The Complete Monterey Pop Festival
(Criterion Collection DVD) D.A. Pennebaker’s Monterey Pop has always been considered one of the finest music documentaries ever made. The festival itself, in June 1967, was a charity event helmed by record producer/label head Lou Adler and John Phillips of the Mamas & the Papas, and everyone who was anyone in British and American rock & roll at the time was invited. The 79-minute film, lovingly remastered on DVD in 5.1 audio and fully restored, is now accompanied by two extra discs of material and several audio commentary tracks. Disc two includes the 49-minute-long Jimi Plays Monterey, which includes all the footage shot of the guitarist’s landmark performance. It’s enhanced by Hendrix biographer Charles Shaar Murray’s audio commentary and a video interview about Hendrix and Monterey by Pete Townshend. Also included is Shake! Otis at Monterey, with the soul singer’s exciting breakthrough set backed by Booker T. & the MG’s and new audio commentary by Peter Guralnick. Last but not least, a third disc consists of more than two hours of outtakes from the original film (most sets were only partially filmed), including The Who, the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Simon & Garfunkel, Country Joe & the Fish, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, the Mamas & the Papas, and many more. It’s pricey ($79.95 list price), but this 3-DVD package encompasses some of the most amazing musical performances ever caught on film.This article appears in December 6 • 2002.