50th Anniversary: 1967 Monterey International Pop Festival: Performance-By-Performance

Just want to thank everyone for a superb thread. On my website And And! And: the Ultimate Guide to Band Names I've been running blogposts all weekend reliving each of the shows. Aimed more at the general reader than the thread here, so far less detailed, but some people might be interested in having a look. Links below. I've also linked to this thread at the end of the first blogpost (Friday evening). Love and peace from the UK!

'The vibrations will be flowing everywhere' ... Monterey Pop Festival, day one (Friday evening) - AndAnd!And
'You are out of it, so far out of it' ... Monterey Pop Festival, day two (Saturday afternoon) - AndAnd!And
'Your mother gets high and you don't know it' ... Monterey Pop Festival, day two (Saturday night) - AndAnd!And
'This whole weekend was a dream come true' ... Monterey Pop Festival, day three (Sunday) - AndAnd!And

 

They are. There were three songs in total filmed.

 

Audio for that Bouton Rouge Fairports was included in the early 00s cd reissue of the s/t lp.

 

In the New York area Pentangle, Renbourn and Jansch's solo stuff, and perhaps most of all Fairport Convention were known and admired, along with the Incredible String Band (who of course were not any kind of a rock band per se). And ftr I do not consider Pentangle to be a folk-rock band, a term that is fairly applied to Fairport. But... as far as Monterey is concerned both Pentangle and Fairport had just barely been formed in 67, and Sandy Denny had not yet joined Fairport. So as of the time of the festival I doubt either would have done much. Fairport certainly could have fit into the bill at Woodstock, though.

 

pentangle could have been an interesting opener for the afternoon ravi Shankar set.

 

Yes, it's amazing how accomplished RT became so quickly! But here's another Fairport-Monterey connection, even if they were out of time to play there. They used to play East-West in the early days and I would love to hear RT's take on that, but as far as I know no recording has ever surfaced. Of course by Monterey Bloomfield and Butterfield had parted company and East-West was out of their respective setlists.

 

Wow, did thet play that live? What is the source of that info?

 

Just found this. They did play live that beauty! Thank you, cdb3!
When folk was hip: Joe Boyd pays tribue to the legacy of Fairport Convention and the Incredible String Band

 

I would be really impressed if you found a performance! Sadly I don't think that will happen now.

 

I like the two big Fairport Convention albums but I haven't checked out Pentangle yet. I heard the Incredible String Band didn't do too well with the Woodstock audience because their set was amongst a bunch of hard rock - they played with fans waiting for Canned Heat, Mountain, The Grateful Dead, CCR and they had just seen Santana earlier. If they were placed in the folkier Friday night at Woodstock, I'm sure it would have worked out better.

 

The Incredible String Band would have done extremely well at Monterey. Woodstock was another story altogether because, aside of those problems well indicated by WilliamWes and the rain "cancellation", there was another huge problem.

I am a big fan of the ISB and have 60+ CDs by them plus many Heron and Williamson solo. They were in the least satisfying period their career, musically. Mike and Robin had added their girlfriends and had devoted time to other interest but their songs were not as good as in the period 1966-1968. I believe that surviving video and audio show that.

Thanks to their talent, they later rebounded in a major way, releasing very good albums such as The liquid acrobat as regards the air, Earthspan and Be glad for the song has no ending, although some group enthusiasts will certainly not agree with this. Mike's Reputation albums are also excellent and Robin's as well through 1978 or so.

 

(for what it's worth) . . . somewhere in this thread the comment is made re: comparing relative newbies to such performers as Hendrix and Otis who'd "been touring since the '50's" . . . or words to that effect.

especially as regards Otis, he for all practical purposes didn't have a career till he "got lucky" at STAX, in '62 . . . Otis was never a great dancer in the classic soul/R&B sense (James Brown, Jackie Wilson, etc.), and in the early years, was unusually wooden, standing stock-still, with a few hand gestures.

His first billing at the Apollo, a 10 day run ending the day before JFK's assassination (11/22/63) included James Brown, and he certainly noted the stark contrast! He got better, at least more confident and comfortable, with heavy touring--especially through '64 and '65 as his popularity built beyond the south and he could stay out almost constantly. The real breakthrough in his stage act came as he had to go up against his own label's double-dynamite, Sam & Dave; he cursed Phil Walden for putting him out there night after night, but ultimately developed the physicality to match his long-sufficient vocal, emotional prowess.

Hendrix, to me, is a total different deal, just because most of the road work he had was purely as a sideman--any effort for him to become a visual focus would've been frowned upon by the frontmen he supported, or at least viewed as something to be indulged in small doses . . . I'm no Hendrix scholar, but I would suppose his desire to be that focal point had a lot to do with him inventing what seemed to be a totally different persona--"Jimi"--

Much of the Otis background is fresh in my mind, having just completed OTIS REDDING: AN UNFINISHED LIFE, by Jonathan Gould; maybe a little too heavy on the socio-cultural aspects through the early chapters, but some excellent and untapped insights throughout Otis's life and career. He points out that Atlantic's co-founder Amet Ertegen's recent move to the West Coast probably had a lot to do with the effort to raise his profile there, thus the Monterey & Whiskey A-Go-Go bookings . . .

 

You already touched on Otis, I guess I'll tackle Hendrix.

Jimi didn't really hit the road full time until he left the Army in June 1962. Less than 5 years before his Monterey performance. His first real break was when he
became a member of the Isley Brothers' backing band in early '64. By accounts Jimi and the Isleys had a good working relationship and they treated him a lot
like family. He lived with them for a while and was a big inspiration to Ernie Isley. They also liked some of Jimi's stage tricks and let him do his thing on a few
numbers. He eventually left their group because he was tired of the repetitive set lists every night.

He ended up in Little Richard's band. Who was a little less friendly to Hendrix's stage antics.

This is a video of Jimi performing with Richard's band in summer 1965



As you can see, Jimi's "performance" ain't much. But, he was still a little more animated than the rest of the band.

He rejoined the Isleys for a little bit. Then, he had a chance to show his stuff a little more when he joined Curtis Knight's band. There is a recent release
of semi-live tracks from earlier this year. You can hear Knight prod Jimi to do his thing and at one point remarks "you see him playing with his teeth"
or something to that effect. After a few months of that he started his own band while still performing occasionally with Knight. Eight months before
Monterey Pop he arrived in London, got his own band together and the rest is history.

I would add I didn't really go into the year or so between when he left the Army and joined the Isleys. That was when Jimi did his time on the chitlin'
circuit backing a lot of the R&B greats of the time. Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, Wilson Pickett. That time is heavily documented in Steve Roby's
book "Becoming Hendrix".

One interesting thing is a lot of musicians say they first remember seeing Jimi when he was backing one of the acts above. So he must have been doing
something to leave an impression.

 

Loved his playing or hated it, he was definitely unique in the eyes of a lot of people who knew or heard him back when, maybe that's why he connected with Arthur Lee so well?

 

I know that Rosa Lee Brooks had a 1964 single called "My Diary" and though Arthur Lee's name is on the disc as the writer, there's been some wonder if Hendrix didn't write it himself as Brooks herself remembered Jimi writing it for her. I think Lee and Hendrix met over this song since Hendrix plays on it. But both weren't very famous at the time and only 6 years later in 1970 did they get back together for a collaboration.

 

Sounds like you referring to a post I made.

Glad you read Otis' book, but even by your own account, he was performing in 62. That's before many of the other performers . I was referencing their comfort on stage and performance, not their or Otis' dance ability, as you did.

Not sure why you feel you have to diminish Otis and Jimi's pre Monterey performing experience.

If this Wicki listing is correct, I considered this:

Born and raised in the US state of Georgia, Redding quit school at age 15 to support his family, working with Little Richard's backing band, the Upsetters, and performing at talent shows for prize money. In 1958, he joined Johnny Jenkins's band, the Pinetoppers, with whom he toured the Southern states as a singer and driver. The person that discovered Otis Redding was James McEachin. James took Otis into the studio and brought the recordings to Al Kavelin who had just had a hit with “Alley-Oop” on Lute Records. Kavelin agreed to release a single and later released another single on Trans-World. The titles of these records were: “Tuff Enuff,” “She’s All Right,” “Gamma Lama,” and “Gettin’ Hip.” James McEachin wrote most of that material but at times collaborated with Otis.” A new book “Dreams to Remember ” an account of Stax Records and Otis Redding. The book tells of Otis Redding’s trip from his home to test the waters in Los Angeles. He worked hard meeting recording industry people and finally was more or less taken under the wing of McEachin who arranged for Redding to record his four sides at the Gold Coin studio in L.A. where several successful artists had recorded. McEachin had shopped the tracks all over the industry with no takers. McEachin was best known for being an actor but initially spent time as a record producer. An unscheduled appearance on a Stax recording session led to a contract and his first single to become a hit, "These Arms of Mine," in 1962. Stax released Redding's debut album, Pain in My Heart, two years later.

 

There are lots of great articles on Monterey 1967. Here's some links...

D. A. Pennebaker’s Monterey Pop Has IT | HuffPost

D.A. Pennebaker's Monterey has IT!
Celebrating the 50-year anniversary of the Monterey Pop International Festival,D. A. Pennebaker’s newly restored film premiered on Wednesday at the IFC Center in New York, with further festivities to follow in Monterey this week.

At 92 this summer, he is off to Monterey this weekend for the anniversary, and his son Jo Jo will shoot this year’s festival. It’ll be great, of course, but for this history and feeling of innocence, nothing could ever top his dad’s Monterey Pop.
_______________________________________

Backstage beefs, onstage magic: Monterey Pop 50 years later - (interview with Lou Adler from this year)
See more at: Backstage beefs, onstage magic: Monterey Pop 50 years later | Reading Eagle - LIFE

Attendance numbers for the show, held at the Monterey County Fairgrounds, vary from 25,000 to 90,000 people, easily tripling the county's population. It was a one-time only event because by the next year things had changed. Adler cites money issues and "angry people who didn't like that hippies were in their town."

The festival is featured at the Grammy Museum in a new exhibit called "Music, Love and Flowers 1967," which runs through Oct. 22.
________________________________________

Monterey at 50: When rock festivals were born

"It was a madhouse at the Monterey Pop Festival offices, total madhouse," said Michelle Phillips, John's wife, and last surviving member of The Mamas and The Papas.

CBS Sunday Morning had a segment on it on June 18th. They've made that segment available on YouTub in case you missed it:

 

He did play in a band before the Army and his 5 years of touring before Monterey was worth 50 years , considering the musicians and road circuit he was on.

 

Malc, I forgot to ask, I'm having a discussion with someone who I convinced to listen to the full movie. He thinks "Enter the Young" was not the very first song played (after "The Machine") by the Association. Was "Along Comes Mary" usually the song right after "The Machine" or is "Enter the Young" after? I had them Machine-Young-Mary-Windy for the sequence. Would you know? Anybody?

 

ETY was more often than not running later in the set, but I'll check in with Jim Y later and ask him...

 

You touch on what for me was difficult to appreciate at the time, but in hindsight was at least somewhat true. It is also something of a digression here, but for the fact I do think an Incredible String Band show at Monterey that was filled with songs from Layers of the Onion I think most likely WOULD have gone over well there. But in hindsight, hard as it was to accept at the time, yeah, the changes they made from 68 on did not improve their work. At the time it seemed like a positive move (why so is simply too complicated to get into here) to bring their girlfriends officially and completely into the band, and the "going straight" from drugs as part of their conversion to Scientology is hard to criticize, obviously (even if the conversion is less difficult to criticize). But the net effect was not good, and Changing Horses despite several good parts was nowhere near up to their earlier work. I Looked Up I liked more, especially songs like Black Jack Davey. But yeah, the ISB at the time of Monterey was on the upswing, and by Woodstock they were not. It wasn't just where they fit in the schedule, imho.

 

Fully agreed. What do you think of their later work? I enjoy Liquid acrobat and Earthspan very much! Also Smiling men with bad reputatins and their BBC contemporary concerts.

 

I stopped following them after U.

 

Official word from Jim Yester : Enter The Young WAS played first... but the camera crew wasn't fully set up and ready so they missed that. Ted then had some issues with his drums so the band interacted with the audience for a bit before Brian launched into The Machine (which Terry had begged them NOT to do) which was where the cameras came on board... Along Comes Mary came next, finishing with Cherish (no film survives it seems) and Windy.

 

Take a listen to Darling Belle, a complete gem. It is included in Liquid acrobat as regards the air.