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Description

This four-disc album--like the famed August 1969 rock festivalit chronicles--is something of a sprawling, disorderly, engaging mess. Issued as a box set 25 years after the counterculture tribal gathering, it amasses the original three-record Woodstock set from 1970, its two-LP 1971 sequel, Woodstock II, and a generous store of previously unreleased tracks from Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin, the Band, Jimi Hendrix, and others. There's plenty of chaff to go with the wheat (one is tempted to conclude John ("Far out!") Sabastian's blissed-out rant hasn't aged well, but it's just as likely most of the crowd at Yasgur's Farm would have gagged him if given half a chance, and Jefferson Airplane and Crosby, Stills & Nash clearly had better days). But Sly & the Family Stone, Joe Cocker, Santana, and Richie Havens shine, the stage patter has become part of the lexicon, and the whole package now stands as a remarkable account of a pivotal musical and cultural event. --Steven Stolder