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Jimi Hendrix-Blue Wild/I.O.W

How every concert DVD should be presented, 6 January, 2003
Reviewer: Christopher Jones from cambridge, cambs United Kingdom
Whilst the I.O.W. festival didn't capture the feeling of Woodstock, Jimi's performance was exceptional and well worth seeing again and again. He was back in Britain after a long time, with the traditional three-man combo (Buddy Cox replacing Noel Redding on bass and Mitch Mitchell on drums). He wore simply the best outfit you've ever seen, and came onto the stage knowing that this, not Monterrey, was his real home-coming.

I've heard many of Jimi's live concerts, and think I have a good ear for when he was playing well or not. For much of his I.O.W. set I think Jimi was at his best, especially when performing the newer material (In From the Storm is excellent). It's well known that Jimi was tiring of some of his older material, and Mitch Mitchell comments that they felt obliged to play Foxy Lady, despite feeling they had moved on from there. But you would never believe that as Jimi fires through an excellent playlist that will keep any Hendrix fan happy.

While I am a big fan of Jimi's Woodstock performance, I thought he blew a bit hot and cold that day - some great moments, but some bum notes too (maybe because of the new format of his larger backing group?) For the I.O.W. concert he was back to the trio, which he knew best, and it shows as the performance was more consistent through the set. But what really sets this DVD apart from the Woodstock DVD is not the music but the more thorough presentation. This is the whole concert, not half of it, and it was brilliantly filmed and recorded and now remixed for surround sound (compare all these points with Woodstock!) There is some great additional material - like some tracks with picture-in-picture, and an extended interview with the director of the film.

This is a must for any Hendrix fan who thinks that Woodstock was his best ever performance - this isn't either, but it compares very well. For that accolade you need to hear "The Albert Hall Experience" C.D. (sadly the film of that concert has never seen the light of day). But there is much to enjoy from the I.O.W. Just sit close to the T.V., arrange your DVD surround-sound speakers carefully and near to your head, and turn up the volume.

Woodstock [1969]

Amazon.co.uk Review
The three-day Woodstock music festival in 1969 was the pivotal event of the 1960s peace movement, and this landmark concert film is the definitive record of that milestone of rock 'n' roll history. It's more than a chronicle of the hippie movement, however; this is a film of genuine historical and social importance, capturing the spirit of America in transition, when the Vietnam War was at its peak and antiwar protest was fully expressed through the liberating music of the time. With a brilliant crew at his disposal (including a young editor named Martin Scorsese), director Michael Wadleigh worked with over 300 hours of footage to create his original 225-minute director's cut, which was cut by 40 minutes for the film's release in 1970. Eight previously edited segments were restored in 1994, and the original director's cut of Woodstock is now the version most commonly available on videotape and DVD.
The film deservedly won the Academy Award for Best Documentary, and it's still a stunning achievement. Abundant footage taken among the massive crowd ("half a million strong") expresses the human heart of the event, from skinny-dipping hippies to accidental overdoses, to unpredictable weather, mid-concert childbirth, and the thoughtful (or just plain rambling) reflections of the festive participants. Then, of course, there is the music--a non-stop parade of rock 'n' roll from the greatest performers of the period, including Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Canned Heat, The Who, Richie Havens, Joan Baez, Ten Years After, Sly & The Family Stone, Santana, and many more. Watching this ambitious film, as the saying goes, is the next best thing to being there--it's a time-travel journey to that once-in-a-lifetime event. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com