The Jefferson Airplane - Bless It's Pointed Little Head

The Allman Brothers - At Fillmore East

The Doors - Absolutely Live

The Greatful Dead - Live Dead

Jimi Hendrix - Live at Woodstock

Monterey Pop Festival

This was one of the hippest band of the time and one of the most talented musically, with Jorma Kaukonen on lead guitar and Jack Casady on bass. The posturing lyrics of many of their studio songs seem dated now, but this band could really play and, as the liner notes say, the band was at full throttle for these recordings.

The band started up in San Francisco in 1965 and hit it big with the 1967 release of "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit". These recordings were made in October and November 1968 at the Fillmore East (NYC) and West (San Francisco) and the album was released in February 1969.

Recorded live at Bill Graham's Fillmore East in New York City March 12th & 13th, 1971. This was the band at their peak with the dual guitars of Duane Allman and Dickie Betts. Duane Allman, who founded the band in 1969 along with brother/singer/keyboard player Greg, died not long after the album was released, killed in a motorcycle accident in Macon, Georgia when he collided with a lumber (not a peach) truck.

Duane and Gregg, from Nashville, Tennessee, originally started out as a band called the Allman Joys. This was followed by another unsuccessful band called the Hour Glass, which produced two albums. During a visit home to Florida in 1969, a jam session with a group of local musicians, and the addition of brother Gregg, turned into the Allman Brothers Band we see here.

An incredible jam session with guest guitarists Jorma Kaukonen, Jerry Garcia & Steve Miller. Made in the final days of the band, January 9, 10 & 11, 1969.

This band played what used to be called acid rock but also had the folky/political influence of the Berkley, CA. scene. The Fish were formed by ex-Navy vet Joe McDonald in 1965 while he was living in Berkley and editing a magazine called Rag Baby. He got the idea of doing a talking issue and wound up doing a record with four songs on it: two by a group he called Country Joe and the Fish. It contained the original recorded version of "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag" and Joe's satire of President Lyndon Johnson, called "Superbird." After awhile Joe and guitarist Barry Melton put together a rock band and called it Country Joe and the Fish. The band worked in Berkley at the Jabberwock coffee house and the Avalon and Fillmore ballrooms in San Francisco. They released their first album, Electric Music for the Mind and Body, in 1967.

This is a compilation of songs performed in cities around the US from August 1969 through June 1970. Thanks to Morrison's lyrics there is nothing dated about this material.

The band was formed during the summer of 1965 in Venice Beach, California. Ray Manzarek was a classically trained pianist from Chicago, he played not only the keyboard parts but simultaneously (with his left hand) the bass lines. John Densmore was a jazz drummer and Robby Krieger a guitarist who could play classic flamenco to bottle-neck blues. Jim once said, 'A Doors concert is a public meeting called by us for a special dramatic discussion. When we perform, we're participating in the creation of a world and we celebrate that with the crowd.' He would scream, 'Wake Up!' at the audience to shake them out of their lethargy. He said, 'For me, it was never really an act, those so-called performances. It was a life or death thing, an attempt to communicate, to involve many people in a private world of thought.'

When they said they don't call it dope for nothing they were talking about these guys. Historically a very important band because their popularity began as the house band for Ken Kesey's acid tests in the mid 60's. These guys are not what you would call professional musicians, and I guess that's part of their appeal, but they could put on a show. This record was released in 1970, before they switched to the laid-back style of American Beauty. Songs were taken from a number of different performances. The 23 minute "Dark Star" has Garcia playing in his best lost-in-space style.

Recorded August 1969, the last set of the festival. Arguably the swan song for the decade. Hendrix had formed a new band, called Gypsy Suns and Rainbows, to play Woodstock. The set featured an instrumental version of The Star-Spangled Banner that was distorted almost beyond recognition and filled with simulated sounds of machineguns, bombs and screams, all produced by Hendrix on his guitar. Henrix died just 13 months later, on September 18, 1970.

Hendrix started out in 1964 in Seattle playing backup for musicians like the Isley Brothers and Little Richard. By 1966 he had his own band, Jimmy James and the Blue Flames, and was playing at the Cafe Wha? in New York City. However, it wasn't until he went to England with Chas Chandler, the bassist for the Animals, and formed the Jimi Hendrix Experience with Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchel, that he really got noticed. His first album, Are You Experienced, was released in 1967.

The Monterey International Pop Festival took place June 16 - 18, 1967. Oddly overlooked due to the notoriety of Woodstock, this festival better reflected the artistic spirit of the 60's. This kind of thing had never been done before and 200,000 came to hear over 30 performers playing music ranging from sitar to soul to psychedelic. This event put Jimi Hendrix burning his guitar in Time magazine and everybody in the US got the message that something was happening here that was about more than selling records. When you listen to these tracks you can hear those chimes of freedom flashing.