Janis Joplin - Janis Joplin's Greatest Hits (LP)

GREATEST HITS spans the length of Janis Joplin's recording career, and features songs recorded with each of her three bands--Big Brother & The Holding Co., the Kozmic Blues Band, and the Full Tilt Boogie Band.Drawing inspiration from Bessie Smith and Odetta, Janis Joplin developed a brash, uncompromising vocal style quite unlike traditional folk Madonnas. In 1966, Joplin was invited to the Bay Area to front Big Brother & the Holding Company. Cheap Thrills, a joyous celebration of true psychedelic soul, contained two Joplin "standards" in "Piece of My Heart" and "Ball and Chain," but she left the group in November 1968. Electric Flag members Mike Bloomfield, Harvey Brooks, and Nick Gravenites helped assemble a new act, known as the Kozmic Blues Band. I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama! was coolly received, but the set contained several excellent Joplin vocals, notably "Try," "Maybe," and "Little Girl Blue." The singer subsequently dissolved the band and undertook medical advi