Janis Joplin - Honolulu 1970 (2023)

Having risen to fame following her appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival, where she was the singer of the then little-known San Francisco psychedelic rock band Big Brother and the Holding Company, Janis Joplin released two albums with the group, but left Big Brother at the end of 1968 to continue as a solo artist with her own backing groups, first the Kozmic Blues Band and then the Full Tilt Boogie Band. She appeared at the Woodstock festival and on the Festival Express train tour. Five singles by Joplin reached the Billboard Hot 100, including a cover of the Kris Kristofferson song ‘Me and Bobby McGee’, which reached number one posthumously, in March 1971. Janis died of a heroin overdose on 4th October 1970, at the age of 27. She was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. Rolling Stone ranks Joplin number 46 on its 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, and number 28 on its 2008 list of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. In April 1970, Joplin began performing with the Full Tilt Boogie Band backing her, and this ensemble (consisting of some members who had previously been part of her Kozmic Blues Band) remained her back-up group until her death. While touring with FTBB in July ’70, the group performed in Honolulu, Hawaii. While Joplin was clearly not in the best of health during this performance, both the vocals and the musicianship are first class, and the entire show probably remains the finest recording in existence from this very late period in Janis Joplin’s career. Available here for the first time on CD, this super-rare broadcast recording serves as a poignant swansong to the live performances of Janis Joplin.