Glastonbury Fayre 1971 DVD

This is probably the best version you are going to see of this classic film. The colour has been retouched and doesn't look all washed out as it has on some versions of it. Its a great document of the classic beginnings of the monster festival, some great interviews and footage of the bands. Particularly here Traffic are amazing and the opener by Terry Reid is pretty dam good. You can see the original pyramid stage under construction and you can see this once was a real grass roots event. Quite a film, but im sad there was no footage of Gong, Hawkwind, the Pink Fairies, Edgar Broughton or Mr David Bowie all who were in attendance, still well worth getting and there is also a documentary on the making of the film, which is very informative.

Nic Roeg asked me if he could film Glastonbury Fair 1971.
I was staging the event with Arabella Churchill. Of course I said Yes. He shot 72 hours in 35mm and 16mm film. As there was not enough money for post production, only 1 hour 20 minutes was all that was saved. Real shame. For me the best performances were by Melanie and Terry Reid with Linda Lewis. I'm pleased to say that they will all be playing at this year's festival to celebrate the 40th anniversary.
I called it Fair - someone else put the y into it.
Why?
Andrew Kerr

This film, more than any other I can think of from the period, really captures the true spirit of that wildy optomistic generation at perhaps the tail end of it's arc. At times, the stylistic nature of the film seems to suggest a mythological quality to the proceedings. At others, a more down to earth document is presented.
The air it seems, was full of good vibes (compare this to the ugly scenes of confrontation from the previous year's final Isle of Wight festival), perhaps the fact that this festival was free helped. The relatively low attendance probably also helped to create the special atmosphere seen here. Much is often made of how 'out of it' everyone was back then but things have hardly changed have they? One thing that has changed is how much less naive & more cynical we've all become.
But I didn't intend on writing a sociological essay, enough has already been written on those times.
More to the point, the music contained herein provides some of the films highlights, none more so than the great & half remembered Terry Reid whose loose & extremely soulful arrangement of his song 'Dean' is well worth the purchase of this disc alone. The song, like the film itself, really conjures up the spirit of the age.
In it, you can hear something so familiar, yet indefinable. The emotional pull of this performance sways me everytime. This defining moment appears early on in the film & serves to hold the viewer's attention from thereon. Many more magical musical moments follow, memorably, a mesmerizing Fairport Convention &
a deliriously deranged Arthur Brown along with early Gong, late Traffic etc...
Had the film crew managed to capture Bowie's dawn performance, this really would have been one of rock's 'holy grails'. However, as it stands, it's still one of the most compelling & important documents of it's time,
so don't delay, turn on & tune in today.