Santana in a vintage hippy bus.

Sunday 18th

And so we come to the final day of the 50th anniversary, the hottest day of the week weather-wise, punctuated by a thunder storm just prior to showtime, which curtailed Grace Potter's opening act. Most people came prepared - this area is prone to some fairly dramatic weather, as we saw in 1969. Later in the evening, John Fogerty quipped "400,000 people and no one brought an umbrella"!

Kiki on the festival field as the storm approached

I was joined today by Kiki - an American friend from when we both lived in Hong Kong. We parked up and were about to walk down the 69 festival field when we saw this huge black cloud loom over us. The site stewards insisted everyone had to take cover, so we rushed into one of the merchandise tents (more tie-dye shirts, magical rings and incense) until the storm passed.

I have seen Tedeschi Trucks Band before, at the Beacon Theatre in New York City two years ago and they were amazing, a big band covering a wide range of blues and jazz-tinged rock. So I think they were perfect to play at Woodstock, because their act is often dotted with songs from the era.

They really hit the high notes when they played the old Woodstock-era covers, because they do them so well. They kicked off the set with their take on 'Soul Sacrifice'. They also covered 'The Letter' which went down well with the crowd.

Here's a clip of TTB doing their own song 'Don't Know What It Means' followed by 'The Letter'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DI6BvDgwPj8

Tedeschi Trucks Band, right at home at Bethel Woods

They dotted their set with other Woodstock-era songs, including John Sebastian's 'Darling Be Home Soon'. Another highlight was their rousing version of Sly Stone's 'Sing A Simple Song' and 'I Want To Take You Higher'.

Here's the full clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP_mtmehCaQ

Headliner John Fogerty didn't disappoint on the covers score either, doing a really excellent job on Joe Cocker's 'With A Little Help From My Friends'. It was a bit surreal hearing the keyboard intro played note perfect from the Cocker version. The backing singers added a welcome touch of gloss.

Here's the cover of 'With A Little Help From My Friends':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2GkaZ1AlJk&list=PL_BMMYxYUtQPCco7EVD3zQmOuFUjrYJ3a&index=4

Fogerty was full of surprises, including an unlikely triumph on Sly Stone's 'Dance To The Music'. His son Shane, on lead guitar, even did a passable version of Jimi Hendrix's 'Star Spangled Banner'.

In between songs, Fogerty made jokes about how it was CCR's bad luck to follow the Grateful Dead on stage late at night in '69 (here's a link to CCR's set). The Dead, it is universally agreed, played a rotten set, fuelled by copious amounts of LSD and spooked by the threat of electrocution after the rain storm. Creedence Clearwater Revival were undeterred, but the Dead had put everyone to sleep. Fogerty was for years unhappy with having to play to a sleeping audience, although those who were there say people were still awake, in spite of the Dead.

The concert footage of CCR from 1969, see link above, shows that Fogerty was clearly unhappy with the stage sound and is constantly looking across to the sound engineer, at one point saying, "Can you turn that thing on, is it on now?" presumably referring to a stage monitor. 

It's hard for modern day performers to fathom how hard it was for singers to hear themselves properly back then, before the advent of stage-front monitors.

John Fogerty giving it the full psychedelic stage look

Anyway, tonight there were no such vibes and Fogerty gave us the full range of Creedence's hits. 1969 was the year of CCR, with three albums released that year. I believe they out-sold everyone but The Beatles. So you name it, they played it and rocked the house.

It was a perfect way to end this special weekend. Cue the streamers and fireworks. Well done everyone!

This whole pilgrimage to the 50th anniversary was worth every cent. The set-up at Bethel Woods really does capture the Woodstock spirit. They have done a great job in preserving the original festival field and building a new facility around it. Other festivals may try to cash in on the Woodstock name, but this place is where the Woodstock Generation can rightly call home.

I hope to get back to the garden one day.

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We are stardust - We are golden - And we've got to get ourselves - back to the garden

1969, during and after, from the gatefolds of the Woodstock and Woodstock 2 records

The festival field 50 years later in August 2019

Also On This Blog:

Idiot Wind Marks Bob Dylan's Return to Greatness, 1975

Joni Mitchell and The Hissing Of Summer Lawns

A Visit To The Annual Nick Drake Gathering

Sandy Denny and Fotheringay - A Beguiling Songbook

Blonde On Blonde - Bob Dylan's Artistic Peak In The 1960s

2-Tone and possibly my best gig ever

Queen's 1976 Free Concert in Hyde Park

Memories of the Reading Festival, 1975

Five Days of High Drama at the Isle of Wight, 1970

From Pinner to LA - Elton's Big Breakthrough, 1970

A Wizard, A True Star - my all-time favourite album