If, like many of us here at TM-Towers, you long for the days when music was delivered in packaging that was not only suitable for rolling the odd exotic ciggy but also allowed for artwork big enough to hang on the wall and information that you didn't need to use a magnifying glass to peruse, then you are going to be delighted by this oversized cornflakes-sized box of goodies including 6 CDs, 2 DVDs, a 208-page hardback book, a bunch of postcards and a poster, the sort of packaging, in fact, that just cries out to be slowly pored over before you even consider popping one of the shiny discs included into your new-fangled CD/DVD player. As to the content, well, very few people would offer up Bickershaw in 1972 as a defining moment in festival history – possibly due to journo prejudices concerning co-promoter Jeremy Beadle's later TV career – but, despite it being the muddiest and least salubrious of festival venues, Bickershaw was, in fact, hugely successful in that they enticed the likes of Captain Beefheart, the Grateful Dead, New Riders of The Purple Sage, Flamin' Groovies, The Kinks, Donovan, the Incredible String Band and Family (all featured here), plus many many more to a weekend that still lives in the memory of all who attended (including Elvis Costello and Joe Strummer), so if you missed it, this is the next best thing.
The Oracle
Total Music, July 2012