California dreaming

1967, the Summer of Love - Monterey, California. Amidst a crowd of hippies and "normal" folk, one of the greatest ever music festivals was to take place, showcasing some of the finest musicians of the late sixties. Luckily for us folks too young to remember (and those old enough to want to relive it), filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker was on hand with his crew to cover the occasion.

From the many, many hours of footage shot it would be a tough choice deciding what would make the film (the simply titled MONTEREY POP) and what would end up on the cutting room floor, but the end film (or rather films - I'll get to that in a minute) is an engrossing documentary of the concert that manages a good spread of artists while capturing the spirit of the occasion. While many key performances are captured, there are still plenty scenes of the flower children enjoying themselves and espousing their beliefs - it's a real snapshot of a bygone era, and a very special time in modern history.

The first live performance is that of the Mamas and the Papas performing their famous California Dreaming. It's not a note perfect rendition but it's a perfect evocation of the time and an appropriate choice given that this first (and only) Monterey Pop Festival was organised by their very own John Phillips.

There are plenty of musical highlights to choose from - Simon & Garfunkel in their prime; Jefferson Airplane demonstrating why they were one of the biggest bands in the psychedlic scene; The Who inevitably give us a blast of My Generation. Some of the briefest moments are the most perfectly realised, such as Michelle Phillips' excitement at Ravi Shankar's performance, or her companion Mama Cass registering her obvious amazement at the vocal gymnastics of the late, great Janis Joplin.

And it's things like this that make it truly special - the capturing of performances by so many artists in their prime who were sadly not to grace the music world for as long as we would have wished. Performances by Janis Joplin, Otis Redding and Jimi Hendrix all stick in the mind. While Hendrix decides he's going to outdo the antics of Pete Townsend and friends by performing all manner of feats with his guitar (including, eventually, setting it on fire and throwing pieces to the crowd) it's the performance of Otis Redding that makes the film.

At the time, Otis was just beginning to establish himself as something special but it was his appearance at Monterey where he truly made his mark. Having already seen a wonderful selection of bands performing, he had his work cut out for him. Indeed, the love generation must have wondered what to make of it all, seeing backing band Booker T & The MGs standing on stage in their matching lime green suits before the big O himself marched out dressed in a not dissimilar dark green number. Any doubts were relieved with his powerhouse performance of Shake! but it was his soulful rendition of his untouchable ballad I've Been Loving You Too Long that wowed the audience and marked the emergence of a giant.

Both performances were captured in MONTEREY POP but his whole five-song set was preserved, like that of Hendrix, in a separate short film. The Hendrix performance (JIMI PLAYS MONTEREY) is more of a documentary which culminates in his live performance at Monterey; the film centering on Redding however was simply a document of his set at Monterey (SHAKE! OTIS AT MONTEREY) that lasts less than 20 minutes but is among the most amazing musical performances ever recorded.

Redding was to meet his tragic death a matter of months after this appearance but thanks to Pennebaker's MONTEREY POP and SHAKE! films we are at least lucky enough to have this special performance preserved - a live recording that is truly commensurate with the full magnitude of Redding's greatness.

From the Summer of Love, it seems the only logical progression is move forward another couple of years to the very pinnacle of the love generation's musical achievements. Join me again tomorrow, when we'll be at a farm somewhere in New York State...