Thursday 7 April 2022

In Concert - JANIS JOPLIN****

Down On Me/Bye Bye Baby/All Is Loneliness/Piece Of My Heart/Road Block/Flower In The Sun/Summertime/Ego Rock/Half Moon/Kozmic Blues/Move Over/Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)/Get It While You Can/ Ball & Chain

A posthumous double live album from the dynamic vocalist Janis Joplin. It is divided into two halves, the first from her time with Big Brother & The Holding Company, the second with her later backing band Full Tilt Boogie. (US:4 UK:30)

“A great double-disc live album. The first record includes her performances with Big Brother and the Holding Company and the second her live material with the Full Tilt Boogie band. Both are great performances with Joplin's raw vocals. This material is a must-listen for all the Joplin fans around the world.”

“Captured both with Big Brother and the Full Tilt Boogie Band they are testimony to the unrestrained passion Janis squeezed, stretched, tore to pieces and then injected with the energy of an hurricane and made unique every song she performed on stage.”

“Since Joplin was known primarily as a live performer, her studio work was often viewed as a kind of compromise at best. Cheap Thrills had some live vocals and simulated a Big Brother concert effectively, but it never claimed to be the genuine article. So Columbia assembled these tracks from several different live performances with Big Brother and Full Tilt Boogie.”

Joplin In Concert is an exciting enough live set, and full of life. It starts off like all good live alums should with a rousing crowd pleasing anthem in Down On Me, which should be played loud for maximum effect, followed by one of my personal favourites Bye Bye Baby, a beautiful slow blues, Janis always sounded so smooth here.”

“There is a subtle difference between both groups on this album, Janis obviously showed her skills as being the voice that led the group rather than vice versa and Half Moon, one of the better songs on the Pearl album shines here in its live version as does Move Over. The two years difference have taken their toll on Joplin and she does sound slightly jaded and her voice, due to alcohol consumption, sounds weak, but she always had spirit and still gives her all and Kozmic Blues is a beautiful, personal and spiritual song. The album ends on a high note with a solid version of Ball & Chain which is indeed a show stopper and a very fitting way to end a memorable live album, a fitting tribute.”

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