Janis Joplin and Johnny Winter
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=34515
October 31, 2009
by C. Michael Bailey
Rock music ascended into heaven the minute guitarist Jimi Hendrix
left the stage on Max Yasgur's farm, Monday morning, August 18, 1969.
The Woodstock Music and Art Fair was a cultural hinge between the
soulful, struggling 1960s and the sinful, superfluous 1970s. The
release of The Woodstock Experience commercially mirrors this hinge.
The box contains two-CD sets by Santana, Janis Joplin, Jefferson
Airplane, Johnny Winter and Sly & the Family Stone, who at the time
of Woodstock recorded for different labels, making a collection like
this impossible. But 40 years later, Sony has consumed the labels,
paving the way for one of the most thoughtful release series in musical memory.
For each of these artists, Sony has released their entire Woodstock
sets and the studio album each released in 1969. A thoughtful pairing
to be sure but also a perfect business decision. The "Woodstock
generation" are approaching retirement looking for a nostalgic rush,
while their children (and, perhaps, grandchildren) want to know what
all the fuss was about.
The cream of these releases are the Janis Joplin and Johnny Winter
sets. The two artists offer an interesting contrast to one another;
both are captured in their salad days, one going quasar early and the
other still riding the R&B circuit 40 years later.
Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin: The Woodstock Experience
Sony Legacy
2009
In 1969, Janis Joplin's creative apex was nowhere in sight. After
leaving Big Brother and the Holding Company in December, 1968, Joplin
struck out on her own, hooking up with The Kosmic Blues Band, a group
with a full horn section and a serious Stax/Volt jones. The result
was I Got Dem Ol' Kosmic Blues Again Mama (Columbia, 1969), the
studio album portion of Janis Joplin: The Woodstock Experience.
Critically considered a letdown after Cheap Thrills (Columbia, 1968),
Kosmic Blues remains vital as the conduit from Big Brother to the
wholly emancipated Joplin of the post-posthumously released
masterpiece Pearl (Columbia, 1971).
Kosmic Blues and Woodstock were both orbiting Joplin in all of her
Left Coast hippie abandon. She was living and performing on the edge
and her tenuous grasp is evident both in the studio and on stage. The
Bee Gee's 1967 hit "To Love Somebody," once thought to be a poor
repertoire choice for Joplin, proves, on these two discs, a revealing
contrast of the singer in the studio and on stage. On Kosmic Blues
Joplin sings the song barely contained. She is pleadingly soulful yet
oddly relaxed, comfortable approaching the creative edge. Break to
her heroin-fueled performance at Woodstock and we hear Joplin
unleashed in full abandon. The performance is a glorious sloppy mess,
but one for the ages.
Woodstock cast Joplin as a psychedelic mystic, a Hildegard von Port
Arthur, belting our 100-proof canticles to Dionysus and Eros.
Liberally performing from the then soon-to-be-released Kosmic Blues,
Joplin gives the masses a good dose of her Soul Sacrifice. Reprising
Big Brother's "Summertime," Joplin reveals her pan-sexuality, having
too much salacious fun with the lyric, "Your Daddy's Rich And Your
Mama's Good Lookin.'" To be sure, Joplin was frightening all good
daughters' mothers to death. But all is not perfect. A manic "Piece
of My Heart" and Snooky Flower's anemic "I Can't turn You Loose" mar
an otherwise searing set.
In reconsidering Joplin, it is easy to think of what could have been.
She benefits from having burned brightly if briefly. She might have
delivered the definitive "Son Of A Preacher Man." As it is, these
recordings document a corrosive and unstable talent, like aural uranium.
Visit Janis Joplin on the web. http://www.janisjoplin.com/
Johnny Winter
Johnny Winter: The Woodstock Experience
Sony Legacy
2009
Where Janis Joplin was already famous when she appeared at Woodstock,
fellow Texan Johnny Winter was just making a name for himself. Well
known locally in Texas, Winter was poised for a breakout when the
Woodstock opportunity became available. His second recording, Johnny
Winter, was released the same year he appeared at Woodstock and is
included as the studio offering in Johnny Winter: The Woodstock
Experience. There is not as much crossover as in the Janis Joplin
set, save for "Leland Mississippi Blues," but the rest has become
well known Winter concert fare.
J.B. Lenoir's "Mama, Talk to Your Daughter" opens Winter's Woodstock
set in a grand rocking fashion. He moves through his standard "Mean
Town Blues" with the requisite slide guitar break. Edgar Winter joins
his brother for "I Can't Stand It" and "Tobacco Road." Many of these
songs may be compared to performances recorded a year later at
London's Royal Albert hall and released on the Deluxe Edition of
Second Winter (Columbia, 1969). These two sources represent the
germination of the volcano "Tobacco Road" would become on Edgar
Winter's White Trash's 1972 live recording Roadwork.
Winter also burned in the slow blues with "You Done Lost Your Good
Thing Now." Save for Eric Clapton, Johnny Winter may be the finest
electric blues guitarist. Being from Texas and whiter than cream
cheese (Winter and his brother both have albinism), he probably has
better bona fides than Clapton. His phrasing is always tight and his
solos thoughtful. His rock soloing is equal to the slow blues as
evidenced on "Johnny B. Good" which would receive its definitive
reading on 1971's Johnny Winter And Live (Columbia).
The Woodstock Experience is a welcome series, providing previously
unreleased Janis Joplin and Johnny Winter, and marking an important
part of musical history. Rock music came into it own on Max Yasgur's
farm that hot August.
Visit Johnny Winter on the web. http://johnnywinter.net/welcome/
--
Tracks and Personnel
Janis Joplin: I Got Dem Ol' Kosmic Blues Again Mama
Tracks: Try (Just a Little Bit Harder); Maybe; One Good Man; As Good
As You've Been to This World; To Love Somebody; Kozmic Blues; Little
Girl Blue; Work Me, Lord.
Personnel: Janis Joplin: lead vocals, guitar; Sam Andrew: guitar,
vocals; Michael Monarch: guitar; Mike Bloomfield: guitar; Brad
Campbell: bass, brass instrumentation; Richard Kermode: electronic
organ, keyboards; Gabriel Mekler: electronic organ, keyboards; Goldy
McJohn: electronic organ, keyboards; Maury Baker: drums; Lonnie
Castille: drums; Jerry Edmonton: drums; Terry Clements: tenor
saxophone; Cornelius Flowers: baritone saxophone; Luis Gasca: trumpet.
Janis Joplin: The Woodstock Experience
Tracks: Raise Your Hand; As Good as You've Been to This World; To
Love Somebody; Summertime; Try (Just a Little Bit Harder); Kozmic
Blues; Can't Turn You Loose; Work Me, Lord; Piece of My Heart; Ball and Chain.
Personnel: Janis Joplin: lead vocals, guitar; Sam Andrew: guitar,
vocals; Michael Monarch: guitar; Brad Campbell: bass, brass
instrumentation; Richard Kermode: electronic organ, keyboards;
Gabriel Mekler: electronic organ, keyboards; Goldy McJohn: electronic
organ, keyboards; Maury Baker: drums; Lonnie Castille: drums; Jerry
Edmonton: drums; Terry Clements: tenor saxophone; Cornelius Flowers:
baritone saxophone; Luis Gasca: trumpet.
Johnny Winter: Johnny Winter
Tracks: I'm Yours & I'm Hers; Be Careful With A Fool; Dallas; Mean
Mistreater; Leland Mississippi Blues; Good Morning Little School
Girl; When You Got A Good Friend; I'll Drown In My Tears Back Door
Friend; Country Girl; Dallas; Two Steps From The Blues.
Personnel: Johnny Winter: guitar, vocals; Edgar Winter: keyboards;
Uncle John Turner: percussion; Tommy Shannon: bass; Elsie Senter:
backing vocals; Stephen Ralph Sefsik: alto saxophone; Norman Ray:
baritone saxophone; Carrie Hossel: backing vocals; Walter "Shakey"
Horton: harmonica; Karl Garin: trumpet; Willie Dixon: acoustic bass;
A. Wynn Butler: tenor saxophone; Peggy Bowers: backing vocals..
Johnny Winter: The Woodstock Experience
Tracks: Mama, Talk to Your Daughter; Leland Mississippi Blues; Mean
Town Blues; You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now; I Can't Stand It;
Tobacco Road; Tell the Truth; Johnny B. Goode.
Personnel: Johnny Winter: guitar, vocals; Tommy Shannon: bass; Uncle
John Turner: percussion; Edgar Winter: keyboards, vocals.
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