If you haven’t already had a listen of Amchitka: the 1970 concert that launched Greenpeace, it’s now yours to purchase.  Not only will you buy a little piece of Greenpeace history (there’s a great story in the liner notes!) and great music, but your dollars will also be going directly to support Greenpeace campaigns.

The album was released this week, and it’s been great to see the positive reviews pour in.  A lot of people I talk to are just blown away by the sound quality of this “forgotten” recording.  Aside from the amazing mastering and restoration by Peter J. Moore, we can thank the late Irving Stowe for that. During the concert he spied a tape recorder under the stage, and found out that the sound engineer was recording the show.  With permission from the artists, he obtained a copy of the recording for personal use.  This recording became part of the Stowe family collection, brought out on special occasions.  The sound engineer had captured the concert on a high-quality tube Revox tape recorder, and the recording was kept at the Stowe home on pristine reel-to-reel until 2003.  Irving’s son, Bob Stowe, decided to transfer the tape to CD that year as a present for his family.  He lovingly made a “CD prototype” complete with artist photos, liner notes and a mini-history of the concert.  The Stowes were so impressed with the final package that they approached Greenpeace to look into getting permissions to release the music – an archival snapshot of a pivotal time.

The core of the 1970/71 "Don't Make A Wave Committee", which later formed Greenpeace: Jim Bohlen, Paul Cote and Irving Stowe.

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Richard Gehr reviews Amchitka at headcount.org:

The concert itself, which I suppose you could say helped end the Cold War indirectly, is a gem. Between the relatively strident “Rhythms of Revolution” and “I Ain’t Marching Anymore,” Ochs slips in “Chords of Fame” (”God help the troubadour who tries to be a star”), a zinger possibly aimed at the two younger singers. Taylor, riding high on the success of the recently released Sweet Baby James and sounding gorgeous, eventually joins Mitchell for a rare version of “Mr. Tambourine Man.” Mitchell moves from guitar to piano to dulcimer over the course of her disk-length set, which begins with playful mashup of “Big Yellow Taxi” and “Bony Maroni.” The disk fades out during Mitchell, Taylor, and the audience all singing “The Circle Game.” Mission accomplished.

Read the full review

There’s a great interview with Barbara Stowe (daughter of Irving Stowe) in today’s Vancouver Sun.  Barbara describes the Amchitka concert:

For me it was very emotional, sitting there. I was aware I was watching the greatest moment of my father’s life, and I was so proud of him. Especially because I had been such a naysayer at the beginning. Your dad says ‘We’re going to have a rock concert,’ and you think ‘Oh, Christ!’ Nothing could be more embarrassing — it sounds completely insane.

Read the full article

Greetings,

I’m John Timmins, album producer of Amchitka, the 1970 concert that launched Greenpeace. What can I say? It’s been an honour to work on this project from conception to now, just a few days from the international album release. I hope you’ll stop in here from time to time to read about the latest on the album, but more importantly, I’d like to use this space to share some of the amazing stories that lead to Greenpeace releasing this concert album. And I’d especially like to hear from you.  Were you at the Amchitka benefit concert in 1970? Do you remember hearing about the “Don’t Make a Wave” committee? Do you remember the first time you heard “Greenpeace”? Or are you just a great fan of the performers: Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, and Phil Ochs? For those of you who don’t know, there’s a very special place in Greenpeace’s heart for the Amchitka Benefit Concert.  Irving Stowe, one of founders of Greenpeace, was extremely concerned about proposed atomic tests being held at Amchitka, one of the Aleutian Islands off Alaska. After a number of meetings with friends and other concerned individuals, a group formed – first called the “Don’t Make a Wave” comittee, then “Green Peace”. The idea was to send a crew to bear witness to the nuclear tests at Amchitka. But being short of money, Irving had the idea to put on a “solidarity” benefit concert to fund the trip. He managed to convince Joni Mitchell to play, and she in turn brought along James Taylor. With Phil Ochs and Chilliwack joining in, the concert turned out to be a great success, and raised enough money to send the first Greenpeace ship on our first-ever peaceful act of civil disobedience. The rest is history.  And so we really do view Amchitka as the concert that launched Greenpeace.

Read more about Greenpeace’s history.

Rex Weyler’s Book: “Greenpeace” is the most complete and detailed account of how Greenpeace came to be, and how it evolved into the organization it is today.