janis joplin

janis joplin Content tagged as janis joplin.

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE'S 1993 BOX SET: Fasten your seat belts

History’s such fun. Here are some lyrics from the past to think on: “We are all outlaws in the eyes of America/in order to survive we steal, cheat, lie and [inaudible]/ we are obscene, lawless, hideous, dangerous, dirty, violent and young . . . we are forces of chaos and anarchy.” The singers then toss in the popular noun,...

absoluteelsewhere/1796/jefferson-airplanes-1993-box-set-fasten-your-seat-belts/

THE MOVE: ALWAYS AND FOREVER; BELATEDLY (2022): Classic pop, great rock then forgot

Anyone dumb enough to rely on an encyclopedia of rock or -- worse -- that self-described disgrace which is "Classic Hits" radio, would be forgiven for not knowing that the Move ever existed. Those DJs at "classic rock" certainly would have no clue . . . but we expect them to be clueless, I suppose. Shame on...

absoluteelsewhere/2076/the-move-always-and-forever-belatedly-2022-classic-pop-great-rock-then-forgot/

JANIS JOPLIN CONSIDERED (2011): Singing out the painful sparks within

Of all those admitted to that illustrious pantheon of Dead Sixties Rock Stars, Janis Joplin has been the one least well served. Jimi is revered and regularly remarketed; and Jim has his reissued albums, an Oliver Stone bio-pix, a new headstone in Pere La Chaise and people still seem to refer to him as “a poet”. And Janis?...

blues/2167/janis-joplin-considered-2011-singing-out-the-painful-sparks-within/

Seasick Steve: I Started Out With Nothing and I Still Got Most of it Left (Warners)

Sixtysomething Steve Wold appears to have been an authentic, rail-ridin' itinerant (although we can guess some exaggeration has gone on) and it seems he could count among his friends in a long life Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell and Kurt Cobain,and he also worked as a producer and engineer in Seattle. Latterly he has achieved considerable...

music/2234/seasick-steve-i-started-out-with-nothing-and-i-still-got-most-of-it-left-warners/

The Warlocks: Can't Come Down (1965)

By the mid Sixties the spirit and style of poetic Bob Dylan was everywhere as singers and writers tried to match his surreal wordplay. Dylan's harmonica, image heavy lyrics and monotone is everywhere in this demo by the Warlocks out of San Francisco. Of all the Bob-copyists the Warlocks had the best claim to similar territory: they were...

fromthevaults/2788/the-warlocks-cant-come-down-1965/

LOVE IS THE SONG WE SING; SAN FRANCISCO NUGGETS 1965-1970: Flowers and freak outs

Any box set or collection which tries to mop up an era, genre or decade is probably doomed to failure, not from lack of genuine effort but because some artists (the big ones) don't want to be included. So you can get a multiple disc, very inclusive set of the Eighties for example and it doesn't have anything by Madonna, Prince, Springsteen and...

absoluteelsewhere/2805/love-is-the-song-we-sing-san-francisco-nuggets-1965-1970-flowers-and-freak-outs/

I WANT TO TAKE YOU HIGHER: THE PSYCHEDELIC YEARS 1965-69 edited by JAMES HENKE AND PARKE PUTERBAUGH

Somewhere among my old photographs at home is one of me standing beside John Lennon’s psychedelic Rolls Royce. It was London in late ‘69 and -- aside from revealing the embarrassing affectation of a black cape -- it‘s most interesting for what is in the background: a Morris Minor of the kind that was considerably more common...

writingelsewhere/2884/i-want-to-take-you-higher-the-psychedelic-years-1965-69-edited-by-james-henke-and-parke-puterbaugh/

13th Floor Elevators: 7th Heaven; Music of the Spheres (Charly/Southbound)

As with Syd Barrett, the music of 13th Floor Elevators has been overshadowed by the story of the madness, in the case of the Elevators the increasingly bizarre behaviour of their frontman Roky Erickson. Out of Austin, Texas in the mid Sixties, the Elevators were a raw and elemental garageband along the lines of England's Downliners Sect and...

music/2937/13th-floor-elevators-7th-heaven-music-of-the-spheres-charly-southbound/

Hollie Smith: Humour and the Misfortune of Others (EMI)

This can be extremely brief given that Smith's story, travails and so on have been much canvassed. But what hasn't been said too often or too loudly is that while her previous album Long Player sold exceptionally well it came encumbered with two shortcomings which probably didn't go unnoticed by those at Manhattan/Blue Note with whom she parted...

music/2974/hollie-smith-humour-and-the-misfortune-of-others-emi/

Maggie Bell: The Best of Maggie Bell (Angel Air/Southbound CD/DVD)

Bell was one of those paint-peeling, bluesy post-Joplin singers of the late Sixties and Seventies whose path crossed that of Long John Baldry, Rod Stewart, Led Zeppelin, Eric Burdon and others with whom she guested. The raw-throated singer also fronted Stone the Crows for four albums, embarked on a solo career, consistently won acclaim in...

music/3109/maggie-bell-the-best-of-maggie-bell-angel-air-southbound-cd-dvd/

Kris Kristofferson: Please Don't Tell Me How the Story Ends (Light in the Attic/Rhythmethod)

Elsewhere agrees with itself that Willie Nelson makes too many albums these days (although the last one Country Music was excellent). But the collection to return to repeatedly is Classic and Unreleased, a '95 Rhino box set of Willie's early years. In it you can hear the gifted songwriter that everyone recognised, and the utterly personal...

music/3284/kris-kristofferson-please-dont-tell-me-how-the-story-ends-light-in-the-attic-rhythmethod/

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE; THE SIDE PROJECTS 1970-74: The Baron and the Nun go it alone, together

The New York garageband Blues Magoos' Psychedelic Lollipop of 1966 was one of the first albums to have the word “psychedelic” in the title, but it wasn't quite the spaced-out sweet thing the name suggested. 13th Floor Elevators out of Texas the same year with their debut The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators...

absoluteelsewhere/3998/jefferson-airplane-the-side-projects-1970-74-the-baron-and-the-nun-go-it-alone-together/

The Great! Society: Somebody to Love (1966)

There were at least three different versions of this psychedelic classic which is best known in its third incarnation by Jefferson Airplane. But the song dated back to before that '66 single/album track -- back to the band that singer Grace Slick was in before she joined the Airplane. Her previous group -- with her husband Jerry and his...

fromthevaults/4014/the-great-society-somebody-to-love-1966/

Barry McGuire: California Dreamin' (1965)

After his growling and apocalyptic version of PF Sloan's Eve of Destruction in '65 the former folkie Barry McGuire -- who had been in the New Christy Minstrels and had co-written their big hit Green Green -- was looking for new material to include on his second album. Producer Lou Adler lined up a number of covers -- the Beatles' Yesterday...

fromthevaults/4059/barry-mcguire-california-dreamin-1965/

Janis Joplin: Trouble in Mind (1965)

The great Janis Joplin has been dead for over four decades now but it would be fair to observe that no woman in rock has ever approached her deep understanding of the blues and earthy, powerful delivery . . . let alone her self-destructive approach to life. Yet she has been largely forgotten and, as this essay notes, no one seems in any mind...

fromthevaults/4070/janis-joplin-trouble-in-mind-1965/

WHEN YOU'RE STRANGE; A FILM ABOUT THE DOORS, a doco by TOM DICILLO (Madman DVD)

Two things strike you immediately about this much vaunted and Grammy award-winning doco: That Jim Morrison was a man of brooding good looks except when he smiled and then he looked just plain goofy (and there is a lot of him smiling and laughing in the early footage here); and that the script which Johnny Depp reads in a tired monotone seems to...

film/4211/when-youre-strange-a-film-about-the-doors-a-doco-by-tom-dicillo-madman-dvd/

KRIS KRISTOFFERSON INTERVIEWED (2005): Rebel with a scholarship

Before he was 40 Kris Kristofferson -- now in his 70s -- had lived enough to fill the pages of at least a couple of wild novels. And the real craziness was still to come. In the 80s Kristofferson greeted a journalist with, “Let’s have some dope”. The interviewer reported she remained high just by breathing his exhaust. Born...

absoluteelsewhere/436/kris-kristofferson-interviewed-2005-rebel-with-a-scholarship/

ROCK'N'ROLL NEVER FORGETS: A journey back through time

As an example of cosmic symmetry it could hardly be improved on: my 13th birthday, the Beatles playing in Auckland, and my Dad offered two free tickets. It was only many years later my older sister told me about the free tickets – and that Dad had declined them. I guess that was why, long after the Beatlemania screaming had...

absoluteelsewhere/514/rocknroll-never-forgets-a-journey-back-through-time/

Wide angle reviews, interviews and opinion
on music, travel and the arts by writer Graham Reid