I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama! by Janis Joplin (Vinyl record album review)

Album name: I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama!

Artist name: Janis Joplin

Year: 1969

Number of discs: one

Label: Columbia Records

Collection: Brenner / Gessner

Who owned it: this could have belonged to either of my parents.

Buy it on Amazon: $27.25

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I may had heard this record at some point, or maybe not.

I previously reviewed Pearl (1971) and thought it was all right.

What I expected

Blues and blues rock, with Joplin’s voice.

What it was actually like

This was good! In general there was a lot of instrumentation to these songs, which were mostly covers – electric blues style with guitar and drums, but also lots of horns, and I found that the music broadly held up to Joplin’s singing very well.

I did not recognize To Love Somebody from Bee Gees’ 1st, but apparently it was on there. I did recognize Maybe, however, but just barely, since Joplin’s version was a pretty extensive reinterpretation. Though I liked the accompaniment and felt that it fit together with her vocals perfectly (except for the saxophone at the end, which I could have done without), I thought this cover was too slow and that it completely missed the amazing rhythm of the Chantels’ original. Also, as I may have mentioned once or twice, I am a big Shangri-Las fan, and they covered this song too.

Try was strongly blues but also very funk, with a lot going on, including backing vocals, to supplement the horns, and it was one of my favorite songs on the record. I also liked As Good As You’ve Been To This World, a blues jam with an extended intro before the vocals began, and One Good Man, which was more of a typical electric blues song that started with an organ, then had a nice electric guitar intro.

Little Girl Blue was another that I thought was too slow, and may have had no horns at all. Work Me, Lord had the horns, but was also slow and rather sparse.