Search - 20 Years After - Woodstock Reunion Concert / Timothy Leary, Blood Sweat & Tears, Canned Heat, Iron Butterfly on DVD

Pretty BAD

J. R Sategna | Martinez, California United States | 08/24/2004

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Looks like an outdoor concert that could have been in your backyard with the amount of people there. Timothy Leary's comments make up most of the DVD and do not need to be included-he cuts into performances with his relentless rambling on about nothing--Canned Heat was good-Iron Butterfly was good-it had the original bass player (Lee Dorman) the guitarist Eric Braunn (who died a few years ago) was there but where was Ron Bushy(drummer) or Doug Engle (lead vocals)? The singer in this lineup was terrible -I saw this group a few yrs later when they had Bushy, Dorman, and Engle-lots better than this lineup--Electric Flag was good with Nick Granvities (only original member) on lead vocals-- I wish they had interviews with the musicians and named the current members instead of having to listen to the Leary Crap!!!! My advice is to stay away from this one--its no Woodstock material----"

Somewhere between agonizing and embarrassing

E. Uthman | Houston, TX USA | 08/29/2004

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I realize that musical skills may fall off with age, but there is no excuse for this mess. To being with, the musicianship is not much beyond the garage-band level. There may be some talented musicians in these acts, but there is no evidence that they practiced or rehearsed for this concert.

OK, even if we cut them a break on performance skills out of respect for their role in rock history, that still leaves the problem of the poor decisions the DVD producers made. First, they unforgivably had a cachectic Timothy O'Leary narrating at length OVER the music. Second, there are also visual interruptions with 60s newsreel footage playing over the acts. Finally, there are the very amateurish video effects that were added to the performances.

There is food for thought here though. Consider that Melanie, who was one of the sexiest women on the 60s musical scene, has let herself go to the point that she is dangerously overweight. Young people should take heed about maintaining a healthy lifestyle to keep this from happening to them. You can really go to seed in a mere 20 years."

What brainchild put THIS mess together?

LuckyDan | USA | 09/16/2004

(1 out of 5 stars)

"As soon as I loaded disc one and pushed play, I knew this release was a terrible joke. It should be called "The Timothy Leary Show". Who in the world would want spaced out Timothy Leary incoherently rambling on about God knows what on a dvd? If that wasn't bad enough he does it OVER many of the performances!!! Couple that with amaturistic video effects and superimposed images over the musicians as they play...ah nevermind. It's all been said before on here so it's redundant to continue.

This release will find itself in the bargin bin in no time. DO NOT BUY THIS no matter how cheap the price gets. I give it 1 star becuase it's not permitted to give any less."

Some Give And Take Here

Monkey Bucket | Ca. United States | 08/04/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This was a two day event that I attended back in '89, held on the football field at Cal State Dominguez College in California . It wasn't promoted very well, so it didn't do very
well as far as attendance. I remember they were filming the whole thing and have been waiting for this to come out. Here it is, and it's a mixed bag. I don't recall Timothy Leary being there, and even if he was, I don't think it warrants the producers of this DVD to put him on over the bands while they are playing. I wanted to see the bands performing. If they absolutely needed Leary to sell this, they should have put him before the band segments. There are some good performances here,
if you don't expect to see everyone young again. Not all of these bands were at Woodstock. Mark Farner will tell you that Grand Funk was not invited. Let me get what I consider the low points out of the way first. Iron Butterfly,Humble Pie,Spencer Davis all consisted of original members with a bunch of heavy metal looking people that looked like they came from the Troubador.It's A Beautiful Day was actually there,and turned in a great performance,but are not seen here. Mark Farner,Melanie,Country Joe McDonald,Canned Heat,Leon Russel & Edgar Winter,& Electric Flag were all good. The reason to buy this DVD is Blood Sweat & Tears!"