Track Listing

1. Piece Of My Heart
2. Summertime
3. Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)
4. Cry Baby
5. Me And Bobby McGee
6. Down On Me
7. Get It While You Can
8. Bye Bye Baby
9. Move Over
10. Ball And Chain
11. Maybe
12. Mercedes Benz

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4026 in Music
• Released on: 1999-08-31
• Number of discs: 1

CD Description
Drawing inspiration from Bessie Smith and Odetta, Joplin developed a brash, uncompromising vocal style quite unlike accustomed folk madonnas. In 1966 Janis was invited to the Bay Area to front Big Brother And The Holding Company. Their CHEAP THRILLS, a joyous celebration of true psychedelic soul, contained two Joplin 'standards', "Piece Of My Heart" and "Ball And Chain", but she left the group in November 1968. Electric Flag members Mike Bloomfield, Harvey Brooks and Nick Gravenites helped assemble a new act, known as the Kozmic Blues Band. I Got Dem Ol' KOZMIC BLUES Again Mama was coolly received, but the set contained several excellent Joplin vocals, notably "Try", "Maybe" and "Little Girl Blue". The singer subsequently dissolved the band and undertook medical advicefor drink/drug abuse. A slimmed-down group, the Full Tilt Boogie Band, was unveiled in May 1970 featuring a tighter, more intimate sound. Sessions for a debut album were all but complete when, on 4 October 1970, Joplin died of a heroin overdose at her Hollywood hotel. The posthumous PEARL proved her most consistent work, with "My Baby", "Cry Baby" and the anthemic "Get It While You Can". The highlight was the chart-topping "Me And Bobby McGee", which allowed Joplin to be both vulnerable and assertive. Janis knew few boundaries, artistic or personal, and her sadly brief catalogue is marked by bare-nerved honesty.

Customer Reviews

Incomplete
Although Janis Joplin's genius shines through all of these tracks, the selection is inadequate. An album with a title like greatest hits needs to contain Combination Of The Two (from Cheap Thrills, with Big Brother and the Holding Company) and Joplin's version of the Bee Gees' To Love Somebody (from Kozmic Blues).

Luckily there are more comprehensive compilations available, and this album would do as an introduction to the Joplin novice. It contains the impressive acid rock onslaught of Piece Of My Heart, the original version of the timeless Me And Bobby McGee (a huge posthumous hit for her in 1971), the wrenching Maybe from Kozmic Blues and her popular novelty song Mercedes Benz.

Most of the tracks are from Pearl and while I love all of them, especially Cry Baby, Move Over and Get It While You Can, one must never forget her lesser known albums that contain many gems. The obscure Farewell Song, for example, has brilliant tracks like The Magic Of Love, One Night Stand and the title track.

For Joplin completists and those who would like to get more of her best in one place, there are The Essential Janis Joplin, a 2-CD set with 30 tracks, and The Janis Joplin anthology, a brilliant compilation of 19 of her very best performances.

It'll do......
This album may have been a big hit back when it was released in 1973 but time and a growing appreciation of Janis Joplin's talent hasn't been kind to it's choice of tracks. Nearly half the tracks chosen here are from the 'Pearl' album and indeed it was with the Full Tilt Boogie Band that Janis's voice could come to the fore, not having to compete with the spaced out acid rock of Big Brother & The Holding Company and the soul-influenced horns of the Kozmic Blues Band. Her seminal live performance of 'Ball & Chain' from the 1967 Monterey Festival was ignored for the lacklustre performance featured here. Ironically this is the best selling and least satisfying of all the Janis compilations out there.

Having said that there are some great Janis moments on this album. Her vocal performances on the Big Brother tracks are powerful and unrelenting. 'Cheap Thrills' was recorded in a way that would capture some essence of their intense live act. Although Janis's live shows with the Kozmic Blues Band never reached the same level of intensity, the album 'I Got Dem 'Ol Kozmic Blues Again Mama' proved she could adapt her vocal style to soul-influenced riffs with veritable ease. 'Move Over' was an indication that she was also a pretty handy songwriter. A talent which unfortunetly never came to full fruition.

An average compilation in the end that needed an inspired compiler brave enough to make some track changes (or at least insightful enough to add 4 or 5 more bonus tracks).

janis' singing is gritty and full of blues.
this albumn is deep and blusey, even more so with janis' history. she sings from the heart and the lungs, with backing to add to the general 'get on down' tone.

I think summertime is the most haunting piece,guitars flow under the rough deep purple voice,an equal duet of voice and guitar. with the guitar yeilding to janis' voice.

the whimsical me and bobby mcgee is an antidote and almost quaint (for janis)in the general goings on in this CD.

not unlike other tourtured female singers not an easy listen, but great for a drink and a think.

one down side i miss the crackles of the vinyl or if live the talk and the smells, hence the 4 out of five!