Americana UK interviews Amchitka album producer, John Timmins:

Amchitka took place only one year after Woodstock. If the Woodstock tells a story of a worry-free decade of sex, drugs and rock n’roll, then what story does Amchitka tell? The 60’s were gone, and the world was facing a decade of Nixon, Vietnam and nuclear bombs. Do you think Amchitka marked the end of innocence more so than Altamont?
I think that on the music map Altamont to Amchitka marks a transition to a more introspective, self awareness from Altamont’s “loss of innocence” tag. That transition was embodied by the three musicians on the stage that night. Phil Ochs, in the tradition of the great protest singers in folk and blues, angry and tired, his career slowly setting, and James and Joni, their stars rising, saying chill, breath for a moment, the examined life is preferable. Out of this period of social unrest came the environmental movement having learned a lot from its historical/organizational roots and ready to move forward.

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From Jambands.com

And just in case you had any doubts about the authenticity of things (there were no “take twos”), the tape runs out during the show-closing sing-along of “The Circle Game,” leaving you to marvel at the power of song – and the memory of a time when it seemed a lot easier to make things happen.

Buy it for the cause; buy it for the music; buy it for both. Amchitka – the 1970 Concert That Launched Greenpeace is one of those time capsules that everyone should have.

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“Greenpeace is beautiful and you are beautiful because you are here” – Irving Stowe

From the Not Just News Network

Remember when the world was young and we were young in it. When things were changing for the better, when old ways were destined to go, before we grew up and had families and houses and jobs, there were concerts where we celebrated life and our youth. This is one most of us missed.

When music has become a commodity, ever changing without end and without reality this CD can make your heart warm again.

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From the Globe and Mail:

Before there was ever Live Aid or Band Aid or Farm Aid, even before George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh, there was the concert that launched Greenpeace.

The Amchitka concert CDs are an aural time capsule. To listen in is to eavesdrop on a special moment 39 years in the past when Phil and James and Joni were impassioned by a cause (and, in the latter pair’s case, by love).

On headphones, it sounds as if you’re sitting just offstage. You can even hear audience cries for favourite songs.

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Tune in, turn on, and drop what you’re doing. You’ve got to hear this.

Amchitka: the 1970 concert that launched Greenpeace captures Mitchell and Taylor and in all their youthful, creative glory. And—holy patchouli!—they duet on a version of Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man.” I’m quivering in my Birkenstocks!

In all seriousness, though, this is a welcome double-disc dosage of seminal folk-rock from now-classic stars trying to make a political difference during their musical prime.

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Review in the National Post:

It’s a wonderful CD, totally of its time yet timeless. Joni Mitchell is in top form, blending the rock and roll standard Bonie Maronie into Big Yellow Taxi. Phil Ochs is full of fire on his protest anthem I Ain’t Marching Anymore. Unannounced guest James Taylor does a heartfelt version of Fire and Rain.

One of the highlights of the CD is the introduction by the late Irving Stowe, one of the founders of Greenpeace.

“Brothers and sisters in green peace,” he announces. “Green peace is beautiful! And you are beautiful, because you are here tonight! You came here because you are not on a death trip! You believe in life, you believe in peace, and you want them now!”

It’s tres 60s, simultaneously kind of hilarious but quite moving — a 55-year-old lawyer and Ban The Bomb activist announcing the birth of the environmental movement.

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