Kozmic Blues

A Mixed Bag

This anthology of Janis Joplin is highly uneven in both content and quality. There is no narration. Some of the footage here is first rate in its video resolution, and was obtained from either original source or high quality second-source recordings. With other segments though, it's just the opposite. The Dick Cavett Show performances are faded. Better to get the complete episodes of those shows as released in the Shout DVD box set, which are in excellent condition.

Then - while watching a few of the later selections - it seemed that either a) they were made to look psychadelic, b) the print used was extremely faded, or c) I had relapsed into a late 60's bad acid trip. It turned out that the prints used were in terrible shape. The colors are both faded and bled out into each other.

One more thing: The shoddy manner in which this was prepared is reflected in the DVD artwork. The chapter song listings are a complete jumble from what is actually on the disc. My sincere belief is that the artwork designer had a three-martini lunch just before starting on this assignment. It's hard to imaging any other reason for anyone being so careless, stupid or sloppy - take your pick. August 11, 2008

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