Monterey Pop Festival (1967)

Razor & Tie and Starbucks Entertainment co-release MONTEREY INTERNATIONAL POP FESTIVAL, a two-CD retrospective hand-selected from the stellar line-up of performances at the historic 1967 music festival. This unique collection not only features rare early performances from now music legends including Jefferson Airplane, The Who, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Mamas and the Papas and Big Brother & The Holding Company featuring Janis Joplin, but also features previously-unreleased tracks from Simon & Garfunkel and Buffalo Springfield. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the ground-breaking event held in Monterey, California, which launched the careers of many of the artists who performed. The two-CD set will be available simultaneously at Starbucks Company-operated locations in the U.S. and Canada as well as traditional retail. The Monterey International Pop Festival Foundation will benefit from the release of the CD. Held in 1967 on June 16, 17 and 18, the Monterey International Pop Festival was the first major rock festival (preceding Woodstock by two years), drawing hundreds of thousands of people together. Almost every aspect of it was a "first," including the diversity of the lineup which not only blended all ethnicities but crossed several musical boundaries including rock, pop, jazz, soul, R&B, psychedelia, folk and classical music. The festival was also one of the first to pair established stars like Simon & Garfunkel and The Byrds with relative unknowns at the time such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and The Who. All of the participating artists performed gratis, donating their fees to charity, which ultimately resulted in the creation of The Monterey International Pop Festival Foundation (MIPFF), a non-profit charitable and educational organization empowering music-related personal development, creativity and mental and physical health. The festival and original recordings were produced by renowned music producer Lou Adler and The Mamas and The Papas' John Phillips. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the festival, a series of events will take place over the next few months. These events kicked off with a screening of the film, Monterey Pop, at this year's South by Southwest conference which was preceded by a panel featuring Lou Adler, Andrew Loog Oldham and The Mamas And The Papas' Michelle Phillips. In addition, there will be a special exhibit at The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and a Hollywood RockWalk induction ceremony. VH1 is also creating a documentary about the festival to air on the June 16th anniversary