Essential Janis Joplin [Enhanced] [Limited Edition] [Original recording remastered]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Such was the visceral power of Janis Joplin's voice that her enduring legend as '60s rock icon was based on just a pair of solo albums and the two releases with her fronting Big Brother and the Holding Company that she recorded before her death in 1970 of a drug overdose. This 30-track double-disc anthology offers a concise introduction to the incendiary talents of a singer whose tortured blues seemed no mere affectation; being cruelly voted "Ugliest Man on Campus" during her tenure at the University of Texas barely hinted at the depth of Joplin's personal demons. Organized chronologically with its discs split between her band and solo careers, the anthology documents the story of a raw, riveting talent that carried the often slovenly psychedelic blues of Big Brother to stardom via "Down on Me" and "Piece of Heart," stumbled only slightly on her solo debut (I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama), and then reached full, ragged glory on the quintessential Pearl with tracks like her posthumous hit "Me and Bobby McGee" and the playful "Mercedes Benz." The collection also features a pair of previously unreleased live Big Brother tracks ("To Love Somebody," "Kozmic Blues") recorded at Woodstock '69. --Jerry McCulley

The Essential Janis Joplin, Music, Janis Joplin, Album Rock, Blues-Rock, Hard Rock, Pop, Psychedelic, Rock, Rock & Roll, Rock/Pop
Essential Janis Joplin
Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Buried Alive....
  • All in one package
  • We Miss This Voice
  • Great tribute to the goddess of blues
  • All you'll ever need........
 Essential Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:
  1. Pearl
  2. Janis Joplin - Greatest Hits
  3. Experience Hendrix: The Best of Jimi Hendrix
  4. The Essential Jefferson Airplane
  5. Cheap Thrills

ASIN: B00007MB6Y
Release Date: 2003-01-14

Tracks:

  1. Down On Me
  2. Coo Coo
  3. Women Is Losers
  4. Bye, Bye Baby
  5. Ball And Chain (Live)
  6. Roadblock
  7. Piece Of My Heart
  8. Misery'n
  9. I Need A Man To Love
  10. Summertime
  11. Flower In The Sun (Live)
  12. Farewell Song (Live)
  13. Raise Your Hand (Live)
  14. To Love Somebody (Live)
  15. Kozmic Blues (Live)

Tracks:

  1. Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)
  2. Maybe
  3. One Good Man
  4. Little Girl Blue
  5. Work Me, Lord
  6. Tell Mama (Live)
  7. Move Over
  8. Cry Baby
  9. A Woman Left Lonely
  10. Half Moon
  11. My Baby
  12. Me And Bobby McGee
  13. Mercedes Benz
  14. Trust Me
  15. Get It While You Can

Amazon.com

Such was the visceral power of Janis Joplin's voice that her enduring legend as '60s rock icon was based on just a pair of solo albums and the two releases with her fronting Big Brother and the Holding Company that she recorded before her death in 1970 of a drug overdose. This 30-track double-disc anthology offers a concise introduction to the incendiary talents of a singer whose tortured blues seemed no mere affectation; being cruelly voted "Ugliest Man on Campus" during her tenure at the University of Texas barely hinted at the depth of Joplin's personal demons. Organized chronologically with its discs split between her band and solo careers, the anthology documents the story of a raw, riveting talent that carried the often slovenly psychedelic blues of Big Brother to stardom via "Down on Me" and "Piece of Heart," stumbled only slightly on her solo debut (I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama), and then reached full, ragged glory on the quintessential Pearl with tracks like her posthumous hit "Me and Bobby McGee" and the playful "Mercedes Benz." The collection also features a pair of previously unreleased live Big Brother tracks ("To Love Somebody," "Kozmic Blues") recorded at Woodstock '69. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Buried Alive...........2006-08-19

She was far too talented to die so young, she seemed quirky, happy, and carefree to the untrianed eye. But She was a turly disturbed and tormented soul. I believe she was so talnted at what she did had she stayed around her contributions to the world of art would have been as momentous as the works of Shakspere and The Bible.
This is turly an incredible compliation of her music and puts underated gems such as To Love Somebody and Kozmic Blues on the album. She is a truly talented performer. She didn't die from a overdose of herowin, she died from an overdose of Janice.

4 out of 5 stars All in one package.......2006-01-30

I love this because it has all of my favorite Janis Joplin songs in one package. After careful review of the many CD collection with this excellent singer decided this was the one for me. Wished all the songs was on one CD instead of two but one can't always have everything....

5 out of 5 stars We Miss This Voice.......2006-01-12

Aside from the absence of her great little birthday tribute to John Lennon, this is a wonderfully comprehensive collection of Janis Joplin's work, ranging from her days with Big Brother & the Holding Company to her last recordings, and including all her most popular songs. The sound quality is excellent. Many have designated her performance of "Ball and Chain" at Monterey as her defining moment (and it is included here), but her soaring performances of "Work Me Lord," "Little Girl Blue," and "My Baby" may make you question that. All told, a fabulous retrospective on a magnificent voice that was silenced too soon.

5 out of 5 stars Great tribute to the goddess of blues.......2005-11-11

It would be difficult for me to rate any Janis Joplin CD with anything but 5 stars. I have never heard Janis sing anything that I did not love. I have been a Janis fan for over 40 years and I am happy to see her music still drawing crowds. This CD has many of the not-so-commercially-popular tracts, such as "Half Moon" and "Work Me, Lord" that are as great, if not greater, than her more commercially popular tunes like "Me and Bobby McGee" and "Piece of My Heart". I think anyone who is interested in getting to know Janis better would benefit from this CD.

4 out of 5 stars All you'll ever need...............2005-02-21

This is the best Joplin CD to get for both novice and true fan. It covers all the bases in a nice chronological order, and gives a great overview of what all the shouting is about. Note to Jerry McCulley: Big Brother was NOT her band at Woodstock! Put down the bong next time you write an intro and do a little fact-checking.........
18 Essential Songs
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • Worth it if you like Janis!!
  • Not a good choice for ANY Janis listener
  • Aaarrgghh. Somebody turn it off!!!
  • essentially it
  • One of the Greats
 18 Essential Songs
Janis Joplin
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:
  1. I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again, Mama
  2. Janis Joplin - Greatest Hits
  3. In Concert
  4. Experience Hendrix: The Best of Jimi Hendrix
  5. Live at Winterland '68

ASIN: B000002B1A
Release Date: 1995-01-24

Tracks:

  1. Trouble In Mind
  2. Down On Me
  3. Bye, Bye Baby
  4. Ball And Chain
  5. Piece Of My Heart
  6. I Need A Man
  7. Summertime
  8. Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)
  9. One Good Man
  10. Kozmic Blues
  11. Raise Your Hand
  12. Tell Mama
  13. Move Over
  14. Mercedes Benz
  15. Get It While You Can
  16. Half Moon
  17. Trust Me
  18. Me And Bobby McGee

Amazon.com

A slightly flawed collection drawn from the three-CD box set Janis, this still isn't a bad introduction to Haight-Ashbury's favorite blues shrieker. Skimming Cheap Thrills, Kosmic Blues, and Pearl, the disc catches some of Joplin's most stunning moments. In acknowledging the "rarities" aspect of the box, however, Essential occasionally goes wrong; the acoustic demo version of "Me and Bobby McGee" is incredibly touching, but a strange choice if there's room for only one. The must-have version remains the full-blown take heard on Pearl and Janis Joplin's Greatest Hits. That there's enough interest in Janis remaining to justify a set like this one is heartening, though. --Rickey Wright

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Worth it if you like Janis!!.......2006-12-03

Others have written a lot so I'll just be brief. If you already know that you like Janis, this CD is a must have! Really shows her depth and pure frenzied passion. Worth buying if only for the live recording of "Ball and Chain," which is FAR superior to the recording on Greatest Hits; it is possibly one of the most desperate, impassioned and powerful vocal deliveries I have ever heard. Also, the lead track Trouble in Mind is a wonderfully tasty blues number (just Janis, her guitar, and her roommate typing on a typewriter in the background), and the delivery of Me and Bobby McGee is a little more personal, a little more tender. Overall a great album!

1 out of 5 stars Not a good choice for ANY Janis listener.......2006-06-18

The one-star rating is not a commentary on Janis Joplin's music. It is a commentary on the record label's curious selection of tracks for this album, and the questionable decision to call this eclectic collection of songs "essential". This album is NOT essential, neither for the casual listener who just wants a good selection of songs from Janis' primary albums, nor for the dedicated fan who wants previously unissued material to supplement other Janis CDs.

The tracks on this CD are a mixture of previously unissued material and of the formal studio recordings (or sometimes the live performances) that appear on her previous primary CDs. A classic example of the former: the version here of "Me and Bobby McGee" -- her one number one hit -- is not the traditional version that appears on her "Pearl" album, but rather, is a previously unissued solo demo prepared for the album's producer.

So if you just want a 'traditional' overview of Janis Joplin's music, the "Greatest Hits" album is probably your best bet. If you're a dedicated fan -- who WANTS the solo demo of "Bobby McGee" or the track of "Trouble in Mind" recorded in an apartment with a typewriter clacking in the background -- you might look at the 3-disc 49-track "Janis" album from which the tracks on the current CD were culled. Alternatively, if you just want to supplement an already largely complete collection with the previously unissued tracks, they're all available for download.

But it's hard for me to imagine WHO the audience would be for the curious collection of tracks on the "18 Essential Songs" album.

3 out of 5 stars Aaarrgghh. Somebody turn it off!!!.......2005-08-03

There are some people that absolutley love Janis Joplin, I'm not one of them. The reason I bought this album, some years ago, was because I had heard Piece Of My Heart on one of those vietnam war era CD's (Tour Of Duty I think). If you think you might be into Janis, find the cheapest CD you can find. If you can listen to it all in one hit and enjoy it, play it a couple more times. If you still enjoy it, then get more. I just find her throaty shrieking voice too much to take after more than two or three songs. Still, the version of Mercedes Benz that appears on here (vocals only) is rather touching as it was recorded not long before she died.

4 out of 5 stars essentially it.......2005-05-01

An Amazon search of 'Essential' under music turns up over 1,700 hits. While they may not all be winners, if you're looking for an affordable one-disc compilation of Janis Joplin recordings, you couldn't do much better than this. The nice thing about '18 Essential Songs' (drawn from the 49 track 1993 box set titled 'Janis') is that a number of the selections are alternates or live versions of well-worn tracks, so you get a little different spin on the Joplin legacy. In addition, you get nearly every truly classic recording Janis ever made spanning over seventy minutes of CD space. At under five bucks for a used copy here at Amazon, you may be able to end your search here.

The offerings begin with one of Janis' earliest recorded tracks, a rendition of the blues classic 'Trouble In Mind'. Although it is historic, Janis' vocals seem to be struggling to emerge from a cave. Hit the skip button after a cursory listen, and move on to the goodies. 'Down On Me', while not as deliciously raw and punchy as the live version recorded at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, certainly kicks Janis' locomotive vocal cords into high gear. Familiar studio tracks such as 'Piece Of My Heart', 'Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)', 'Kozmic Blues', 'Move Over', 'Get It While You Can', and 'Half Moon' mix with a previously unreleased version of 'Ball and Chain' (all eight minutes plus from the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival), an alternate demo take of 'Summertime' from the musical 'Porgy and Bess', a live version of 'Raise Your Hand' from the Ed Sullivan Show' (a portion of which made it onto the 'Very Best Of the Ed Sullivan Show' video compilation), and a nearly six-minute live wailing blues version of 'Tell Mama'. Most refreshing is the closer, an alternate demo recording of 'Me and Bobby McGee', featuring just Janis and an acoustic guitar, melting this composition down to its essential elements. 'Trust Me' is offered as one of the few non-blues or rock oriented tracks. It's a nice romantic ballad, but comes too late in the set to be breaking up whatever monotony is induced by the dominance of the blues. A few lesser-known tracks such as 'I Need a Man To Love' and 'One Good Man' might make things interesting, but are less than essential. The only 'essential song' I could without is the mercilessly overplayed 'Mercedes Benz', which graciously clocks out at 1:46 as the shortest track on the disc.

'18 Essential Songs' is a compelling entry into the Janis Joplin compilation sweepstakes, which features two full box sets, and at least 10 single disc 'greatest hits' style collections. If you're not inclined to purchase one of the anthologies, however, this may well be the pick of the litter.

5 out of 5 stars One of the Greats.......2003-10-17

Janis Joplin goes down as one of the greatest singers that ever lived.The power of her voice her emotion-it was the voice of a thousand tears,years,life,pain,yearning,and joy.She could sing the hell out of anything.This set isn't definitve, but it's definately a great one to have. Her live rendition of the blues classic Ball and Chain is absolutely spine tingling in all it's 8 minute glory.Summertime-ahh, personally, her rendition of this classic is the best one ever recorded.She pulls out all stops, you don't know whether to laugh or cry. The last song, an acoustic take on her hit Me and Bobby McGee wins me over.I like it even more than the original.The ending to that song is classic.Janis was REALLLLLLLLLLLL.When she sang, she really sang, heart,body,soul,organs, there was no holding back.If you aren't familiar with her music, but like singers who are all out in terms of vocal prowess, pick up this collection.Every track is raw, blues/rock perfection, held together like steel by Janis's voice-which was a living force of it's own.
Essential Janis Joplin
Average customer rating: Not rated
    		Essential Janis Joplin

    ProductGroup: Music
    Binding: Audio CD

    Pop RockPop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
    ASIN: B0002N7HV0
    Release Date: 2003-01-14
    The Essential Janis Joplin
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      		The Essential Janis Joplin
      Janis Joplin
      Manufacturer: Sony
      ProductGroup: Music
      Binding: Audio CD

      Blues RockBlues Rock | Rock | Styles | Music
      GeneralGeneral | Rock | Styles | Music
      GeneralGeneral | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music
      Hard RockHard Rock | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music
      Psychedelic RockPsychedelic Rock | Classic Rock | Styles | Music
      Album-Oriented Rock (AOR)Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) | Classic Rock | Styles | Music
      ASIN: B00008DYZI
      Release Date: 2003-04-21

      Tracks:

      1. Down on Me
      2. Coo Coo
      3. Women Is Losers
      4. Bye Bye Baby
      5. Ball and Chain [Live]
      6. Road Block
      7. Piece of My Heart
      8. Misery 'N
      9. I Need a Man to Love
      10. Summertime
      11. Flower in the Sun [Live]
      12. Farewell Song [Live]
      13. Raise Your Hand [Live]
      14. To Love Somebody [Live][#]
      15. Kozmic Blues [Live][#]

      Tracks:

      1. Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)
      2. Maybe
      3. One Good Man
      4. Little Girl Blue
      5. Work Me, Lord
      6. Tell Mama [Live]
      7. Move Over
      8. Cry Baby
      9. Woman Left Lonely
      10. Half Moon
      11. My Baby
      12. Me and Bobby McGee
      13. Mercedes Benz
      14. Trust Me
      15. Get It While You Can
      18 Essential Songs
      Average customer rating: Not rated
        		18 Essential Songs

        ProductGroup: Music
        Binding: Audio CD

        GeneralGeneral | Rock | Styles | Music
        Pop RockPop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
        RockRock | Imports | Stores | Music
        ASIN: B000050XTV
        Release Date: 2003-09-16

        Tracks:

        1. Trouble In Mind
        2. Down On Me
        3. Bye, Bye Baby
        4. Ball And Chain
        5. Piece Of My Heart
        6. I Need A Man To Love
        7. Summertime
        8. Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)
        9. One Good Man
        10. Kozmic Blues
        11. Raise Your Hand
        12. Tell Mama
        13. Move Over
        14. Mercedes Benz
        15. Get It While You Can
        16. Half Moon
        17. Trust Me
        18. Me A Bobby McGee
        19. Magic Of Love
        20. Misery 'n
        21. One Night Stand
        22. Harry
        23. Farewell Song
        24. Amazing Grace
        25. Hi Heel Sneakers
        26. Catch Me Daddy
        27. Cry Baby
        28. A Woman Left Lonely
        29. Buried Alive In The Blues
        30. My Baby

        Album Description

        Aussie version of 1995 distillation of the triple-disc 'Janis' box-set with twelve additional tracks, 'Magic Of Love', ' Misery 'N', 'One Night Stand', 'Harry', 'Farewell Song', 'Amazing Grace', 'Hi-heel Sneakers', 'Catch Me Daddy', 'Cry Baby', 'A Woman L

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