Janis Joplin - Janis (3cd Bin-Fitting Jewel Case)
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Free Music Notes for Janis (3cd Bin-Fitting Jewel Case)
Free Music Review: Totally worth it
Hit: 5 Stars
This box-set is brilliant, it captures Janis at all of her finest moments, pre-Big Brother, Montrey, and everything after. Just listening to the CD's in order, and you can hear the development of her voice and character. Shy texas girl, to sadly drugged-up Janis. Any Janis fan should definately invest in this. I wouldn't suggest it for someone who's curious about her music, it's a bit to much at once. Instead I'd suggest getting '18 essential songs'. She is so great you can hear her pain and anguish through every song, she's totally a legend.Free Music Review: Got them ol' Janis blues
Hit: 5 Stars
I have owned this collection going on five years and I still love every minute of it. If you like to hear rare speaking clips and great soulful music then this is the one to buy. There is also a nice biograghical booklet included. If you are a Janis Joplin fan and are tired of hearing only "Me and My Bobby McGee" and "Take a Piece of my Heart" then try this 3 disc compilation on for size. My favorite- "Trust Me"Free Music Review: Janis Rules
Hit: 5 Stars
This is the ultimate collection from the ultimate singer. A couple of dissapointing versions of a few songs maybe, but most definetly worth every penny !! You will NOT be sorry for buying this one. But i guess that's obvious. I mean, this is in fact a Janis Joplin box-set !!!! You just can't loose.....Free Music Review: Janis at 50
Hit: 4 Stars
This remarkable collection was released in 1993, a de facto companion release for sister Laura Joplin's biography _Love, Janis_ , with both serving to commemorate Janis' 50th birthday. If you were aware of that fact, at the time, it only served as a reminder of what a presence was lost on October 4, 1970--and what a great great middle-aged broad Janis (to paraphrase Bill Graham, the presumable announcer on _Cheap Thrills_) would likely have been had she lived.I write this on the 30th anniversary of Janis' death, and can't help wonder how Janis might have been at age 57. It is, of course, impossible to say, but whether you fantasize that she would be as outrageous as ever--still performing and raising hell--or living in virtual retirement (perhaps returning to her first love, painting), she would nonetheless have remained a fascinating figure.
One thing is certain, as this box set attests, she would indeed have continued to grow and develop musically for as long as she chose to record and perform. There is no denying that her voice altered drastically over the course of her brief career, and there is every indication that, by the time of her death, she had lost much of her upper register (compare the studio version of "Try" on disc 2 to the "live" version that appears on disc 3 and you'll notice how she cannot begin to recreate those scalding wails with which she closed out the song only a year before). But Janis was also a resourceful singer, and when her attempt to reach those impossible high notes fails, she takes another tack and begins to vamp over the the band's instrumental finale. It's not as exciting, but it shows that she was thinking, and that she was capable of compensating for any vocal limitations (whether they were temporary or permanent).
The youthful Janis Joplin had a remarkably flexible voice. Her earliest recordings have her affecting a country blues style--as exemplified by the three previously unreleased acoustic tracks that begin this album. But she also used to claim that she could sound like Joan Baez when she felt like it, a claim given credence by her performance on "Coo Coo," an early Big Brother track, which closes with her trilling quite beautifully over some Eastern influenced guitar. On this song, as with another somewhat lesser known Big Brother song, "The Last Time," she barely seems to pause for breath. There is a youthful exuberence on nearly all the early tracks that more than makes up for any lack of sophistication. But that's the kicker, and that's, ultimately, my point. The strains put on Janis' voice would ultimately diminish its power, but I am convinced, based on the quality of the _Pearl_-era tracks that she was already learning to compensate for a lack of her earlier full-throatedness. "Me and Bobby McGee" was a masterpiece of phrasing over belting, and there would certainly have been more to come in that vein had she lived.
This set may not be perfect. Some might argue that its substitution of some inferior "alternate versions" ("Cry Baby" being the best example) serves to lessen the overall quality of this collection, making it a must only for completists. But I would argure that,despite its flaws, it presents us with a portrait of Janis' entire career--which brief as it was, demonstrated a variety and musical growth that few could match over the course of a much longer lifetime.
Free Music Review: This is the Wrong box set.
Hit: 3 Stars
OK, if you are new to Janis, skip this and go straight to the Box of Pearls CD box. If you are a collector like me, there are some tracks here that are not featured elsewhere, though only a few.