For the first time, an audio recording is available of nearly everything heard onstage at Woodstock 50 years ago — from transcendent music to announcements about lost people and bad acid. It's the entire Woodstock experience, minus the mud.
List price: $799.98.
History aside, who would buy an exhaustive 38-disc package with 432 songs? Who would even take the time to listen?
FILE - In this Aug. 16, 1969 file photo, thousands of rock music fans are packed around the stage in a field near Bethel, N.Y., at the Woodstock Festival. For the first time, an audio recording is available of nearly everything heard onstage at Woodstock 50 years ago - from transcendent music to announcements about lost people and bad acid. A 38-disc package "Woodstock - Back to the Garden - The Definitive Anniversary Archive" is available now. (AP PhotoMarty Lederhandler, File)
More people than you might think. All 1,969 copies (get it?) of "Woodstock — Back to the Garden — The Definitive Anniversary Archive" were snapped up weeks ago. Abbreviated 10-, five- and three-disc packages remain on the market.
"I was always 100 percent certain that it was going to sell out," said Andy Zax, the set's producer. "I lobbied for them to produce some more copies ... I knew there was an audience for this."
He said he's already spotted copies available for resale online at nearly $2,000 and expects that price will keep rising.
FILE - In this March 19, 2019 file photo, musician John Fogerty performs at the Woodstock 50 lineup announcement at Electric Lady Studios in New York. For the first time, an audio recording, "Woodstock - Back to the Garden - The Definitive Anniversary Archive," is available of nearly everything heard onstage at Woodstock 50 years ago. Creedence Clearwater Revival, one of the most popular acts at the time, had never before authorized release of their performance, but the set is now available both on the Rhino Records box and a separate disc okayed by Fogerty. (Photo by Evan AgostiniInvisionAP, File)
The logistics of running a festival that drew 400,000 people and defined a generation may have overwhelmed Woodstock organizers, but they did keep tape recorders running. It still took detective, technical and persuasive skills to recreate a start-to-finish document, in a way that couldn't be done when Zax quarterbacked a six-disc retrospective for the 40th anniversary. Copies of performances were scattered, not everybody wanted all the music released and technology wasn't up to the level of today.
Of the 432 tracks on the Rhino Records package, 267 had never been made public before.
The image of Woodstock that lives in many people's minds was set by director Michael Wadleigh's documentary and two soundtrack recordings released shortly after the festival. To Zax, presenting the entire concert busts and enhances some myths.
FILE - This Aug. 14, 1969 file photo shows a portion of the 400,000 concert goers who attended the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival held on a 600-acre pasture near Bethel, N.Y. For the first time, an audio recording is available of nearly everything heard onstage at Woodstock 50 years ago - from transcendent music to announcements about lost people and bad acid. It's the entire Woodstock experience, minus the mud. A 38-disc package "Woodstock - Back to the Garden - The Definitive Anniversary Archive" is available now. (AP PhotoFile)
For one thing, he was able show Country Joe McDonald that he wasn't the festival's second act, as the singer had long been telling people. Instead, he performed on the second day.
Jimi Hendrix's rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" was an epic moment in the film. In reality, all but a few thousand people had gone home by the time Hendrix appeared.
Despite bigger names involved, the recording reveals that Sly & the Family Stone and the now-forgotten Canned Heat drew the biggest responses from the audience. Zax was blown away by Bert Sommer, but since his performance wasn't included in Wadleigh's film or earlier soundtracks, both that show and Sommer are historical asterisks.
In this Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019 photo, John Fogerty poses for a photo at an interview with The Associated Press in New York. For the first time, an audio recording is available of nearly everything heard onstage at Woodstock 50 years ago - from transcendent music to announcements about lost people and bad acid. Creedence Clearwater Revival, one of the most popular acts at the time, had never before authorized release of their performance. Fifty years later, the set is now available both on the Rhino Records box and a separate disc okayed by Fogerty. (Photo by Brian AchInvisionAP)
"If even a fragment of it had made the film, he would be as famous as Richie Havens," he said.
Creedence Clearwater Revival, one of the most popular acts at the time, had never before authorized release of their performance. The band was unhappy with it and angry that a meandering Grateful Dead left them with a non-responsive audience and a start time past midnight. The Dead "put half a million people to sleep," singer John Fogerty told The Associated Press.
Fifty years later, the set is now available both on the Rhino box and a separate disc okayed by Fogerty. While the performance was "a blazing document of the band at its peak and should've helped cement the band's legacy," music critic Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune recently wrote that it was a reminder of how Creedence undercut its career.
"Creedence was smoking, was on fire everywhere else," Fogerty recalled. "Everything we were doing was really turning out well, and we were shooting up into the sky like a rocket. And I just thought, 'why should we show the world this thing where we're having difficulty, and not looking so good?' I declined and never really looked back."
Ravi Shankar was another artist unhappy with his rain-soaked performance and, like some others, later recreated it in a studio and passed it off as the "real" Woodstock show. Only a mono copy of the original survived. However, James Clarke of Abbey Road studios used a new mixing process to create a stereo recording.
Zax grimaces at how other producers have tried to "fix" recordings of Woodstock performances.
"When you try to clean it up, you make it worse. This is never going to sound like a Steely Dan record," he said, referencing a band known for its fastidious recordings. "So why try?"
Still, he was not beneath using some studio wizardry to improve things, like when engineers fixed some wildly out-of-tune horns during the set of Blood, Sweat & Tears. That's different, to him, than projects where instruments or voices were added or re-recorded.
Producers fell just short of recreating the entire festival, and don't think that doesn't drive Zax crazy. There was a tape gap during Sha Na Na's performance — it came near the end of Woodstock and technicians got a little sloppy — and although he knows the act sang a cover of "Teenager in Love," he's never been able to locate a copy.
"As a solver of mysteries and a righter of historical wrongs, I live for this stuff," Zax said. "It is an unbelievable amount of work that has taken an unbelievable amount of time."
The Rhino box includes several other curios, including posters, a replica of the original program and a book written by Michael Lang, one of the original festival creators. The audio is being streamed this weekend on SiriusXM and a handful of radio stations, including Radio Woodstock in Woodstock, N.Y.
Most people who consider Woodstock now think of its cultural significance, or the blocked traffic and acres of people.
Zax hopes the box makes people remember the music. He's spent countless hours listening to it and, if you're wondering, he wasn't there. He was 4 at the time and living in California.
"I would have loved to have been there," he said. "Even if I was damp and mildewy and starving."
Associated Press writers John Carucci in New York and Michael Hill in Albany, New York, contributed to this report.
PARIS (AP) —
Reuters photographer Mohammed Salem captured this year’s prestigious World Press Photo of the Year award Thursday with a depiction of loss and sorrow in Gaza, a heartrending photo of a Palestinian woman cradling the body of her young niece. The photograph, taken in Khan Younis just days after Salem’s own child was born, shows 36-year-old Inas Abu Maamar holding five-year-old Saly, who was killed along with her mother and sister when an Israeli missile struck their home.
Salem, who is Palestinian, described this photo filed Nov. 2 last year, as a “powerful and sad moment that sums up the broader sense of what was happening in the Gaza Strip.”
The image ”truly encapsulates this sense of impact,” said global jury chair Fiona Shields, The Guardian newspaper's head of photography. “It is incredibly moving to view and at the same time an argument for peace, which is extremely powerful when peace can sometimes feel like an unlikely fantasy,” she added.
The World Press Photo jury praised the shot’s sense of care and respect and its offering of a “metaphorical and literal glimpse into unimaginable loss.”
This is not the first time Salem has been recognized for his work on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; he received a World Press Photo award more than a decade ago for another depiction of the human toll of conflict in the Gaza strip.
In the three other global categories announced Thursday, South Africa’s Lee-Ann Olwage won Photo Story of the Year for her touching series “Valim-babena,” featured in GEO magazine. The project focused on the stigmatization of dementia in Madagascar, a topic she explored through intimate portraits of “Dada Paul” and his family. Lack of public awareness surrounding dementia means that people displaying symptoms of memory loss are often stigmatized.
In the series, “Dada Paul,” who has lived with dementia for 11 years, is tenderly cared for by his daughter Fara. One of the standout images in the series shows him preparing for church with his granddaughter Odliatemix, capturing moments of normalcy and warmth amidst the challenges of dementia.
Photographer Alejandro Cegarra, a Venezuelan native who migrated to Mexico in 2017, won the Long-Term Project award for “The Two Walls,” published by The New York Times and Bloomberg. Cegarra’s project, initiated in 2018, examines a shift in Mexico’s immigration policies, which have moved from being historically open to enforcing strict regulations at its southern border. The jury said the photographer's perspective as a migrant gave it a “sensitive," human-centered perspective, according to a press release.
Julia Kochetova of Ukraine won the Open Format award for “War Is Personal.” The project stood out from coverage of the ongoing conflict by offering a personal look at the harsh realities of war. On a dedicated website, she merged traditional photojournalism with a diary-like documentary style, incorporating photography, poetry, audio clips and music.
The Associated Press won the Open Format award in the regional Africa category with the multimedia story “Adrift,” created by journalists Renata Brito and Felipe Dana. The story investigates the fate of West African migrants who attempted to reach Europe via a treacherous Atlantic route but ended up on a ghost ship discovered off Tobago. The team’s compelling use of photography, cinematography and detailed narrative, enhanced by expert design and multimedia elements, highlights the perils faced by migrants and the human stories behind global migration issues.
The Associated Press' Ebrahim Noroozi won the Asia Stories award for his series “Afghanistan on the Edge,” which documents the country since the Taliban took over in August 2021.
World Press Photo is an independent, nonprofit organization based in the Netherlands, founded in 1955.
This image provided by World Press Photo is part of a series titled Afghanistan on the Edge by Ebrahim Noroozi, Associated Press, which won the World Press Photo Asia Series category and showsAn Afghan refugee rests in the desert next to a camp near the Torkham Pakistan-Afghanistan border, in Torkham, Afghanistan, Friday, Nov. 17, 2023. A huge number of Afghans refugees entered the Torkham border to return home hours before the expiration of a Pakistani government deadline for those who are in the country illegally to leave or face deportation. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
This image provided by World Press Photo is part of a series titled Afghanistan on the Edge by Ebrahim Noroozi, Associated Press, which won the World Press Photo Asia Series category and shows : Since the chaotic Taliban takeover of Kabul on Aug. 15, 2021, an already war-devastated economy once kept alive by international donations alone is now on the verge of collapse. There isn't enough money for hospitals. The World Health Organization is warning of millions of children suffering malnutrition, and the U.N. says 97% of Afghans will soon be living below the poverty line. Three Afghan internally displaced children look with surprise at an apple that their mother brought home after begging, in a camp on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Feb 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
This image provided by World Press Photo is part of a multimedia project by Associated Press' Renata Brito and Felipe Dana titled Adrift, won the World Press Photo Africa Regional Winner Open Format category and shows a mortuary technician opening the door of a refrigerator used to store the remains of migrants recovered from inside the Mauritania boat that appeared drifting near the island of Tobago, in Scarborough, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022. In May 2021 a boat from Mauritania full of dead men was found off the coast of the Caribbean Island of Tobago. Who were these men and why were they on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean? Two visual journalists sought answers, uncovering a story about migrants from West Africa who seek opportunity in Europe via an increasingly popular but treacherous Atlantic route. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
This image provided by World Press Photo is part of a multimedia project by Associated Press' Renata Brito and Felipe Dana titled Adrift, won the World Press Photo Africa Regional Winner Open Format category and shows young fishermen walk into the ocean to board an artisanal fishing boat in Nouakchott, Mauritania, Friday, Dec. 10, 2021. In May 2021 a boat from Mauritania full of dead men was found off the coast of the Caribbean Island of Tobago. Who were these men and why were they on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean? Two visual journalists sought answers, uncovering a story about migrants from West Africa who seek opportunity in Europe via an increasingly popular but treacherous Atlantic route. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
This image provided by World Press Photo is part of a multimedia project by Associated Press' Renata Brito and Felipe Dana titled Adrift, won the World Press Photo Africa Regional Winner Open Format category and shows Moussa Sako, an asylum-seeker from Mali, who survived 22 days aboard a Mauritanian boat drifting in the Atlantic Ocean covers his face during an interview with the Associated Press in Guadalajara, Spain, Sunday, Nov. 14, 2021. In May 2021 a boat from Mauritania full of dead men was found off the coast of the Caribbean Island of Tobago. Who were these men and why were they on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean? Two visual journalists sought answers, uncovering a story about migrants from West Africa who seek opportunity in Europe via an increasingly popular but treacherous Atlantic route. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
This image provided by World Press Photo and taken by Julia Kochetova is part of a series titled War is Personal which won the World Press Photo Open Format Award. Amidst tens of thousands of civilian and military casualties and an effective stalemate that has lasted for months, there are no signs of peace on the horizon for Russia's war in Ukraine. While news media updates its audience with statistics and maps, and international attention drifts elsewhere, the photographer has created a personal website that brings together photojournalism with the personal documentary style of a diary to show the world what it is like to live with war as an everyday reality. (Julia Kochetova/World Press Photo via AP)
This image provided by World Press Photo and taken by Julia Kochetova is part of a series titled War is Personal which won the World Press Photo Open Format Award and shows a stabilization point near Bakhmut, Ukraine, of the 5th assault brigade and 77th brigade. Hospitalliers battalion - volunteer battalion of combat medics are helping here. Amidst tens of thousands of civilian and military casualties and an effective stalemate that has lasted for months, there are no signs of peace on the horizon for Russia's war in Ukraine. While news media updates its audience with statistics and maps, and international attention drifts elsewhere, the photographer has created a personal website that brings together photojournalism with the personal documentary style of a diary to show the world what it is like to live with war as an everyday reality. (Julia Kochetova/Der Spiegel/World Press Photo via AP)
This image provided by World Press Photo and taken by Julia Kochetova is part of a series titled War is Personal which won the World Press Photo Open Format Award and shows the training of mobilized conscripts of 68th brigade in Donetsk region, not far from frontline. 68th brigade recently liberated Blagodatne village during the Ukrainian counter-offensive. The instructors came from US, working for NGO "Saber".Amidst tens of thousands of civilian and military casualties and an effective stalemate that has lasted for months, there are no signs of peace on the horizon for Russia's war in Ukraine. While news media updates its audience with statistics and maps, and international attention drifts elsewhere, the photographer has created a personal website that brings together photojournalism with the personal documentary style of a diary to show the world what it is like to live with war as an everyday reality. (Julia Kochetova/Der Spiegel/World Press Photo via AP)
This image provided by World Press Photo and taken by Alejandro Cegarra for The New Times/Bloomberg is part of a series titled The Two Walls which won the World Press Photo Long-Term Project Award and shows Carlos Mendoza, a Venezuelan migrant, crossing the Rio Grande river to seek asylum in the United States. Piedras Negras, Mexico, 7 October 2023. (Alejandro Cegarra/The New York Times/Bloomberg/World Press Photo via AP)
This image provided by World Press Photo and taken by Alejandro Cegarra for The New Times/Bloomberg is part of a series titled The Two Walls which won the World Press Photo Long-Term Project Award and shows a migrant walking atop a freight train known as "The Beast." Migrants and asylum seekers lacking the financial resources to pay a smuggler often resort to using cargo trains to reach the United States border. This mode of transportation is very dangerous; over the years, hundreds have fallen onto the tracks and have been killed or maimed. Piedras Negras, Mexico, 8 October 2023. (Alejandro Cegarra/The New York Times/Bloomberg/World Press Photo via AP)
This image provided by World Press Photo and taken by Lee-Ann Olwage for GEO is part of a series titled Valim-babena which won the World Press Photo Story of the Year Award and shows Dada Paul Rakotazandriny (91), who is living with dementia, and his granddaughter, Odliatemix Rafaraniriana (5), get ready for church on Sunday morning at his home in Antananarivo, Madagascar. 12 March 2023. (Lee-Ann Olwage/Geo/World Press Photo via AP)
This image provided by World Press Photo and taken by Lee-Ann Olwage for GEO is part of a series titled Valim-babena which won the World Press Photo Story of the Year Award and shows Joeline (Fara) Rafaraniriana (41) watches her father, Dada Paul Rakotazandriny (91) clean fish at home on Sunday afternoon. A typical Sunday consists of the family attending church in the morning and spending time together in the afternoon. Fara works during the week and as the sole provider and carer for her daughter and father struggles to manage all her responsibilities in the absence of assistance by her siblings who live close by. Mandrosoa Ivato, Antananarivo, Madagascar. 12 March 2023. (Lee-Ann Olwage/Geo/World Press Photo via AP)
This image provided by World Press Photo and taken by Mohammed Salem of the Reuters news agency won the World Press Photo Award of the Year and shows Palestinian woman Inas Abu Maamar, 36, embracing the body of her 5-year-old niece Saly, who was killed in an Israeli strike, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, October 17, 2023. (Mohammed Salem/Reuters/World Press Photo via AP)
