Cheap Thrills is an intense and exuberant celebration of life with Joplin's at times desperate, always intensely emotional vocals combined with Big Brother and their overwhelming acid rock/psychedelic roar. The gripping Piece Of My Heart sweeps one along in its maelstrom of sound whilst Combination Of The Two with its hypnotic textures takes you to weird sonic places. Summertime and Ball & Chain are soulful covers of the Gershwin and Big Mama Thornton tunes respectively. At times it seems that there's a huge cosmic battle taking place between Joplin's vocals and the band's deafening onslaught which creates a further element of tension that adds to the overall force of these performances. This is a great show of rock magic.

Pearl has stood the test of time equally well. Here Joplin is backed by the Full Tilt Boogie Band. After all these years, it remains a magnificent listening experience because of the quality of the songs, the band's tight playing and the impressive emotional range of her vocals. Unlike Cheap Thrills, where there is a battle between her voice and Big Brother's heavy metal onslaught, here the voice is the star. My favorites on an album of classics include the moving Me and Bobby McGee, the tender A Woman Left Lonely, the jittery Half Moon, the emotional Cry Baby, the buoyant Get It While You Can and the plaintive/humorous Mercedes Benz. Perfect arrangements, brilliant playing and masterly vocalization combine here to create a timeless masterpiece.

I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again, Mama

Farewell Song