Cotillion 500
Producer: Eric Blackstead
Track listing: I Had a Dream [John B. Sebastian] / Going Up the Country [Canned Heat] / Freedom [Richie Havens] Rock & Soul Music [Country Joe & the Fish] / Coming to Los Angeles [Arlo Guthrie] / At the Hop [Sha-Na-Na] / The “Fish” Cheer / I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin-to-Die Rag [Country Joe McDonald] / Drug Store Truck Drivin’ Man [Joan Baez featuring Jeffrey Shurtleff] /Joe Hill [Joan Baez] / Suite: Judy Blue Eyes [Crosby, Stills & Nash] / Sea of Madness / Wooden Ships [Crosby Stills, Nash & Young] We’re Not Gonna Take It [The Who] / With a Little Help from My Friends [Joe Cocker] / Soul Sacrifice [Santana] / I’m Going Home [Ten Years After] / Volunteers [Jefferson Airplane] / Medley: Dance to Music/Music Lover/I Want to Take Higher [Sly & the Family Stone] / Rainbows All Over Your Blues [John B. Sebastian] / Love March [Butterfield Blues Band] / Star Spangled Banner / Purple Haze & Instrumental Solo [Jimi Hendrix]
July 11, 1970
4 weeks
“The crowd was the real star, not the music.” That sentiment has been frequently voiced by those who attended Woodstock and even by some of the musicians who played the massive three-day rock festival. The sea of humanity, which consisted of more than 400,000 people camped out on Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel, New York, may have upstaged the music. Yet dozens of memorable musical moments occurred on the weekend of August 15-17, 1969, as Michael Wadleigh’s film Woodstock and the subsequent soundtrack albums proved.
Although the concert, billed officially as the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival, took place in August, it has been said that Woodstock marked the end of the ’60s. With that in mind, it’s worth noting that the album knocked the Beatles’ Let It Be from the apex of the Top LP’s & Tapes chart. The Beatles were at Woodstock in spirit only—a stage announcement mimicked “Revolution No. 9” and Joe Cocker covered “With a Little Help from My Friends,” but it’s doubtful the festival would have happened in the first place had the Fab Four not changed the face of popular music.
By the time Woodstock hit Number One, the Beatles had officially split. A few months later, two of festival’s biggest stars — Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin — were dead. The dream had turned into a nightmare.
But during that weekend in upstate New York, the dream was alive and well. Woodstock captures that optimism. The three-record set was compiled from 64 reels of eight-track tape recorded over the festival’s three-and-half days. For legal reasons, some acts on the bill — Creedence Clearwater Revival, Blood, Sweat & Tears, the Band, and Janis Joplin–weren’t included on the album or its 1971 sequel, Woodstock Two, which peaked at number seven. The inclusion of the Who’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” meanwhile, marked the legendary British band’s only appearance on a Number One album. Aside from the music, the album also includes stage announcements, such as the famed warning about the bad “brown acid” circulating at the festival.
Crosby, Stills & Nash were joined by Neil Young at Woodstock, where they were making only their second public performance. “I remember there being a real powerhouse of energy when we played,” says David Crosby. “The audience reaction was completely nuts.”
Santana landed a recording contract with Columbia Records thanks to their show-stopping performance at Woodstock. “There was a lot of excitement, energy, hopes, and dreams,” says Carlos Santana. “It was like a real climax.”
Although there were several top acts of the day sharing the bill, Santana says there was no competition between them. “It wasn’t like the NFL,” he says. “Woodstock was basically peace, love, and music.”
THE TOP FIVE
Week of July 11, 1970
1. Woodstock, Soundtrack
2. Let It Be, The Beatles
3. McCartney, Paul McCartney
4. ABC, Jackson 5
5. Live at Leeds, The Who