Monterey International Pop Festival (Live) [Deluxe Edition]

The rock scene was caught in the midst of change at the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967. There’s a palpable tension in the Byrds’s performance as David Crosby was about to be fired — his voice can be heard competing for presence with Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman on the taut harmonies on the chorus of “Chimes of Freedom.” Irritated with Crosby’s ranting political banter between songs (absent here), the band sped up the tempo to “So You Wanna Be A Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” so fast it sounds like they inadvertently invented folk-punk. They became further annoyed when Crosby accepted an invitation by Buffalo Springfield to sub for Neil Young who had quit at the last minute — though Crosby’s vocal contributions to this version of “For What It’s Worth” sounds great. Of course nobody’s harmonies sounded as tight as Simon & Garfunkel’s who sing like siblings on “Homeward Bound” and on a stunningly beautiful version of “Sounds of Silence.” But the night belonged to Jimi Hendrix whose performances of “The Wind Cries Mary” and “Like A Rolling Stone” upstage the studio versions.