Farewell Song features Janis with no less than 4 bands: Full Tilt Boogie, Big Brother & The Holding Company, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and the Kozmic Blues Band. These nine great tracks - both live and studio recordings - were recorded from 1967 to 1970. The album's brilliant and highly enjoyable and I don't mind if 80s studio instruments are added.

My favorite tracks are the exuberant Magic of Love with its enchanting backing vocals beautifully framing her powerful voice, the heart-rending One Night Stand, the melancholy Farewell Song with the moaning guitar, the cheeky medley of Amazing Grace/Hi Heel Sneakers and the riveting Catch Me Daddy. Other tracks are strong too, like the yearning Misery'n and the raucous Tell Mama, whilst all 56 seconds of Harry is most bizarre, with cuckoo clocks & stuff.

Two live tracks open the album: Tell Mama (Full Tilt Boogie) was recorded in Toronto in 1970 and Magic of Love (Big Brother) at the Grande Ballroom, Detroit in 1968. These are followed by the studio recordings Misery'n with Big Brother from 1968, One Night Stand with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band from 1970 & Harry (Big Brother) from 1968.

The next three are live recordings again: Raise Your Hand (Frankfurt, Germany with the Kozmic Blues Band in 1969), Farewell Song (Winterland, San Francisco with Big Brother, 1968), the medley Amazing Grace/Hi Heel Sneakers (The Matrix, San Francisco with Big Brother in 1967). The studio-recorded Catch Me Daddy with Big Brother from 1968 concludes the album.

I have no hesitation in placing this album on a par with Pearl, Cheap Thrills or I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!. These are great songs performed with passion; furthermore, the collection sounds cohesive despite the wide variety of backing musicians. For devoted fans of Janis, I highly recommend the book Scars Of Sweet Paradise by Alice Echols.