Product Description

Studio: Uni Dist Corp (music) Release Date: 11/25/2008

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12649 in DVD
• Brand: Uni
• Released on: 2008-11-24
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Live
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 60 minutes

Amazon.com
Live at Woodstock, Jimi Hendrix’s headlining appearance at the most famous festival in rock music history, is rivaled only by his set at Monterey Pop for sheer legendary status. But the two are very different. The rock guitarist was a virtual unknown in America when he delivered his literally incendiary performance at Monterey in 1967. A little more than two years later he was an established star, picked to close this mammoth three-day show (he was slated to appear on Sunday night, but weather and various snafus pushed that to Monday morning). Introduced as the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Hendrix quickly corrects that to Gypsy Sun and Rainbows, with original drummer Mitch Mitchell and new bassist Billy Cox augmented by two percussionists and a second guitarist (all three are for the most part inaudible, subsumed in the great sonic wash of Hendrix’s wailing guitar and Mitchell’s thrashing drums). The music had changed, too. Hendrix had started moving away from the format of short, poppy songs with the Electric Ladyland album, and while he still plays "Purple Haze," "Foxey Lady," and "Fire," much of the emphasis in this lengthy set is on extended jamming. Not all of it works, but when it does--as on "Spanish Castle Magic" and a sped-up "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)," which leads into the feedback-drenched re-imagining of "The Star-Spangled Banner"--the performance takes off. Little more than a year later, Jimi Hendrix, still regarded as the greatest rock guitarist ever, would be dead.

Aside from the enhanced visuals and audio track expected with the format, the Blu-ray edition of Jimi Hendrix Live at Woodstock features a wealth of bonus material, much of which is also included in the two-disc standard DVD release. The principal difference is that "A Second Look," a black & white version of the concert shot by an amateur, can now be viewed picture-in-picture along with the official version. The quality is imperfect, but it’s fascinating to see the show from a very different angle than those used by filmmaker Michael Wadleigh and his crew, who focused almost exclusively on Hendrix. Also worthy is "Recording Woodstock," with Hendrix engineer Eddie Kramer describing a process that was haphazard at best. --Sam Graham

Customer Reviews

Faithful to the performance
This Blu-ray edition of Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock is basically the same version we got on the regular DVD. The big difference here is the picture, which is really nice all things considered. After all this was almost 40 years ago, and Jimi hit the stage early monday morning after most of the audience had gone home, and the film crew were obviously at the end of their rope. There are moments of brilliance interspersed with chaos; both musically, and for the film crew. Fortunately these moments usually happen together. The audio mix on this disc sounded more faithful to the performance. I'm able to hear Larry Lee's guitar work, which was a pleasant surprise. The picture quality allowed for a few discoveries. At the end of Red House you can see Jimi had broken a guitar string. I've seen this performance many times before but had never caught that. This new line-up was a departure for Hendrix. He expanded his sound with more instruments to explore new musical landscapes. He was also under a lot of pressure from his manager not to change the successful formula of The Experience, so this was a bold move by Jimi, and when it worked it was amazing. The historic significance of this performance is obvious, and my only complaint is the picture was not formated for 16.9 T.V.'s. Other than that, I would highly recommend this blu-ray edition of Jimi Hendrix Live at Woodstock.

Almost perfect
The best on this release is the sound , it is much better then on dvd.Why no 5 stars ?Because of the aspect-ratio , this is not made for 16/9 tv's.
Every musiclover must have this in his collection...

100 stars for Jimi
It's Jimi's representation at Woodstock... what else do you want ? The package is very nice... you have documentaries besides Jimi's concert... 5 stars for this blu ray disc... 100 stars for Jimi.