Janis Joplin - Janis Joplin - Greatest Hits

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Music reviews of Janis Joplin - Greatest Hits

Music Review: six gun
Rating: 4 Stars

Listening to Janis ravage these six numbers makes it clear what seperated her from every blues-rock singer to come before or after her... Janis seemed to have lived every line she sacrificed from her altar, the stage. And given what she sang, it's no wonder that booze and drugs destroyed her life long before she was given the chance to really live it. Life had to be a tortorous experience for Joplin, but she purged it all out on the stage and in the studio for everyone to gape at, and in a dark, disturbing, overwhelming way it is a great artistic gift. It's all so real, you almost feel guilty watching it. Ironically, Janis' more mellow work, perhaps symbolizing a degree of stability rising in her life, emerged only shortly before her tragic death.

The six songs that define Janis' meteorite like burn through the atmosphere of the late 1960's and 1970 are 'Piece Of My Heart', 'Try (Just a Little Bit Harder'), 'Cry Baby', 'Down On Me', 'Get It While You Can', and 'Move Over'. While most anyone who was anywhere near the solar system in 1970 would be familiar with these songs, be advised that if you haven't heard even one of them you just ain't livin' yet. Each is a study in what raw blues-rock is all about. My personal favorite is the live version of 'Down On Me' ("down" as in put-down, not the Bill Clinton spin), recorded at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, aka The Fillmore Mid-West.

To me, the rest of this album is filler, but it doesn't really matter. 'Bye Bye Baby', the earliest song on the CD by nearly two years (recorded in 1966), comes closest to deserving honorarium, and stylistically fits as well. The same cannot be said for 'Me and Bobby McGee' or 'Mercedes Benz', which take the guts out of what Janis did best. Don't get me wrong... they're nice songs, but to me 'nice' isn't what Janis should have ever aspired to. The others, 'Summertime', 'Maybe', and even 'Ball and Chain' are too slow in tempo to kick-start Janis' ragin' torments.

I enjoy the instrumental backing Janis employed, especially when she was paired with Big Brother and the Holding Company. There's some fine lead guitar licks that complement Janis' delivery like the slick on a Greaser's pomp. For the most part though, what her bandmates do best is act as a sturdy soapbox for her powerful vocals.

Some reviews here knock this CD for what it doesn't have, but I say appreciate it for all it is. If you're not really into getting a definitive collection of Janis' body of work, if you just want to throw on her best for a thiry minute aural workout, this disc is everything your two ears will be needing. Program in the six-shooter outlined above, dial the morgue to come pick you up, and slip on the headphones...

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