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Erma or Janis? Janis or Erma?

 
 
Sax
11:38 / 07.12.05
It's driving me mad. Whose is the best version of Piece of My Heart? Raw, guitar-driven Janis Joplin or the belting, soulful version from Erma Franklin? Or does it depend what mood I'm in?

Please help.

PS - First person to mention Melissa Etheridge and/or Joss Stone gets really badly beaten up.
 
 
Mon Oncle Ignatius
13:17 / 07.12.05
I would have to say Janis Joplin for pretty much anything, and this song in particular. Her voice rattles with a genuine emotion which few others even come close to, drawing the listener right into the conviction that she is indeed for real - or a very great performer, in any case.

One question I have to ask myself though, which your post raises again for me - why the hell do I not own any records by her?

PS - First person to mention Melissa Etheridge and/or Joss Stone gets really badly beaten up.

Technically, that would be you :-)
 
 
lord nuneaton savage
13:28 / 07.12.05
Or indeed Ocean Colour Scene, who I once saw (LEAVE IT) doing a version live.

I'll go with Erma. Because a) I'm a soul snob and b) her delivery is much sexier and classier. I always believe in heartbreak when it's being sung about in front of beautifully lush 60s productions.
 
 
rizla mission
14:57 / 07.12.05
Erma.

Janis was certainly a fairly groovy lady, but I confess I find her actual music rather insufferable.... I guess this tune was probably one of the ones that suited her style best, but still..
 
 
Jack Fear
16:20 / 07.12.05
Insufferable. Yes. Overblown, embarrassing, shit garage rock with callow white-gal blooze mama stylings. Horrible, ear-bleeding garbage. Most overrated dead icon evar.

Erma by default: but quite frankly, I'd have voted against Janis if you'd put her up against Tiny Tim.
 
 
Mon Oncle Ignatius
17:23 / 07.12.05
Ooh, that's harsh. Particularly the bit about "callow white-gal blooze mama stylings" - would you prefer it if she was pretending to sound Afro-American, with full-on Soul backing, because at least what she was doing was fairly different for her time, both musically and politically. Ditto the mention of garage rock, which you make sound like a bad thing in and of itself, and hardly really applies to Joplin's records anyway.

I never knew that Janis Joplin was an icon or dead when I grew up listening to her music, and her personal life or position in the canon has little relevance to the actual music itself for me either now. I like the way she sounds raw and not overproduced: not that there is anything wrong with lush production in the right context - it just wouldn't suit her particular voice.

I should add though that I'm talking about this entirely from memory of both artist's versions, so I really should try to listen to each interpretation before discussing the fner points of the actual songs concerned any further.
 
 
Jack Fear
20:16 / 07.12.05
I like the way she sounds raw...

...and never lets you forget it for a moment. It's an ostentatious rawness. Ooh look at me, I'm so raw. Get me, everybody, I'm authentic.

Blah. Trying too hard.
 
 
matthew.
21:50 / 07.12.05
I second that motion. Janis is way too shrill for my tastes.
 
 
Loomis
07:22 / 08.12.05
I can't believe no one has mentioned Whoopi Goldberg.
 
 
Brigade du jour
12:23 / 08.12.05
First time I heard it was by Sammy Hagar, but that's what I get for being a heavy metal fan.
 
 
Sax
14:03 / 08.12.05
Sammy... Hagar? I bet that was quality.
 
 
matthew.
17:00 / 08.12.05
I'd take Dee Snyder from Twisted Sister over Janis Joplin. Kind of look the same actually....
 
 
Mirror
04:10 / 11.12.05
Erma. I dearly love a lot of Janis's stuff, but this one isn't really one her best.
 
 
Brigade du jour
13:35 / 11.12.05
You know what, Hinterland? My adolescence seems so long ago now that I can barely remember what Sammy Hagar made of it. But now, of course, curse it all, wouldn't you bleedin' know it, I have to track it down again ...
 
 
Brigade du jour
13:44 / 11.12.05
Here you can get a 30-second clip of Sammy H singing 'Piece of my Heart'. Basically, he makes it sound like Rainbow.
 
  
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