Complete Monterey Pop Festival, The (BLU-RAY)

On a beautiful June weekend in 1967, at the beginning of the Summer of Love, the Monterey International Pop Festival roared forward, capturing a decade’s spirit and ushering in a new era of rock and roll. Monterey featured career-making performances by Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Otis Redding, but they were just a few of the performers in a wildly diverse lineup that also included Simon and Garfunkel, the Mamas and the Papas, the Who, the Byrds, Hugh Masekela, and the extraordinary Ravi Shankar. With his characteristic vérité style—and a camera crew that included the likes of Albert Maysles and Richard Leacock—D. A. Pennebaker captured it all, immortalizing moments that have become legend: Pete Townshend smashing his guitar, Jimi Hendrix burning his, Mama Cass watching Janis Joplin’s performance in awe. The Criterion Collection is proud to present the most comprehensive document of the Monterey Pop Festival ever produced, featuring the films Monterey Pop, Jimi Plays Monterey, and Shake! Otis at Monterey, along with every available complete performance filmed by Pennebaker and his crew and additional rare outtakes.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED THREE-DISC SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

• New 16-bit 4K digital restoration of Monterey Pop, supervised by director D. A. Pennebaker, with uncompressed stereo soundtrack
• Restored high-definition digital transfers of Jimi Plays Monterey and Shake! Otis at Monterey, with uncompressed stereo soundtracks
• Alternate soundtracks for all three films featuring 5.1 surround mixes by recording engineer Eddie Kramer, presented in DTS-HD Master Audio
• Two hours of performances not included in Monterey Pop, from the Association, Big Brother and the Holding Company, the Blues Project, Buffalo Springfield, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, the Byrds, Country Joe and the Fish, the Electric Flag, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Al Kooper, the Mamas and the Papas, the Steve Miller Blues Band, Moby Grape, Laura Nyro, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Simon and Garfunkel, Tiny Tim, and the Who
• Audio commentaries from 2002 featuring Pennebaker, festival producer Lou Adler, and music critics Charles Shaar Murray and Peter Guralnick
• New interviews with Adler and Pennebaker
• Chiefs (1968), a short film by Richard Leacock, which played alongside Monterey Pop in theaters
• Interviews from 2002 with Adler and Pennebaker and with Phil Walden, Otis Redding’s manager
• 1987 interview with Pete Townshend on Monterey and Jimi Hendrix
• Audio interviews with festival producer John Phillips, festival publicist Derek Taylor, and performers Cass Elliot and David Crosby
• Photo-essay by Elaine Mayes
• Festival scrapbook
• Trailers and radio spots
• PLUS: A book featuring essays by critics Michael Chaiken, Armond White, David Fricke, Barney Hoskyns, and Michael Lydon