This release is a perfect example of why I both love and hate Record Store Day releases. After an extensive search, I think it's safe to say that no Australian stores received their stock of this LP. Usually, that wouldn't present too much of a problem, but in the post-COVID world, having records shipped here from overseas isn't as easy as it once was. Plus, shipping from overseas now doubles, if not triples, the price. It's frustrating, and there appears to be no end in sight. I've certainly had to adjust. Five years ago, I'd have scoffed at paying $60 for a record like this. In 2021, I was pleased to find it for $60.
The flip side of this is, more importantly, the very fact that a record like this is actually being put out in 2021. If RSD is the only way to get records like this into my collection, then I'll (sometimes reluctantly) take it. For Janis Joplin/Big Brother fans, this one is well overdue.
Big Brother And The Holding Company's 1967 Monterey Pop Festival appearance is famous for breaking them out into an unsuspecting world, and shooting them - and, Janis Joplin in particular - into fame. As is typical for Joplin's back catalogue, parts of the set have been released on official compilations and bootlegs, but this is the first time that both of their sets at the festival (they famously played a second because the first wasn't filmed) have been made available.
This release is a revelation. The tracks released on the 1993 Janis box set, from the Saturday set, suffered from rather average sound. I've had most of these tracks on a CD bootleg, also called Combination Of The Two, that featured Saturday's set with Sunday's rendition of 'Ball And Chain' (which is the famous one from the film, though both versions are quite similar). My expectations for this release weren't particularly high, but this record absolutely blows them both out of the water. I had no idea that these recordings could sound so good. It's a blistering little set that they played on the Saturday - and I really didn't appreciate that fact until I heard this record.
Also surprising for a Janis Joplin release, a lot of love and care seems to have gone into the presentation of this one. Housed in a beautiful tip-on sleeve and pressed on translucent purple vinyl with a black smoke effect, it is a thing of absolute beauty. I usually don't care for coloured vinyl, but this one looks real nice. Most recent Joplin releases, like her Woodstock set that was finally issued on vinyl in 2019, feel slapped together without much attention to detail. This pressing actually feels like there was some thought that went into it. I also bought the vinyl release of The Who's Monterey Pop Festival set that came out for RSD in 2020 (and was much easier to find than this one), which is also beautifully presented. Both were put out by the Monterey International Pop Festival Foundation, rather than the bands' big labels, which probably explains that care that has gone into them. If they keep putting these sets out, then we're in for some treats.
These are (mostly) recordings that I know well. I thought I was buying this record as something of a gap filler, but I am seriously impressed. There's been a surprising number of live Janis Joplin records come out over the past ten years or so, both officially and as bootlegs. This one, happily and unexpectedly, is one of the best.
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