The Holland Pop Festival, also known as the Kralingen Music Festival, was a pop and rock music festival held in the Kralingse Bos, in the Kralingen neighbourhood of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, on 26–28 June 1970.
Performing bands included The Byrds, T. Rex, Santana, Jefferson Airplane, and the headlining Pink Floyd. Approximately 100,000 attended. Festival posters show that the festival was billed in Dutch as Pop Paradijs and ‘Holland Pop Festival 70’, and that the main investor was Coca-Cola. In both English and Dutch, the festival is also known by the English name Stamping Ground, and is often billed as the European answer to Woodstock. It took place approximately one year after Woodstock, and two months before the third 1970 Isle of Wight Festival (the first two being held in 1968 and 1969).
The Festival became an influential event, as it turned out to be the actual beginning of the Dutch tolerance policy towards marijuana.[citation needed] The many present undercover cops did not arrest any of the users or small traders: it became clear that there were just too many, and all of them peaceful.
In 1971, a documentary about the festival appeared, titled Stamping Ground, created by Hansjürgen Pohland aka Jason Pohland and George Sluizer. The film was made for an international audience and is also known under the titles Love and Music, and in Germany Rock Fieber. Also, several books and exhibitions have been dedicated to the event. A triple lp-boxset was released in 2010. The Dutch Festival 1970 (Kralingen) was organized by Foundation “Holland Pop Festival” (Piet van Daal, Georges Knap, Toos v.d.Sterre, Berry Visser)
On 21 September 2013, a memorial has been unveiled in the Kralingse Bos area, to commemorate the first multi-day open air popfestival on the European continent. (wikipedia)
Holland Pop was a 3 day musical festival held at the Kralingse Bos (Kralingse Forest) in Rotterdam on June 26, 27, and the 28th, 1970. The festival was supposedly The Netherland’s version of Woodstock. This new release includes 2 cd’s and a 97 minute dvd that captures the many highs of the 3 day festival. The 1st cd is over 53 minutes, while the 2nd cd is almost 58 minutes long. An older version of this festival goes by the name of “Stamping Ground”. Although there were many good groups who played at the festival, this release is hindered by poor sound as well as poor camera work. The saving grace of the whole festival was the excellent performances turned in by most of the groups. You have to really listen hard to hear the performances, but once you do so, you will be rewarded.
Despite the rain, an estimated 120,000 stoned festival goers showed up for the big party. And party they did, as witnessed by the camera work on the dvd, which focused as much on the nude bodies, dope-smoking, and love-making, as it did on the groups, themselves. The musical highlights included a blistering set by Santana, who played “Gumbo”/”Savor” & “Jingo”. All excellently performed but hard on the ears, even with digital noise reduction. Al Stewart turned in a fine performance of “Zero She Flies”, while the rarely recorded group Quintessence turn in a fine version of “Giants”. Canned Heat, which features a rare performance by Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson doing “Human Condition”, which is then followed by Bob Hite, joining the crowd to take a few “tokes”, while performing “The World’s In A Tango/So Sad”.
Marc Bolan, just about ending his days with T.Rex, does a very good version of “By The Light Of The Magical Moon”. It’s A Beautiful Day, who perform during a rainstorm, play an excellent set featuring “Wasted Union Blues” & “Bulgaria”. Great performance by David LaFlamme playing a very trippy violin. The Jefferson Airplane perform fine versions of “White Rabbit”, “The Ballad Of You And Me And Pooneil”, and “Won’t You Try Saturday Afternoon”. Another rare appearance is turned in by East Of Eden, who play an excellent version of “The Sun Of East/Irish Theme”. From Chicago, we get an excellent version of “Big Bird”, by The Flock, who are also very rare to find in concert.
And moving into a Jazz-Prog-Rock direction, we get Soft Machine, led by Robert Wyatt & Hugh Hopper, playing a fine version of “Esther’s Nose Job”. Other groups who participated are Pink Floyd, The Byrds, Country Joe, and Family, led by the strong vocals of Roger Chapman. All in all, the performances were very good to excellent. It’s indeed unfortunate that the cd sound and poor camera work, probably done by “stoned” photographers, only undermined the fine performances by the artists. Still, however, the set captures a very special moment in time. It could have been so much better, but the original masters were not in the best of condition to begin with. Highly recommended !
Historic live recordings from the Holland Pop Festival held in the Kralingen neighbourhood of Rotterdam, on 26-28 June 1970. The attendance was anywhere from 100,000 to 150,000.
Personnel:
Tracklist:
CD 1:
01. Cuby & The Blizzard: Dust My Blues (James) 4.46
02. Canned Heat: Human Condition (Hite/Wilson) 3.09
03. Canned Heat: So Sad (The World’s In A Tangle) (Domino/Bartholomew) 5.32
04. Livin’ Blues: Big Road Blues (Johnson) 2.41
05. Al Stewart: Zero She Flies (Stewart) 2.20
06. Quintessence: Giants (Raja Jam) 2.39
07. East Of Eden: The Sun Of East (unknown) 15.49
08. East Of Eden: Irish Theme (Jig-A-Jig) (Traditional) 3.20
09. Country Joe And The Fish: Oh Freedom (McDonald) 3.54
10. Dr. John: Mardi Gras Day (Rebenack) 4.31
11. Family: Drowned In Wine (Whitney/Chapman) 4.28
CD 2:
01. Santana: Gumbo (C.Santana/Rolie) 3.58
02. Santana: Savor (C.Santana/Rolie/Areas/Brown/Carabello/Shrieve) 4.29
03. Santana: Jingo (Olatunji) 4.26
04. Jefferson Airplane: White Rabbit (Slick) 2.19
05. Jefferson Airplane: The Ballad Of You And Me And Pooniel (Kantner) 3.03
06. It’s A Beautiful Day: Wasted Union Blues (Laflamme) 7.23
07. It’s A Beautiful Day: Bulgaria (Laflamme) 4.02
08. T. Rex: By The Light Of The Magical Moon (Bolan) 3.19
09. The Byrds: Old Blue (Traditional) 3.35
10. The Flock: Big Bird (Smith/Karpman/Glickstein/Canoff/Webb/Posa/Goodman) 4.50
11. Soft Machine: Esther’s Nose Job (Ratledge/Hopper/Wyatt) 6.03
12. Pink Floyd: Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun (Waters) 3.42
13. Pink Floyd: A Saucerful Of Secrets (Waters/Wright/Mason/Gilmour) 6.22
As everyone here probably knows, I am a great lover of blues music (regardless of whether it is black or white blues music).
Canned Heat is an American blues and rock band that was formed in Los Angeles in 1965. The group has been noted for its efforts to promote interest in blues music and its original artists. It was launched by two blues enthusiasts Alan Wilson and Bob Hite, who took the name from Tommy Johnson’s 1928 “Canned Heat Blues”, a song about an alcoholic who had desperately turned to drinking Sterno, generically called “canned heat”, from the original 1914 product name Sterno Canned Heat, After appearances at the Monterey and Woodstock festivals at the end of the 1960s, the band acquired worldwide fame with a lineup consisting of Hite (vocals), Wilson (guitar, harmonica and vocals), Henry Vestine and later Harvey Mandel (lead guitar), Larry Taylor (bass), and Adolfo de la Parra (drums).
Tracklist:
During the 1980s the interest in the type of music played by Canned Heat was revived and, despite the past tragedies and permanent instability, the band appeared to be revitalized. In 1985, Trout had left to join John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, so Vestine was once again back in the band and he brought with him new musical talent from Oregon in James Thornbury (slide guitar and lead vocals) and Skip Jones (Bass). They were dubbed the “Nuts and Berries” band by de la Parra, due to their love of organic food. It was not long before former members Larry Taylor (replacing Jones) and Ronnie Barron returned to round out the group. Versions of this lineup would record the live album, Boogie Up The Country, in Kassel, Germany, in 1987 and also appear on the Blues Festival Live in Bonn ’87 Vol 2 compilation. Barron, just as before did not last long in this lineup, nor did Vestine, who was once again ousted from the band due to pressure from Larry Taylor. Replacing Vestine on lead guitar was Junior Watson; his style emulated Hollywood Fats (who died in late 1986) and was perfectly suited for the band as witnessed by the well-regarded album, Reheated. Unfortunately, the album was released only in Germany in 1988 due to disagreements with the Chameleon Music Group Record label. In 1990, the “Would-Be” lineup of James T, Taylor, Watson and de la Parra also recorded a sequel live album in Australia entitled Burnin’ Live.
30 years ago, I got this concert from a friend on a tape … Canned Heat “Canned Heat: Live At The Boston Tea Party”;
Right damn fine SBD for a 1967 club tape, with a few spots o’ bother.
The New Age is the ninth studio album by Canned Heat, released in 1973. It was the first album to feature the talents of James Shane and Ed Beyer. Clara Ward also appears on the album in her very last recording. Influential Rock Critic Lester Bangs was fired from Rolling Stone for writing a “disrespectful” review of this album upon its release:
Canned Heat ’70 Concert Recorded Live in Europe is a 1970 live album by Canned Heat. The album is taken from various locations on live concert European tour right before Alan Wilson’s death and is the band’s first officially released live album. (by wikipedia)
Live at Topanga Corral is a 1971 live album by Canned Heat. The album is taken from a 1969 concert at the Kaleidoscope in Hollywood, California and not at the Topanga Corral as the title suggests. Canned Heat was under contract to Liberty Records at the time and Liberty did not want to do a live album, so manager Skip Taylor told Liberty that the album had been recorded in 1966 & 1967 at the Topanga Corral and released the record with Wand Records to avoid legal complications. The record has been bootlegged and reissued countless times, and is also known as Live at the Kaleidoscope.(by wikipedia)
During the 1980s the interest in the type of music played by Canned Heat was revived and, despite the past tragedies and permanent instability, the band appeared to be revitalized. In 1985, Trout had left to join John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, so Vestine was once again back in the band and he brought with him new musical talent from Oregon in James Thornbury (slide guitar and lead vocals) and Skip Jones (Bass). They were dubbed the “Nuts and Berries” band by de la Parra, due to their love of organic food. It was not long before former members Larry Taylor (replacing Jones) and Ronnie Barron returned to round out the group. Versions of this lineup would record the live album, Boogie Up The Country, in Kassel, Germany, in 1987 and also appear on the Blues Festival Live in Bonn ’87 Vol 2 compilation. Barron, just as before did not last long in this lineup, nor did Vestine, who was once again ousted from the band due to pressure from Larry Taylor. Replacing Vestine on lead guitar was Junior Watson; his style emulated Hollywood Fats (who died in late 1986) and was perfectly suited for the band as witnessed by the well-regarded album, Reheated. Unfortunately, the album was released only in Germany in 1988 due to disagreements with the Chameleon Music Group Record label. (by wikipedia)
ManyFantasticColors 