WOODSTOCK

WOODSTOCK – 3 DAYS OF PEACE AND MUSIC: If there’s one thing we can all take away from this historic amalgam of mud, musicians and unsullied idealism it is this: boy, those hippies smelled bad! Thankfully, the new collector’s set doesn’t come in a scratch ‘n sniff package, but that’s about all it doesn’t include. Of course, the main attraction is the documentary itself, which waffles between iconic concert film (Joe Cocker, The Who, and Jimi Hendrix perform, among others) and warts-and-all time capsule of the Love Generation’s greatest success. This director’s cut adds quite a bit more to the film, allowing director Michael Wadleigh to insert several extended montages (like the post-fest, post-apocalyptic clean-up sequence) that studio suits suggested he trim in the theatrical release. And a full disc of extras adds even more, including 15 never-before-seen performances from the likes of Credence Clearwater Revival and The Grateful Dead along with a heavily edited From Festival to Feature documentary that gathers folks like Martin Scorsese to explain how the project came together in much the same organic, seat-of-your-pants manner as the festival itself. While one might have wished for a more comprehensive retrospective, Woodstock mostly speaks for itself; from the mouths of counter-culture kids who seem wise beyond their years (“It’s not about the music. We’re all here because we’re looking for direction.”) to the music that still seems ahead of its time 40 years later.