AMG Review of Big Brother & the Holding Company/Janis Joplin's Greatest Hits/Live at Winterland '68

Bradley Torreano
All Music Guide

This set puts together three very different Janis Joplin albums, skipping her three biggest studio albums in exchange for everything else that surrounded that period of time. What results is a highly uneven collection that runs the gamut from dull to incredibly great. The highlight of the entire affair is the middle disc, Joplin's Greatest Hits. Filled with fantastic tracks like "Piece of My Heart" and "Mercedes Benz," it showcases an artist whose time came entirely too fast. Before those songs we are treated to the eponymous first release by Big Brother & the Holding Company. Blending psychedelic rock and blues ballads, the album is a charming mishmash of styles that never quite clicks but never fails to entertain. Joplin's voice is still coming into its own at this point, and the band sounds thin and sloppy due to the rushed recording sessions. But there are some great songs, especially "Light Is Faster Than Sound" and "Call On Me." The last album, Live at Winterland '68, really ends the set on a flat note. Not that it is terrible, but the recording really does nothing to the songs except for make them longer, which is not always beneficial to the material. It is most interesting to hear Joplin's on-stage banter (and the obvious clinking of empty bottles on the stage).