18 Essential Songs

Editorial Reviews
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

Tracks:

Trouble In Mind
Down On Me
Bye, Bye Baby
Ball And Chain
Piece Of My Heart
I Need A Man
Summertime
Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)
One Good Man
Kozmic Blues
Raise Your Hand
Tell Mama
Move Over
Mercedes Benz
Get It While You Can
Half Moon
Trust Me
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:

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Pure Attraction - 18 Essential Love Songs

Average customer rating:

Pure Attraction - 18 Essential Love Songs

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000I201XG

Product Description

This CD contains 18 love songs from various artists (see listed 10 artists, plus Bangles, Beverley Craven, Babyface, Xscape, Earth Wind & Fire, Bill Withers, Joe Cocker, and Jeff Beck.

Average customer rating:

18 Essential Songs

ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

Rock | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000050XTV
Release Date: 2003-09-16

Tracks:

Trouble In Mind
Down On Me
Bye, Bye Baby
Ball And Chain
Piece Of My Heart
I Need A Man To Love
Summertime
Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)
One Good Man
Kozmic Blues
Raise Your Hand
Tell Mama
Move Over
Mercedes Benz
Get It While You Can
Half Moon
Trust Me
Me A Bobby McGee
Magic Of Love
Misery 'n
One Night Stand
Harry
Farewell Song
Amazing Grace
Hi Heel Sneakers
Catch Me Daddy
Cry Baby
A Woman Left Lonely
Buried Alive In The Blues
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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