THE SMITH TAPES: The Recordings of Howard Smith from 1969-1972 Collection 4—Woodstock

THE SMITH TAPES

The Recordings of Howard Smith from 1969-1972 Collection 4—Woodstock Available Via Digital Retailers February 12

 

 

“At a time when rock ‘n’ roll, the sexual revolution and the antiwar counter culture all intersected, Mr. Smith spoke to seemingly every boldface name.”—The New York Times

 

Unearthed after more than 40 years and unheard since their original airing, the recordings of Village Voice “Scenes” columnist and radio personality Howard Smith are now available for the first time. Containing over 100 interviews, The Smith Tapes will be released in monthly installments on digital retailers iTunes and Amazon. Following Collection 1—Fillmore East, Collection 2 Aquarian Theatre and Collection 3—Everything’s Not Okay comes Collection 4—Woodstock. This new offering features interviews with Ravi Shankar, Joe Cocker, Woodstock producers John Roberts and Joel Rosenman, Sly Stone, John Lennon and Yoko Ono from their Bed-In, live reports from the Woodstock festival and commentary on the Woodstock film. Please see full track listing and details below.

 

During his tenure as the host of a nationally syndicated WPLJ-FM weekend program Smith conducted interviews with well-known musicians and notable cultural figures between 1969 and 1972. These tapes include revealing personal conversations with Mick Jagger, Andy Warhol, Jim Morrison, Buckminster Fuller, Abbie Hoffman, Jane Fonda, Hugh Hefner, Dr. John, Jerry Garcia, Janis Joplin, Pete Townsend, Arlo Guthrie, Bill Graham, Norman Mailer, D.A. Pennebaker and many more. Smith sat down with John Lennon and Yoko Ono no less than five times. The Smith Tapes recently completed their Kickstarter campaign to release a limited edition, hand numbered box set of more than 12 CDs of 18 conversations and a cassette shaped USB drive containing Smith’s extensive interview with Hugh Hefner and his hourly dispatches from Woodstock.

 

With each interview, The Smith Tapes creates an unscripted time capsule of a period of extraordinary cultural transformation. Smith had unique knack for meeting artists at seminal moments including Mick Jagger just weeks before The Rolling Stones Concert at Altamont, Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda directly following their the debut of Easy Rider at The Cannes Film Festival, Pete Townshend after The Who’s rock opera Tommy performance at The Metropolitan Opera, Andy Warhol recovering from his shooting and Janis Joplin just before her death. Smith locked away these original interview reels in a crate for more than 40 years in his loft in New York’s Village. Upon discovery, the tapes were carefully restored. 

 

About Howard Smith: Howard Smith is an Oscar-winning film director, journalist and broadcaster. As a writer for more than 30 years, his articles have appeared in Playboy and The New York Times. He had a weekly column “Scenes” during the formative years of The Village