I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!
| Janis Joplin
I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!
I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama! is a 1969 studio album by American singer-songwriter Janis Joplin. It was the first solo studio album Joplin recorded after leaving her former band, Big Brother and the Holding Company,[and the only one released in her lifetime (Pearl was released three months after Joplin's death).-Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Rolling Stone
November 1, 1969. She sounds great. Just great. It’s simply a matter of reaching the point where you are able to shut out the band — entirely — and listen to this woman sing.
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Ultimate Classic Rock
September 11, 2015. But with her debut solo album, I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!, on the horizon, Joplin used a classic '60s R&B template as her guidebook. Employing a horn section and a pop sound pretty much foreign to Big Brother, Joplin and producer Gabriel Mekler steered the sessions away from her old band's hippie collective and toward a more inclusive market.
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Sputnik Music
February 23, 2015. Much more than a cheap thrill, I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama! is another jewel in Janis Joplin's illustrious yet short-lived career.
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AllMusic
Janis Joplin's solo debut was a letdown at the time of release, suffering in comparison with Big Brother's Cheap Thrills from the previous year, and shifting her style toward soul-rock in a way that disappointed some fans. Removed from that context, it sounds better today, though it's still flawed.
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Seattle Pi
April 26, 2011. I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama is a strong musical statement by Janis Joplin which has withstood the test of time. It remains a key ingredient in the career of one of the first legendary female rockers.
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Record Collector Magazine
While this didn’t deserve the criticism it received at the time, it’s also by no means perfect. Joplin herself is good but the musicians can’t keep up, which is perhaps why her live performances of the same material sound so much better.
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HiFi.nl
Although most American fans saw this album with its blues and funk elements as a form of betrayal of the ideals of rock music, this album has its own specific charm thanks to the blues and funk accents of organ and wind instruments.
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Rock Times Archiv
December 8, 2008. For me it is the most impressive of Janis' works. Skilled, in the sense of well-dosed (but nonetheless powerful), and also inspired, she has never sung to me, as in my recordings. Her voice glows and vibrates without constantly tilting in the red area.
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The Flower And The Vine
March 8, 2013. Kozmic Blues may not be the typical soul album, but it is a soul album nonetheless. Aside from the obvious signifiers (the distinctively Stax/Volt-influenced guitars and horns), the emotion poured into each song should guarantee its spot in the soul music canon.
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Robert Christgau
. . . while this record doesn't quite do what she has in the past for most of us, it is a surprisingly strong try, with a lot of help from producer Gabriel Mekler. Anyone who has given up on Janis along the way ought to try again. She's coming on.
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Wilson & Alroy's Record Reviews
This leaves more space for her voice, but her singing is more restrained as well, and the tunes are mostly second-rate, except for "Try."
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Wilson & Alroy's Record Reviews
Wilson is right to criticize the derivative songwriting; Janis is no Aretha Franklin; and, worst of all, the band is no Booker T. and the MG's . . . seems to drag on forever. But the record's still an entertaining listen, and Andrew plays the electric blues quite solidly ("One Good Man").
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On The Record
AMG Review Fronting the short-lived Kozmic Blues Band, the arrangements are horn heavy and the material soulful and bluesy… “Try” is one of her best soul outings, and the reading of Rodgers & Hart’s “Little Girl Blue” is inspired.
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George Starostin's Reviews
So it turns out that the album's really a good listen - terribly flawed, and never exciting enough for somebody who'd already been used to the crunchy style of Cheap Thrills, but a good listen nevertheless.
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