Janis jJoplin.

Who here likes Janis Joplin? Give me your thoughts on which Cd you like better. Because I can really decide.

 

I only have a couple of compilation albums, but she is pretty damn good.

 

Fucking overrated.

On her two solo albums she wrote a total of four songs... four! She wrote three with Big Brother & The Holding Company... seven songs on three albums! Janis, and talent? Yeah right.

She arguably had a good voice (I find it to be annoying as hell), but if you think about it, she's no different from the Britney Spearses and Mariah Careys and Norah Joneses of today: they can (arguably) sing, but they have to find people to write tunes for them... they're not very talented or good at all!

 

pearl is imo her best album

 

what a loser lol

 

Pearl is the best!!!

I love Janis Her voice is so amazing!!!

 

cheap thrills all the way...

 

i agree, pearl is pretty groovy. i like em all

 

Pearl is my favorite album by Janis.

 

As far as I'm concerned, it's not compulsory that for a person to be able to sing they must also be a songwriter. If they also happen to be multi-skilled then that's great, but they are singers first and foremost.

 

I so agree with Purplesage. You can be a really great singer without being a songwriter too.

peace

 

So basically you agree that Janis is absolutely no different from the pop divas of today? Just getting famous off other people's music?

 

Overrated, maybe. Not talented or good at all? What the fuck? She was a great performer, and it wasn't about dancing all over the place like the "Britney Spearses and Mariah Careys...of today". She sang with emotion and the pain dripped out of the mic onto the Goddamn floor when she performed. She didn't write most of her own songs, but she felt every bit of them. And what is music if there's no feeling in it? Would you rather have had her write with none of the emotion she had as it was?

 

Janis had something that most music today seems devoid of, soul.

 

ahaha.... wtf is wrong with me. Only I can make comparisons like that..

I agree with you on that emotion thing, but I just really cant stand her voice........ she was a great vocalist though, I guess.... her voice just rips my ears to shreds.

 

im not a big fan of janis, but a couple of the tracks of cheap thrills are phatt. turtle blues is good and I like flower in the sun.

 

man, she has so much power in her voice, like a fucking nuke or somthin... and 'cry' just breaks me down...

 

The facts about Janis Joplins writing is much misunderstood by some here it seems. I may have to get wordy about this subject, as its one I am quite fond of.


First, lets all admit that at the time, doing a cover was a way to honor another performer.

Next, lets skip the fact that every other artist was doing covers. Hell, Anne Murray released a version of Hey Joe before Jimi got to it!


Now I will explain that it should be understood that Janis wrote a large amount of songs for being a new member of the Big Brother Band. This was an established group before she arrived. She got a nice number of tunes included in the recording, as it was divided between all band members and the record co. fairly evenly. To say that she "didnt write most of the songs" is bit of a stretch over the course of her whole catalog.

After she left Big Brother she was still under pressure to do others songs, but managed to keep it to a minimum in the studio. Live shows also had the band doing other songs, but often featured Snooky Flowers on Sax and Vocals. Generally, the covers were like a break to her, a chance to catch a breath between challenging songs.

And if you think the diva of today has the brain cells to rub together to understand music like Janis did, keep an ear out and see if they ever try songs in different keys as Joplin did nightly, or instruct the backing band to make impromptu changes in the songs. This is difficult for most modern pop divas whose backing band is often a CD player.

Janis spent hours on end with Sam Andrew and the rest of the band members perfecting songs, no matter who wrote them. She arranged tunes well, and had the wisdom to do the same with the covers they did. Often one can hear this in her live show recordings and bootlegs, with keys and arrangements being worked on nightly after the show for the next performance.


Note also that before Janis did a cover of Piece of My Heart and Ball and Chain, noone had ever heard of the writers: Erma Franklin and Mama Thornton. (mama thornton wrote Hound Dog, but the famous Elvis version credits Leiber/Stoller!)

Same with her version of Maybe by Richard Barrett, All Is Loneliness is by MoonDoggie, even Bobby McGee gave Kris quite a career boost. I hardly see this as a pop diva doing a cover of an already popular song.


Also, she did so two or three shows a day for months on end with no break, and noone was wise enough to see the toll it takes on the voice. I hear even Joss Stone has had to have her vocal nodes operated on already, a luxury Janis didnt have.

Really those who know her work are quite aware the recordings most associate with her are written by others, but arent always her best work. Record Companies release and promote what they want. Janis own quote says it best "...the press always handles me so tacky!"

I play a few Joplin tunes in a group I have been with a while, and they are among the most complex and challenging songs to do. To those who question the musicianship behind her I say bring it on, lets see you do the songs. There is not an instrument left lacking in arrangement and detail, and that is Janis' own doing in her work.

There are even a some who can sing a couple Janis songs and sound okay at it. But I doubt that few of them are giving the length of shows, number of shows, and intensity of shows that people were seeing when Janis took the stage.

As for her sound, some love her some hate her, but most everyone has an opinion - a sure sign of greatness no matter which side one is on. She has a very powerful voice, and emotes an honesty with it. If for this alone, by HAVING an opinion of her, she has towered over the pop divas shes being compared to here by some.



As for best Janis Joplin, I love the first one, the Mainstream Records release of Big Brother and the Holding Company. Cheap Thrills is a close second. There is Live at Winterland that is a nice live recording as well. And then theres the bootlegs....

 

but you dont see britanny spears drinking 40s and riding motorcycles.

 

Oh..well..okay. I didn't expect you to agree with me so quickly...

Her voice is really more of a like it or leave it thing...but you do have to try to look past that and see that she was talented.