5/5 Jake & Elwood back-up Janis at Woodstock..........
  by Eli Dolphin (Bear Hollow, Va)
........well, with my sarcastic tongue-in-cheek, i couldn't resist this title after reading some of the other comments...before i heard the double CD. Janis showed up sans Big Brother and with a new back-up sound. Some have commented that she may've been tryin' to create a sound more like The Family Stone....i don't know....but those that think that they may not appreciate the new sound enough to get this CD....even tho they love Janis and Big Brother....here's my advice, if you like the 'I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again, Mama' CD and Janis' earlier stuff....you should love the Woodstock CD........my first impression of her 'new' sound was that the Blues Brothers band must've been backing her (sarcasm).....same 60s blues band sound....i even think Jake might've been as good on the vocals...please remember that the first Blues Brothers album was a hot seller and i'm not dogging Janis' new band...its just different....after my initial listen, i was unsure about how good i thought it was........on my second playing, i loved it.........some excellent...and i mean excellent... cuts and the least of the cuts are good......its a good slice of Janis in the soup of time........yeah, her voice failed her a tiny bit on one of her serious 'get down' moments.....but overall..it was real and in the moment of history.......and it is extraordinary

4/5 Memories of Woodstock from someone who was not there
  by RusticBK (Gillett, WI USA)
Though at the time, Woodstock took a back seat to earning money to pay off my college loans, I have enjoyed the music produced there. This set remastered CDs of Janis Joplin did not disappoint. Turn it up loud and let her unique voice wash over you.

4/5 Joplin
  by Patricia Shaffer (Fostoria, OH)
I liked her better when I was younger but it brings back lots of memories.

5/5 this is going to be an interesting one...
  by Mr. Philip Licis (prov, ri,usa)
first of all, this is a GREAT show and if you are a janis fan, it's a must. however, i have one HUGE disappointment w/ it that i'll explain in a moment. so, let's start off w/, that by all accounts, this show is reputedly her worst ever. well, many years ago, through amazon, i got an "import" of this show. and it sounded HORRIBLE. i didn't know if it was because the show was that bad or that the sound quality made it so bad. so, i get this new disc, and w/in about 2 seconds i was VERY relieved to hear how WONDERFUL it sounds and that the show is just TERRIFIC, even if it was her worst show. yes, her voice is strained, yes the inbetween song talking is drugged rambling, but is't a GREAT show.
now, for the HUGE disappointment, which most of you will probably not appreciate. so, on the "import" verson, the peak of the show, and i mean THE PEAK, is "I can't turn you loose." it's an AMAZING piece of funk that would give me goose bumps EVERYTIME i heard it. so, I'm SOOOOOOOOO excited to get this new disc, if only for this one song. so, i'm listening to it, grooving away, and all of a sudden, IT ENDS! on the "import," it's nearly TEN MINUTES of grooving, w/ her and snookey going back and forth w/ each other, w/ the highlite being JANIS' part...WHY ON EARTH, ON A JANIS JOPLIN DISC, WOULD THEY TAKE OUT JANIS' PART??? well, i came CRASHING down and hold a resentment against the disc!!! oh well, at least i still have the "import." so, i don't know how, but if you guys can somehow come across the full length version, you'll know what i mean...

4/5 The Late and Great Janis Joplin
  by David Penn (NYC)
Janis Joplin was very unhappy with her performance at Woodstock. So much so, that she refused to have her performance included in the movie of the festival that was released the following year. SHe actually starts the set out very strong with a spirited Raise Your Hand. The next song, As Good As You've Been To This World, showcases the band, which plays very well here. Janis' vocal is much more impassioned than on the studio version of the song from her first solo album, "I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again, Mama!" It has been said that this band, which was formed after she left Big Brother & The Holding Company, never gelled completely, but they did improve markedly after Sam Andrew left the group in August 1969, a few weeks before Woodstock.
It appears that Janis was striving for a sound similiar to Sly And The Family Stone, but her musicians were not on that level. Janis' cover of the Bee Gees, "To Love Somebody" gets a better treatment than the studio version, and she gives near definitive versions of "Summertime," "Try" and "Kozmic Blues." Oddly enough, even though it is said that this disc contains the complete Woodstock performance, her vocal is edited out on "Can't Turn You Loose." Janis' voice gives out on her a few times in the remainder of the concert, most noticeably in "Work Me, Lord," even so, it is an absolutely amazing vocal, and quite unlike any other version she sang before or since. Her final encore, "Ball And Chain" starts off brilliantly, but Janis is so wasted by the end of the concert, that she seems to be struggling to keep it together at the end. This performance shows what a brilliant talent she possessed. She isn't operating at full capacity here, but still infuses her performance with more passion than anyone else on the bill. Janis was a true original. It would serve her memory well if Sony would release her performances from the Festival Express in their entirety.