Music Review: Janis Joplin

Music Review:
Janis Joplin - I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama

http://blogcritics.org/music/article/music-review-janis-joplin-i-got/

Author: David Bowling ­
Jun 12, 2010

The Monterey Pop festival made the world take notice. Cheap Thrills
made Janis Joplin a star, and Woodstock made her a mega star. She
released I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama during September of
1969 and one platinum award album for sales later she stood atop the
rock world.

Joplin's studio output was minimal, so it is difficult to place this
album in context since it is unknown what musical paths she would
have traveled had she lived. Kozmic Blues does show that her musical
vision was expanding beyond the sound of her former group, Big
Brother and The Holding Company. Brass was added to a number of
tracks as she explored rock, blues, and soul. Through it all her
unique, tortured, and powerful voice provided the foundation for her
music and appeal.

She attracted a stellar cast of musicians to support her solo debut.
They included guitarists Sam Andrew and Mike Bloomfield, bassist Brad
Campbell, keyboardists Richard Kermode and Gabriel Mekler, drummers
Maury Baker and Lonnie Castille, and a brass section consisting of
Terry Clements, Cornelius Flowers, and Luis Gasca.

The album blasts out of the gate with "Try (Just A Little Harder)" as
it shows she is just fine on her own. She moves on to one of the most
inspired song choices of her career. On "Maybe," which was a big
doo-wop hit for the Chantels during the late fifties, Janis gives a
smooth performance that showed a new maturity.

The album is solid from beginning to end. Barry and Robin Gibb
originally wrote "To Love Somebody" as a soul song. Their own hit
version was light rock but Joplin's interpretation was anything but.
Her vocal captures the original intent as she turns it into a soulful
tour de force. She reached back to 1935 for the Lorenz Hart and
Richard Rodgers tune "Little Girl Blue." Rodgers was still alive when
this album was released and I have always wondered what he thought
about his old Broadway show stopper being turned into a great blues
song. "Work Me Lord," at close to seven minutes, is a song she works
until you think it can't go on and then it does. It leaves you
drained just listening to it.

I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama is a strong musical statement
by Janis Joplin which has withstood the test of time. It remains a
key ingredient in the career of one of the first legendary female rockers.

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