‘Woodstock’ a Musical Quagmire

VARIOUS ARTISTS, “Woodstock ‘94” ( A&M; ) *

One reason people began covering themselves with mud at Woodstock ’94 was that they were looking for something to do in the hours when there wasn’t much interesting happening on stage. There was, indeed, so little compelling, contemporary vision in the music that the sonic highlights of the three-day festival could fit comfortably on a pair of 90-minute cassettes.

We’re speaking of imaginary cassettes that would basically be the entire sets of Nine Inch Nails and Metallica, plus selected numbers each from the best of the remaining attractions, from Bob Dylan and James to the Rollins Band and Green Day.

Unfortunately, the record company was limited by contract to one song per act. That means the bulk of this two-disc package is devoted to largely irrelevant veteran acts (including Joe Cocker, Traffic and Paul Rodgers), insignificant new ones (including Blues Traveler, Blind Melon and Primus) and extended versions of overly familiar songs (including eight more minutes of Peter Gabriel’s “Biko”). On top of that, they didn’t even pick the best Nine Inch Nails song. Mud, anyone?

New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four (excellent).