Collection: Cheap Thrills / Kozmic Blues / Pearl

Janis Joplin | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 15, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 3
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000BM6ATW
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #425,536 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Combination of the Two

2. I Need a Man to Love

3. Summertime

4. Piece of My Heart

5. Turtle Blues

6. Oh, Sweet Mary

See all 11 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)

2. Maybe

3. One Good Man

4. As Good as You've Been to This World

5. To Love Somebody

6. Kozmic Blues

See all 11 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Move Over

2. Cry Baby

3. A Woman Left Lonely

4. Half Moon

5. Buried Alive in the Blues

6. My Baby

See all 14 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Her 3 Masterpieces, July 30, 2007

By 

Pieter "Toypom" (Johannesburg) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Cheap Thrills/I Got Dem Ol' Kosmic Blues Again Mama!/Pearl (Audio CD)

Cheap Thrills is a great, raucous, exuberant celebration of life with Joplin's at times desperate, always intensely emotional vocals and the enthusiastic playing of Big Brother in their powerful acid rock/psychedelic onslaught. Piece Of My Heart sweeps the listener along in its maelstrom of sound, while Combination Of The Two has a certain addictive, hypnotic quality that is the trademark of great rock music. Summertime and Ball & Chain are innovative interpretations of the Gershwin and Big Mama Thornton tunes respectively. Because of the Big Brother onslaught, it does sometimes seem that there's a cosmic battle taking place between Joplin's vocals and the band's wall of sound, but this creates a further element of tension that adds to the overall force of these performances. This is a great show of Joplin's magic.

Kozmic Blues, Joplin's solo debut may perhaps be described as a glorious marriage of blues and soul. Don't be misled by the original psychedelic album cover - this is not the acid-rock Janis. She turns the Bee Gees' To Love Somebody into a wrenching torch song, an at times restrained, at times desperate, but always brilliant rendition. The arrangements impress throughout, especially in the complex and moving As Good As You've Been and KozmicBlues. Another favorite of mine is Maybe, where she out-souls Aretha Franklin. It may not be as accessible as Pearl, but this album nevertheless amply rewards the listener and reveals another aspect of this mistress of the desperation blues.

What struck me about Pearl upon listening to it again recently, is the authenticity of the music. Some reviewer once claimed that rock merely gets stale whereas pop music rots with time. There is nothing stale about Joplin and her band on this all-time classic. After all these years, it remains a magnificent listening experience because of the quality of the songs, the band's tight playing and the impressive emotional range of Joplin's vocals. Unlike on Cheap Thrills, where there was mostly a cosmic battle between her voice and Big Brother's heavy metal onslaught, here the voice is the star. My favourites on an album of classics include the incredible Me and Bobby McGee, the tender A Woman Left Lonely, the nervous Half Moon, the emotional Cry Baby, the buoyant Get It While You Can and the plaintive/humorous Mercedes Benz. Perfect arrangements, brilliant playing and masterly vocalization combine here to create a timeless masterpiece.

Scars of Sweet Paradise: The Life and Times of Janis Joplin

Farewell Song