Track Listing

1. Down On Me ((Album Version)) - Big Brother & The Holding Company (Featuring Janis Joplin)
2. Coo Coo ((Album Version)) - Big Brother & The Holding Company,Janis Joplin
3. Women Is Losers ((Album Version)) - Janis Joplin (With Big Brother & The Holding Company)
4. Bye, Bye Baby (Album Version) - Big Brother & The Holding Company,Janis Joplin
5. Ball And Chain Live
6. Roadblock (Album Version) - Big Brother & The Holding Company,Janis Joplin
7. Piece Of My Heart (Album Version) - Big Brother & The Holding Company,Janis Joplin
8. Misery'n (Album Version)
9. I Need A Man To Love (Album Version) - Big Brother & The Holding Company,Janis Joplin
10. Summertime (Album Version) - Big Brother & The Holding Company,Janis Joplin
11. Flower In The Sun Live
12. Farewell Song Live - Big Brother & The Holding Company,Janis Joplin
13. Raise Your Hand Live
14. To Love Somebody Live
15. Kozmic Blues Live
16. Try (Just A Little Bit Harder) (Album Version)
17. Maybe (Album Version)
18. One Good Man (Album Version)
19. Little Girl Blue (Album Version)
20. Work Me, Lord (Album Version)
21. Tell Mama Live
22. Move Over (Album Version)
23. Cry Baby (Album Version)
24. A Woman Left Lonely (Album Version)
25. Half Moon (Album Version)
26. My Baby (Album Version)
27. Me And Bobby McGee (Album Version)
28. Mercedes Benz (Album Version)
29. Trust Me (Album Version)
30. Get It While You Can (Album Version)
31. Mercedes Benz - Remix Remix - Janis Joplin Vs Medicine Head

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31562 in Music
• Released on: 2003-01-27
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .24 pounds

CD Description
This two-disc set breaks from the usual pattern of Legacy'sESSENTIAL series by presenting a large number of concert performances, in this case, focusing more Janis Joplin's tremendous power as a live vocalist than her comparatively sedatestudio appearances. Other than a handful of tracks (the immortal "Down on Me" from BIG BROTHER & THE HOLDING COMPANY, three from CHEAP THRILLS, and others), the entirety of the first disc consists of live recordings. These include two previously unreleased tunes ("Kozmic Blues" and the Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody", a la Wilson Pickett) from Joplin's solo debut at Woodstock. The second disc contains more live tracks,plus the best tunes from Joplin's two solo albums and the various outtakes that were released after her death (like thescorching performance of "Tell Mama" that was previously available only as a bonus track on PEARL), providing a well-rounded overview of Joplin's brief career.

Customer Reviews

not as essential as it could have been!
Although most of the contents are undeniably 'essential Janis' it's hard to fathom why the record company chose to include the inferior studio pre-Monterey versions of classics such as 'Down on Me' and 'Bye Bye Baby' from their 1st album. The definitive versions of these 2 songs (live versions) are better known to most Janis fans (i.e. on 'The Ultimate Collection' for example and 'Live at Winterland 68')

In fact,with the fantastic wealth of material available from the great albums released in Janis' lifetime....Cheap Thrills, Kozmic Blues, and then the later posthumous 'Pearl' 'In Concert, and 'Live at Winterland 68', the mind boggles as to why anything from the inferior first Big Brother album (recorded 1966 but delayed for many months before its release just after Monterey Pop in order to cash in)was included here. Janis just doesn't sound like Janis on these early recordings and the band lack their later grunge/psychedelic/punk power (by all accounts Janis and Big Brother were very unhappy with that 1st album). There's also a live version of 'Kozmic Blues' which, although it is good, is not a patch on the studio version from 'I got dem ol Kozmic Blues again mama'. Which is a shame as it's one of her great moments..

For a true 'essential' Janis collection, as this should have been, there'd be no hesitation in awarding it 5 stars. But it loses a star for the record company compiler's poor judgement.If you are new to Janis, it would be better to go for the original albums (as mentioned above) or for a taster of Janis, go for 'the ultimate collection'.

There is however one good reason for purchasing the 'Essential Janis' cd over and above everything else - for the sublime version of 'Ball and Chain' recorded at the Monterey Pop Festival 1967 - the performance that deservedly made Janis a superstar.

The Essential
'The Essential Janis Joplin' is a pretty good place to start if you want to learn more about this amazing and influential singer. This has an array of tracks spanning her career and shows how she could go from storming raw blues to soulful, almost jazzy vocals without blinking an eye. This has such tracks as 'Me and Bobby McGee', 'Piece of My Heart' and 'Mercedes Benz', but for me this album would be worth buying for 'Little Girl Blue' alone. Never will you hear such emotion and pain in one song, it moves me deeply every time I hear it. Janis has become one of those sixties artists that everyone mentions in the same breath as Hendrix and Morrison and whilst she is as influential and symbolises that era, she was also an outstanding performer in her own right. Joplin is well known for her outlandish lifestyle and extreme living, but in this case let her music do the talking for her and you'll soon get a picture of what a complex and versatile character she actually was. If the music has piqued your interest I recommend 'Scars of Sweet Paradise: The Life and Times Of Janis Joplin' by Alice Echols, which is an in-depth biography of Joplins life and makes for interesting reading.