Rating: 
Summary: Chaotic, but accurate account of the event
Review: I had heard about this concert since it actually happened, but it was hard to get info on it. All I knew was that it included some of the most magical acts of the time: The Doors, The Who, Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix, ELP, The Moody Blues...the list goes on. BUT, this is NOT a concert film; it is a documentary. What's wrong with this? Well, nothing, except if anyone was expecting this film to just be a great assemblage of classic rock, jazz and folk acts, you're in for a rude awakening. Despite the great performers, "Message To Love: The Isle of Wight Festival" (along with Altamont) also showed why 60s flower-power ideals crumbled to the ground more quickly than it appeared. Not a "reflective" documentary, but a "live" (1970) documentary, you get to see the backstage and corporate problems that plagued this 3-day festival. Thousands of English, American and Continental hippies decended upon the Isle of Wight fully intending to not pay the admission price for the concert and crash it any way they could. Stuck in the middle of the "free music" advocates and the "establishment" promoters were the artists themselves; poor Joni Mitchell had to come onstage at a particularly trying moment, but calmed things down and still pulls off brilliant performances of ironically upbeat songs.
Warts 'n' all truly applies with this video. So, enjoy the footage and sounds of artists we'll never see again, but learn from the difficulties associated with it as well.
Rating: 
Summary: Not very good
Review: I had the honor of seeing and hearing some of the music at this concert, and the lousy editting just to get more on the DVD was pathetic. It seems all the record company and releaser of the video was interested in was the almighty dollar, NOT the quality of the music. For instance Ten Years After.. over six miuets of the best guitar work cut out of the release. If you can get the Isle Of Wight Atlanta Pop Festivals record you'll see what I mean. This release is DISGUSTING>
Rating: 
Summary: The best movie about the end of the free love movement.
Review: I saw this film at the Music Box Theater in Chicago, and not only does it have some of the most fabulous live performances of this era caught on film, but it also gives one an appreciation of the filmmakers job to create a story from nothing but raw footage. From the angry crowds of concertgoers to the greedy promoters to the musicians just trying to perform, you get a real idea of what went wrong with the whole idea of the 60's free love movement asd it moved into a pre-cursor for the Me generation of the 70's. A truly undersung peace of art that is the foil to what WOODSTOCK did for the flower power generation. The only other equivalent to this film fiction wise would be FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS.
Rating: 
Summary: A great representation of the best and worst of the 60s
Review: I'd heard about this show for years and years, so once I saw the video was out, I snagged it, expecting a presentation of historic musical performances. "Message To Love" is just that, but so much more, and most of the "more" isn't very pleasant; it turns what I expected to be a concert video into a history lesson. But what happened happened and the event is honestly documented here, warts and all. The ugliness comes from the clash of 60s hippie idealism with the reality of a corporate future. There are no villains or heroes here among the four feuding camps: the promoters, the performers, those attendees who paid to get in and the attendees who couldn't (or didn't believe they should). If you want to skip through the messy bits, this video is full of classic (and historic) performances given at a time where music was at a cusp of huge change. The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, Miles Davis and the Doors are the standouts here and everything else is at least fair-to-good. Worth a look.
Rating: 
Summary: No doors, No ELP
Review: If youre getting this for ELP or the doors then youre gonna be disappointed. They cut them out of the movie. The doors first song on the movie is "When the musics over," its cut about 2 minutes into the performance. The other performance, "The End" is in its entirety. ELP's performance, (which is the highlight of the festival and the movie) is about 2 minutes long. You get to see them right when they start and then it cuts away to the end of their performance. So if youre wanting this movie to see ELP's historic "debut" performance then forget it, youre gonna have to wait for it to come out later. If it ever does. The rest of the performances are pretty much ... The Who is terrible and you get to really see which bands were for real and which ones weren't. The best bands are cut out and the worst are all over the place. So, its your call. As far as the rest of it, its mostly some guy whining, (concert promoter) about why he's losing money, and some good scenes of hippies. So if you dont care about the music so much and want to see hippies and freaks as they really were, then its worth a look, otherwise forget it.
Rating:
Summary: Better than Woodstock
Review: In 1969 Woodstock was the first event of it's kind and a year later the even bigger Isle of Wight Festival was the last. This rockumentary released 25 years after the event is in the vein of 'Woodstock', only better. What sets this apart is the music. The movie gives pretty even coverage to both the music and capturing the hippy vibe of the event. There is a constant tension created by the barrier surrounding the event and the thousands who came without the price of admission. This is similar to what happened at Woodstock but it plays out slightly differently here. The coverage of this tension and the unique festive atmosphere is compelling watching but it is the music that takes center stage. Never was there such a collection of rock icons together at a single event as at the Isle of Wight and this includes the last concert performances by Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrision. Hendrix died a mere 18 days afterwards. The complete lineup of performances in this movie are as follows:
Jimi Hendrix - Message to love
The Who - Young man
Free - All right now
Taste (Rory Gallagher) - Sinner Boy
Tiny Tim - There'll always be an England
John Sebastian - Red Eye Express
Donovan - Catch the wind
10 Years after - Can't keep from crying
The Doors - When the music's over
Moody Blues - Nights in white satin
Kris Kristofferson - Me & Bobby McGee
Joni Mitchell - Woodstock, Big yellow taxi
Miles Davis - Call it anything
Leonard Cohen - Suzanne
Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Pictures at an exhibition
Jimi Hendrix - Machine Gun (segment), Voodoo Chile
Joan Baez - Let it be
Jethro Tull - My Sunday Feeling
The Doors - The End Jimi
Hendrix - Foxy Lady
The Who - Naked Eye
Rating:
Summary: Great Performances
Review: In addition to the obvious performances by bands like the Who, Hendrix & the Doors, there are some incredible performances on here worth mentioning. The best is Rory Gallagher's band Taste. Rory (figuratively speaking) sets fire to his guitar. Great performances also by Free, Joni Mitchell, Moody Blues, etc.
Rating:
Summary: Not to get Political or anything....
Review: In all, a fascinating movie and a worthy installment in the "Great DVD Foursome" that tracks the seminal moments in the "Love " Generation. The 1st installment: "Monterey Pop" captures the movement just as the whole world is taking notice. It's all very new and very idealistic.Joplin and Hendrix "Arrive" 2nd :Woodstock" catching the movement at it's simultaeneous apex and decline. Sure, some naughty kinds decided to crash the party without tickets, but so what if the promoters lost untold amounts of money as long as the "Peace loving" (read ,lazy, spoiled )hippies are high and happy. 3rd:"Gimmie Shelter" the infamous concert where jobless hippies go cross country to catch a free Stones concert and are foolish enough to raise the ire of Hell's Angels' by rushing the stage and threatening the motorcycles. I would've gotten the message after the first pool cue hit me over the head. But you know these hippies, Gluttons for punishment as long as they can bum around, get high and listen to music. 4th: Isle of Wight. Make no mistake, the hippies in this one are outright bullies. One can only feel regret for the promoters , the money they poured into the venture and lost as well as the year or so of their lives spent putting the festival together. If any movie presents the hippy movement for the lie it was, this is it. It also features a great line up of acts including a great Jethro Tull feature
(wish they'd release their whole set), Miles Davis with both Chick Corea AND Keith Jarrett in the band and the wonderfully talented and patient Joni Mitchell who rises above the ugly antagonism of the audience and wins them over with her great songs. True, most of the acts don't get sufficient time on screen but it's as much a social history of a moment in time, frozen for posterity.A movie well worth owning.Warning:If you buy heavily into the peace,love ethos of that time, You might be disappointed. This is Woodstock without the "spin".
Rating:
Summary: Not to get Political or anything....
Review: In all, a fascinating movie and a worthy installment in the "Great DVD Foursome" that tracks the seminal moments in the "Love " Generation. The 1st installment: "Monterey Pop" captures the movement just as the whole world is taking notice. It's all very new and very idealistic.Joplin and Hendrix "Arrive" 2nd :Woodstock" catching the movement at it's simultaeneous apex and decline. Sure, some naughty kinds decided to crash the party without tickets, but so what if the promoters lost untold amounts of money as long as the "Peace loving" (read ,lazy, spoiled )hippies are high and happy. 3rd:"Gimmie Shelter" the infamous concert where jobless hippies go cross country to catch a free Stones concert and are foolish enough to raise the ire of Hell's Angels' by rushing the stage and threatening the motorcycles. I would've gotten the message after the first pool cue hit me over the head. But you know these hippies, Gluttons for punishment as long as they can bum around, get high and listen to music. 4th: Isle of Wight. Make no mistake, the hippies in this one are outright bullies. One can only feel regret for the promoters , the money they poured into the venture and lost as well as the year or so of their lives spent putting the festival together. If any movie presents the hippy movement for the lie it was, this is it. It also features a great line up of acts including a great Jethro Tull feature
(wish they'd release their whole set), Miles Davis with both Chick Corea AND Keith Jarrett in the band and the wonderfully talented and patient Joni Mitchell who rises above the ugly antagonism of the audience and wins them over with her great songs. True, most of the acts don't get sufficient time on screen but it's as much a social history of a moment in time, frozen for posterity.A movie well worth owning.Warning:If you buy heavily into the peace,love ethos of that time, You might be disappointed. This is Woodstock without the "spin".
Rating:
Summary: Me$$age To Money
Review: In general, I think it's a remarkable video. To think that the video was locked up in someone's vault for so many years is un-thinkable. My only disappointment is that there is too much focus on the events rather than the musical performances. Although, the back stage antics are great. A lot of the music performances are extremely edited-down (as one reviewer noted). Because of that, I am bothered by one question. "What other master-pieces remain hidden inside that vault?" I can only help but feel unfulfilled. For I'm sure that there is more footage out there. Strange enough, additional "private" releases have begun to "slowly" appear after this film became public. From artists such as Jimi Hendrix & The Who. ...But, where are the rest? It's obvious that there is more corporate dealings going on yet. Squeezing out what ever pennies that can be scrounged through the resource of the tapes. Taking advantage of the hungry mouths & pockets of the public. They very thing that was revolted against by the majority of those who witnessed the event. I think they ought to change the title to "Message To Money" instead. However, I admit that I am one of those hungry ones. Aching to see a more complete performance of that venue. Other than what was offered & poorly represented in the video. Like Donovan's performance which lasted only three seconds. And what about Tony Joe White, Melanie, Cactus, & Procol Harum who weren't even included? I have yet to see the complete performance of ELP's debut of "Pictures At An Exhibition". ...I'm wondering if such footage even exists? I guess my message here is to say that "there ought to have been a more complete video made of this event!" Perhaps a sequel? I also like to say, "hurry up on those new releases!" ...That is if any exist? Reyerbrandt
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