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Mountain Woodstock

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Mountain Woodstock

Mountain Woodstock

It was about 9 PM and dark. Country dark. Mountain appeared.  I hesitated, but cautiously decided to attempt a picture knowing there wasn’t enough light. This post’s featured image is that picture. A cannabis haze covered the field. All was good.

Personnel

Setlist:

  • Blood of the Sun
  • Stormy Monday
  • Theme for an Imaginary Western
  • Long Red
  • Who Am I But You And The Sun
  • Beside the Sea
  • Waiting to Take You Away
  • Dreams of Milk and Honey
  • Southbound Train

They would play about 55 minutes.

Mountain Woodstock

Blood of the Sun

Cover of Leslie West’s debut album called “Mountain”
Leslie West had played with a well-known New York band called the Vagrants. In fact, Bert Sommer had written several songs for the band.
West released a solo album in July 1969. He called the album Mountain, and shortly afterwards, that became the band’s name.
Blood on the Sun was on that album. West, Pappalardi, and Pappalardi’s wife Gail Collins wrote the song.
Standin’ on my pillow
Talkin’ to the moon
Wadin’ in the ocean
I’m sendin’ for you soon
Reachin’ for the handle
Achin’ in my head
Woven in the bed sheets
And then I will understand
Politicians are screamin’
Runnin’ from the gun
Caught in webs of invention
It’s the blood, it’s the blood of the sun
Leanin’ out of the window
With the sunshine at my side
To leave the hard road behind me
There’s a light on the road that I ride
Hidin’ in the ocean
With the sunshine at my side
To leave the hard road behind me
There’s a light on the road that I ride
Standin’ on my pillow
Talkin’ to the moon
Wadin’ in the ocean
I’m sendin’ for you soon
I’m sendin’ for you soon
Mountain Woodstock

Stormy Monday

Rock and Roll Hall of fame inductee T-Bone Walker wrote the song. B.B. King once said it was Walker who ‘‘really started me to want to play the blues. I can still hear T-Bone in my mind today from that first record I heard, ‘Stormy Monday.’ He was the first electric guitar player I heard on record. He made me so that I knew I just had to go out and get an I electric guitar.”

Perhaps the Allman Brothers’ cover is the best known.

They call it stormy Monday, yes but Tuesdays just as bad.
They call it stormy Monday, yes but Tuesdays just as bad.
Wednesdays even worse; Thursdays awful sad.

The eagle flies on Friday, Saturday I go out to play.
The eagle flies on Friday, but Saturday I go out to play.
Sunday I go to church where I kneel down and pray.
And I say, “Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy on me.
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy on me.
Just trying to find my baby, wont you please send her on back to me.”
The eagle flies on Friday, on Saturday I go out to play.
The eagle flies on Friday, on Saturday I go out to play.
Sunday I go to church, where I kneel down, Lord and I pray.
Then I say, “Lord have mercy, wont you please have mercy on me.
Lord, oh Lord have mercy, yeah, wont you please, please have mercy on me.
Im just a-lookin for my sweet babe, so wont you please send him home,
Send him on home to me
Mountain Woodstock

Theme for an Imaginary Western

Mountain Woodstock
Mountain’s official debut studio album, Climbing! Recorded 1969 – 1970; released March 7, 1970
The third song of the set was one of the songs that would appear on the band‘s debut album, Climbing!, in six months. Cream bassist Jack Bruce and Pete Brown wrote it.
When the wagons leave the city
For the forest and further on
Painted wagons of the morning
Dusty roads where they have gone
Sometimes traveling through the darkness
Met the summer coming home
Fallen faces by the wayside
Looked as if they might have known
Oh the sun was in their eyes
And the desert was dry
In the country town
Where the laughter sounds
Oh the dancing and the singing
Oh the music when they played
Oh the fires that they started
Oh the girls with no regret
Sometimes they found it, sometimes they kept it
Often lost it along the way
Fought each other to possess it
Often died in sight of day
Oh the sun was in their eyes
And the desert was dry
In the country town
Where the laughter sounds
Oh the sun was in their eyes
And the desert was dry
In the country town
Where the laughter sounds
Mountain Woodstock

Long Red

Written by Leslie West, Felix Pappalardi, John Ventura, and Norman Landsberg, Long Red would not appear on any album until the band’s live release: Live: The Road Goes Ever On in 1972.

The long red, flowing through my mind
Dream here, dreamin’ there
Two pieces all the time
Sobered, wisdoms in my dreams
Bits and pieces in my arms
This is always what it seems
Long red, helpin’ you to find a day
Bright red, how am I gonna find a way?
Bright red
You have changed me too
Stranger now it seems somehow
Bright red has turned to blue
Long red
Tears and shades of gray
I have [Incomprehensible] you
I’ve lost forever from today
Long red, helpin’ you to find the day
Bright red, how am I gonna find a way?
Long red
Tears and shades of gray
I have changed you
I’ve lost forever from today
Mountain Woodstock

Who Am I But You And The Sun

Who Am I but You and the Sun would also appear on their debut album but re-titled For Yasgur’s Farm 

Who am i but you and the sun
A slight reflection in everyone
Was it me who let you walk away
Were you the one
Or is it we’re the same
What are we in time going by
The simple story of a younger life
Happy dreams and somehow through the day
Were you the one
Or is it we’re the same
Look at me, now
I’m a part of you
Love is only what we come to live
The waking, breathing and all with you
A crystal passing reflected in our eyes
Were you the one
Or is it we’re the same
Quiet as the voices in a dream
Without two shadows the things I’ve seen
Remember the evening I let you walk away
Were you the one
Or is it we’re the same
Look at me, i believe it’s true
You’re a part of me
I’m a part of you
Mountain Woodstock

Beside the Sea

There’s no patter. No Canned Heat re-tuning. Not a segue but pretty close.

A unique and interesting fact about this performance is that Bert Sommer co-wrote the song  with West and Gail Collins and is likely the only song at Woodstock that one Woodstock band covers another Woodstock performer’s song.

Ironically, Gail Collins is the wife of Mountain’s Felix Pappalardi and she would shoot and kill Pappalardi in 1983.

I am excluding “Wooden Ships” because that was written and performed by members of both C, S, & N and Jefferson Airplane.

Mountain Woodstock

Waiting to Take You Away

The song would appear on the Mountain Live album.

Yesterday went through until tomorrow
A pile of dreams appear
Better plan the hours to come
Today we shed our fear
And it’s waiting to take you away
It’s waiting to take you away

Rise you up to take my hand
Away from yesterday
I have a love within my heart
Which clearly shows the way
And it’s waiting to take you away
It’s waiting to take you away

No one can laugh but cannot cry
To begin we’ve got to end
Two together yet, in love
Within our love transcend
And it’s waiting to take you away
It’s waiting to take you away

Mountain Woodstock

Dreams of Milk and Honey

Written by West, Pappalardi, John Ventura, and Norman Landsberg, Dreams of Milk and Honey also appeared on West’s solo album.

Sitting in a blue room, staring at the wall
Trying to get into anything at all
Cigarettes taste funny as I sink into my bed
Dreams of milk and honey are running through my head
Look at me, Lord
Listen and see
Look at me, Lord
Listen and see
Girl, you say you love but the truth is in your eyes
Your heart for me is empty and your lips are gilded lies
And it seems I’m in a blue room, spending all my time
Trying so to catch you while you’re running through my mind
Mountain Woodstock

Southbound Train

Written by (West, Ventura, and Landsberg, Southbound Train appeared on West’s solo album. The  lyrics West sings aren’t quite what the internet shows.

Well she was born in a north woods town
Twenty-one winters ago
And she grew tired of the freezing cold
And living in the blinding snow
But this girl knew she wouldn’t be there long
‘Cause she had plans and dreams
And she’d seen pictures of the sunshine state
In the pages of the magazine
So she waited them tables and she used her smile
Saving every penny she can
For a one-way Dixie bound Amtrak ticket
Headed for the promised land
Her momma and daddy begged her not to go
When the day she dreamed of came
And she waved goodbye sittin’ way up high
From the window of a southbound train
Now she’s got a fire burnin’ deep inside
Ridin’ on a southbound train
And the clickity-clack of that railroad track
Only helps to fan the flames
No more worries, no more cares
She left them up in Bangor, Maine
Now she’s startin’ a brand new life
Ridin’ on a southbound train
Whoa…
She said, ‘Hello sun, good mornin’ Daytona
You’re sure lookin’ good to me
With your ocean breeze and your tall palm trees
And your southern hospitality’
Now she’s a knockout queenie in a string bikini
She’s drivin’ all the boys insane
And this all started with a small town dream
And a ticket on a southbound train
‘Cause she had a fire burnin’ deep inside
Ridin’ on a southbound train
And the clickity-clack of that railroad track
Only helps to fan the flames
No more worries, no more cares
She left them up in Bangor, Maine
Yeah she likes the boys with the southern drawl
Soakin’ up the sunshine, havin’ a ball
She’ll be the first to tell you that she owes it all
To ridin’ on a southbound train
Whoa…oh…
Mountain Woodstock

The next act was the Grateful Dead.

Peace Love Art and Activism

Eddie Kramer

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Eddie Kramer

Happy birthday and thank you!

Born in  born in Cape Town, South Africa on 19 April 1942

Why is Woodstock so famous when there were so many other similar festivals in 1969?

The answer has several parts, but the two of the major pieces are: the movie, the recording.

The idea of a movie was at first thought one too difficult, but Michael Wadleigh and his crew did an amazing job capturing the sights and sounds of the iconic event.

The idea of recording the event was also a fortunate one. So many people saw the film and purchased the music that even the staggering number of 500,000 actual attendees expanded into the millions.

Bill Hanley did the live sound at Woodstock. The father of  outdoor concert sound, his expertise enabled those at the concert to hear it no matter where they sat.

While obviously related, the person sending the sound out to a crowd and the person recording the sound have two different jobs. Eddie Kramer recorded Woodstock.

Pye > KPS > Olympic Studios

Eddie Kramer was born in South  Africa and studied classical piano, cello, and violin as a child, eventually attending the South African College of Music.

He moved to England when he was 19. There he  recorded local jazz groups in a home-based studio, plus installed hi-fi equipment as a hobby.

In 1964 he joined Pye Studios, and recorded a variety of artists including Sammy Davis Jr., Petula Clark and The Kinks

In 1965 Kramer established the sophisticated KPS Studios, which, despite its rudimentary 2-track recording capability, gained such a reputation that in less than a year they were bought out by Regent Sound. They enlisted Kramer to oversee construction of their new four-track studio. [studioexpresso article]

The story is that in early 1967 he was working at London’s famed Olympic Studios. The site had already become a favorite of Britain’s famous young groups like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. The person in charge of assigning projects apparently thought the new trio there to record was a bit too odd and gave the assignment to a young Eddie Kramer.

The trio was the Jimi Hendrix Experience and the collaboration was historic.

And that was barely the beginning.

In addition to his recording Woodstock, the Beatles [1,  Yellow Submarine Songtrack, Magical Mystery Touras well as their singles “All You Need Is Love” and “Baby You’re a Rich Man”] Led Zeppelin [Led Zeppelin II, Immigrant Song, Led Zeppelin III, Physical Graffiti, and 14 more!], Kiss [Alive,  Rock and Roll Over, Alive II, Love Gun, and twenty-seven more!] lead an incredibly long list of credits.

Electric Lady

Jimi Hendrix hired Kramer to help design Electric Lady in NYC, a dream recording studio that Hendrix himself barely knew, but became a hugely popular studio [Stevie Wonder, Lou Reed, Rolling Stones, Blondie, John Lennon & David Bowie, Patti Smith,  AC/DC, Clash, Billy Idol, the Cars, Weezer, Santans, and many more.] Kramer served as its Director of Engineering from 1970 – 1974.

The studio continues to today.

Woodstock

About Woodstock, the same studioexpresso article quotes Kramer: “I arrived at dawn and was struck by the sight of the sun rising over what appeared to be the stage. The show was scheduled to start by lunchtime. That panic pretty much set the tone for the entire concert. All of us in the crew had Vitamin B shots, so that we would be able to stay up for three days. The whole thing was recorded under the most primitive of conditions, but we got it done,” says Kramer. “Woodstock was 3 days of hell and drugs”.

Heavy Metal

Besides Kiss, Kramer worked with other metal bands such as Fastway, Anthrax, Alcatrazz, Raven, Loudness, Triumph, Whitesnake, Ace Frehley’s post-Kiss solo outfit, Frehley’s Comet, and others.

All Along the Watchtower

Recorded between January – June 1968,  Jimi Hendrix’s cover of Bob Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower, Kramer helped create one of the most iconic rock songs of all time.

In the video below, Kramer describes recording the song whose personnel included Dave Mason and Brian Jones.  Be ready for some heavy tech talk.

Lately

The most recent highlight in Kramer’s career was an Emmy award for best sound in The American Masters Hendrix documentary “Hear My Train A Comin’.

Kramer is currently working on his memoir, From the Other Side of the Glass.

Meteor17.com

This brief post only scratches the surface of Kramer’s contributions and accomplishments. The site meteor17.com has an excelled timeline about Kramer’s career. The piece puts Kramer’s work into an historic perspective.

Peace Love Art and Activism

Canned Heat Woodstock

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Canned Heat Woodstock

Canned Heat Woodstock

Canned Heat is on the Monument. Canned Heat is in the original movie release. Canned Heat is on the original soundtrack. They certainly deserved the triple.

It was around 7:30 PM when Chip Monck introduced Canned Heat. The sunset at 8 to end a sunny warm day.  The band would leave the stage about an hour and fifteen minutes later to cheers and applause.

Personnel:

Setlist:

  • I’m Her Man
  • Going Up the Country
  • A Change Is Gonna Come / Leaving This Town
  • I Know My Baby
  • Woodstock Boogie
  • On the Road Again
Canned Heat Woodstock

I’m Her Man

Canned Heat Woodstock
Canned Heat Hallelujah album cover

I’m Her Man  had appeared on their recently released Hallelujah album. Bob Hite wrote the song.

I found love sure is good to me
I found love sure is good to me
You know a man needs a woman though to keep him company
It feels good not to be alone
Oh so good not to be alone
I’m gonna make sure not to lose my happy home
Love can come and go
Why i sure don’t know
Never gonna let her go
You know love, is hard to understand
I said love is hard to understand
But it sure feels good to know that I’m her man
Love can come and go
Why i sure don’t know
Never gonna let her go
Canned Heat Woodstock

Going Up the Country

Canned Heat Woodstock
Living the Blues album cover. Release November 1, 1968

Going Up the Country was on their Living the Blues album, their third and a double alum. Alan Wilson wrote the song.

Before starting it, Bob Hite, as many other performers had, commented on the whole scene, mentioned a personal issue, and introduced a new band member.

“You know, this is the most outrageous spectacle I’ve ever witnessed, ever. There’s only one thing I wish: I sure gotta’ pee. And there ain’t nowhere to go. We’re gonna get one out here on the guitar and do a little Going Up the Country and I’d also like to take this  time to introduce you to our newest member. So now being official that Henry Vestine has left Canned Heat to form a group called Sun, we now have playing lead guitar Harvey Mandell…so everything’s together.”

I’m goin’ up the country, baby don’t you want to go?
I’m goin’ up the country, baby don’t you want to go?
I’m goin’ to some place, I’ve never been before
I’m goin’ I’m goin’ where the water tastes like wine
I’m goin’ where the water tastes like wine
We can jump in the water, stay drunk all the time
I’m gonna leave this city, got to get away
I’m gonna leave this city, got to get away
All this fussin’ and fightin’ man, you know I sure can’t stay
So baby pack your leavin’ trunk
You know we’ve got to leave today
Just exactly where we’re goin’ I cannot say
But we might even leave the U.S.A.
It’s a brand new game, that I want to play
No use in your runnin’, or screamin’ and cryin’
‘Cause you got a home as long as I’ve got mine
Canned Heat Woodstock

A Change Is Gonna Come/Leaving This Town

There is no studio recording of “A Change Is Gonna Come.”

Bob Hite comments before, “Nothing like suckin’ on an orange. Kinda’ something neat about it. Reminds me of something…I do believe it’s a lovely evening for a boogie.”

During the song  a young man from the audience climbs on stage but instead Hite allows him to stay. The kid grabs the pack of Marlboro cigarettes from Hite’s tee-shirt while they hug each other. They share a cigarette. It was a perfect Woodstock moment.

I said I believe…
Yeah ’bout a change is gonna come

I said I believe…
Yeah people the change… will surely come

We all have good peace of mind
Lord, I free they will surely surely come

Yeah, I believe in the morning
I believe I go ah back home

Well, I’ll tell I believe I’m gonna get up in the morning
Yeah, people ah people, I’m gonna go back home

Well, now I gotta find my little mama
You know I gotta have some gratitude beyond

Well…I’m standing sown at he crossroads, 

My friend began to shout

Well, ah it’s all I’ve got my self a friend
Dolla I try… ah surely done

Well, when you’ve got yourself a good friend
You are the luckiest man on earth

I say you got yourself a good friend
Yeah now do know you’re the luckiest man on earth

‘Couse you’ve got love in your heart
Lord God’s good… all is winin’ call

Oh you gotta cool down

Well, I got to go an’ to when
When your troubles through to down mile

I said what you’re gonna do babe
Yeah time when your troubles show you to the line mile

Well, now you take youself a mouth full of sugar
You drink yourself a put of bottle turpentine

Well I believe in the morning yeah
‘Tou for it moun too tough

I said I believe in the big time
Lord roar the moan too tough

Well, I gotta find my little ride’
You know this time I’m goin’ back home

Well, I believe in this time on
Lord I wont be back for long

Well, I believe in this time …
Lord people I wont be back… go home

Well, now I got myself a grand of nothing
Child don’t you know it’s shocking I’ve been told

Canned Heat Woodstock

Rollin’ Blues

From the Woodstock Fandom site: “Rollin’ Blues”, originally written by John Lee Hooker, is a version of the Blues traditional “Rollin’ and Tumblin.'” Canned Heat recorded their version of “Rollin’ and Tumblin'” (which has hardly any similarities to “Rollin’ Blues”) on their first self-titled album. They also recorded and performed with Hooker, so it is not unusual that they played one of “his” songs at the festival.

Canned Heat Woodstock

Woodstock Boogie

Bob Hite again says the guitarists need some time to tune and that Sharon’s dad is looking for her backstage.

Alan Wilson says that new member Harvey continues the Canned Heat tradition of extensive re-tuning.

Again from the Woodstock Fandom site: The song “Woodstock Boogie” is basically an almost 30-minute jam, including a drum solo. On their album Boogie With Canned Heat  the song is called “Fried Hockey Boogie.“

Canned Heat Woodstock

On the Road Again

Before their encore, Hite explains how difficult the previous two weeks had been, that they even thought that the band might end.

Chip Monck has pretty much lost his patience with the tower climbers. He asked Hite if he could interrupt to tell them, “Get the fuck down!”

“On the Road Again” first appeared on their second album, Boogie with Canned Heat, in January 1968; when an edited version was released as a single in April 1968, “On the Road Again” became Canned Heat’s first record chart hit and one of their best-known songs.

Well, I’m so tired of crying
But I’m out on the road again
I’m on the road again
Well, I’m so tired of crying
But I’m out on the road again
I’m on the road again
I ain’t got no woman
Just to call my special friend
You know the first time I traveled
Out in the rain and snow
In the rain and snow
You know the first time I traveled
Out in the rain and snow
In the rain and snow
I didn’t have no payroll
Not even no place to go
And my dear mother left me
When I was quite young
When I was quite young
And my dear mother left me
When I was quite young
When I was quite young
She said, [“Lord, have mercy on my wicked son.”]
Take a hint from me, mama
Please don’t you cry no more
Don’t you cry no more
Take a hint from me, mama
Please don’t you cry no more
Don’t you cry no more
‘Cause it’s soon one morning
Down the road I’m going
But I ain’t going down
That long old lonesome road
All by myself
But I ain’t going down
That long old lonesome road
All by myself
I can’t carry you, baby
Gonna carry somebody else
Canned Heat Woodstock

The next act is Mountain.