"I left one thing out of my Woodstock article," says Tom Smucker, author of a good one. "I left out how boring it was." And though you can be sure it's not like being there, this three-record set does capture that. As is inevitable in a live album featuring stage announcements, crowd noises, and sixteen different artists, not one side is enjoyable straight through: CSNY are stiff and atrociously flat in their second gig, Paul Butterfield sounds wasted, Sha Na Na should never record, Joan Baez should never record, and so forth. But a substantial proportion of this music sounds pretty good, and three performances belong to history: Ten Years After's "I'm Going Home" (speed kills), Joe Cocker's "With a Little Help from My Friends" (mad Englishman), and Jimi Hendrix's "Star Spangled Banner" (wotta ham). Also, the stage announcements and crowd noises are better than most. B

- Robert Christgau, Christgau's Record Guide, 1981.

Bonus Reviews!

(Woodstock/Woodstock II) More aural history than concert recording. To say that it's all here would obviously be a literal overstatement -- the festival ran for over three days (and these selections were drawn from seventy-two hours of recorded tape). But after listening to the three hours and forty-six minutes of music as well as the now-infamous stage announcements, it's as close as one is going to get two decades after the fact. It's worthwhile to remember that the 400,000 who were a part of this event were representatives of the last real people's revolution this nation has experienced. Impossible as it now seems, they and countless others like them really did stop the Vietnam War. Woodstock was the first great sixties event, the first mega be-in, and no one was prepared for the human outpouring to which it bore musical witness. Soundwise, what you get is the magic moment and the faux pas that make this more concert verité than musical pinnacle -- it was really a question of who was there and why, rather than what they played or heard. This CD package captures that as well as it can now be done, but you won't play this one for its sound quality. B

- Bill Shapiro, Rock & Roll Review: A Guide to Good Rock on CD, 1991.

The wrong notes are jarring and the recording flaws seem obvious, but the energy and enthusiasm compensate. * * *

- Bruce Eder, The All-Music Guide to Rock, 1995.

Some cynics had opined that without the chemical additives, the music at Woodstock didn't sound that great. Balderdash. While not everything is mind-altering, there's a wealth of primo rock here: Ten Years After's jet-propelled "I'm Going Home," Santana's smokin' "Soul Sacrifice," Jimi Hendrix's "Star Spangled Banner." Hot tip: watch the movie first.

-Entertainment Weekly, 2001.

A historical document on vinyl from the most famous rock concert in the world, this album was recorded live, with accompanying weather, sound glitches and warning about brown acid. Cockeyed, flawed and invaluable for no other reason than as a reflection of the times when R&R could change the world, the landmark grab bag contains some schlock (Sha Na Na?!) but also amazing performances like Jimi Hendrix's noisy, drugged-out version of "The Star Spangled Banner." * * * * *

- Zagat Survey Music Guide - 1,000 Top Albums of All Time, 2003.

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