Plot Summary

Jimi Plays Monterey & Shake! Otis at Monterey
D. A. Pennebaker, 1986

Jimi Hendrix and Otis Redding arrived at California's Monterey International Pop Festival virtually unknown. Returning stateside from London, where he had moved to launch his musical career, Hendrix exploded onstage, flooring an unsuspecting audience with his maniacal six-string pyrotechnics. Redding, a venerable star of Memphis's Stax record label, seduced the "love crowd" in one of his best--and last-- shows. Jimi Plays Monterey and Shake! Otis at Monterey, acclaimed documentarian D. A. Pennebaker's Monterey Pop companion pieces, feature the entire sets by these legendary musicians, performances that have entered rock-and-roll mythology.

Monterey Pop
D. A. Pennebaker, 1967

On a beautiful June weekend in 1967, at the height of the Summer of Love, the first and only Monterey International Pop Festival roared forward, capturing a decade's spirit and ushering in a new era of rock and roll. Monterey would launch the careers of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Otis Redding, but they were just a few among a wildly diverse cast including Simon and Garfunkel, the Mamas and the Papas, the Who, Hugh Masekela, and the extraordinary Ravi Shankar. With his characteristic verite style, D. A. Pennebaker got it all, immortalizing moments that have become legend: Pete Townshend destroying his guitar, Jimi Hendrix burning his. The Criterion Collection is proud to present this timeless document of a landmark event.

 
Special Features 

• New high-definition digital transfers, supervised by D.A. Pennebaker
• New 5.1 mixes by legendary recording engineer Eddie Kramer, presented in Dolby Digital and DTS
• Two hours of performances not included in the original film, from the following artists: The Association, Big Brother and the Holding Company, The Blues Project, The Byrds, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Country Joe and the Fish, The Electric Flag, Jefferson Airplane, Al Kooper, The Mamas and the Papas, Laura Nyro, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Simon and Garfunkel, Tiny Tim, and The Who
• Audio commentary on Monterey Popby Festival producer Lou Adler and D.A. Pennebaker
• New video interview with Lou Adler and D.A. Pennebaker
• Audio interviews with Festival producer John Phillips, Festival publicist Derek Taylor, and performers Cass Elliot and David Crosby
• Photo essay by photographer Elaine Mayes
• Original theatrical trailer for Monterey Pop
• Original theatrical radio spots for Monterey Pop
• Monterey Pop scrapbook
• Audio commentary on Jimi Plays Monterey by music critic and historian Charles Shaar Murray
• Two audio commentaries on Shake! by music critic and historian Peter Guralnick: the first on Otis Redding's Monterey performance, song by song; the second on Redding before and after Monterey
• Interview with Phil Walden, Otis Redding's manager from 1959 to 1967
• Original theatrical trailer for Jimi Plays Monterey
• Video excerpt: Pete Townshend on Monterey and Jimi Hendrix