I recently bought a cheap copy of the Woodstock 4disc Director’s Cut DVD – a longer cut of the film proper (with a sensational, and fabulously filmed ‘new’ Canned Heat performance the standout) plus a couple of discs of extra: a nice set of featurette interviews and 2+ hours of unseen performances (mostly very good, sometimes great, bar a bloody interminable load of rubbishby the Grateful Dead).

Anyway…

I couldn’t sleep a couple of nights back so poured a whisky or two and watched some of the film. It got to the bit where TYA play ‘I’m Going Home’. Dear me. I seem to recall thinking this was quite exciting when I first saw it on TV sometime in the 80s – and my friend Carol From Luton only yesterday told me it’s her fave bit in the whole thing – but, my goodness, I thought on this recent rewatching, this is boring. And self-indulgent. And uninspired in every way – or at best one minute of in-the-moment ad-libbery stretched to ten times its limit bubbabubbabubba-reddressonreddresson-goinhomegoinhome-bubbabubbabubba-OW!!!-homebabygoinhomebaby-OW!!!-gngngngnnnnnnnnnnnn [ad infinitum]

The bonus disc interviews make it abundantly clear that the director/editors were forensic in choosing the most impactful moments, lyrically (this was » Continue Reading.