Various Woodstock: Back To The Garden (50th Anniversary Collection) (3-CD)

(Rhino Records/Cotillion) 42 tracks - 8-panel digisleeve - 24-page booklet

Between 15 and 18 August 1969, over 400,000 people gathered on the approximately 2.5 km² (600 acre) pastures of Max Yagur's dairy farm in Upstate New York near Woodstock, where 32 acts performed – including some of the most famous and influential musicians of the era, such as Joan Baez, The Band, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Sly and the Family Stone, and The Who.

But the Woodstock audios are not just about the music – they are also about the people who were there. Fortunately, the microphones remained on throughout the festival, capturing the stagehands' discussion about lunch and the audience's shouts for the latest baseball scores, as well as Max Yagur's encouraging speech to the audience gathered on his farm.

The cliché says, ‘If you can remember the sixties, you weren't there.’ Back To The Garden is a way for people who can't remember being there to experience it. And for anyone who was there, it might bring back memories.