Clarkives
On Feb. 22, 1969, Clarkies packed Atwood Hall for a Winter Weekend concert featuring the J. Geils Blues Band — and rock legend Janis Joplin. The following review by Richard Taffer ’72 appeared in The Clark Scarlet the following week.
Last Saturday night was a night for the blues. By blues, I am referring to something much more than a musical form. To discuss J. Geils Blues Band and Janis Joplin purely in terms of musical form and technical perfection would ignore perhaps the most vital aspect of last Saturday night’s concert. Beyond the dimension of sound, the concert presented the dimension of feelings and emotion. As such the music presented could much more sensibly be considered in terms of the catharsis which it provided.
The atmosphere in Atwood Hall before the concert was tense. A great deal of anxiety and excitement was obvious as people waited for the music to begin. The sell-out crowd managed to generate a great deal of body heat and smoke. In all, the air was hot, thick and stuffy. The sweat and discomfort built throughout the evening. That discomfort was the ideal setting for viewing the concert. It is that discomfort which sensitizes you to the power of the blues.
Geils and his group used that atmosphere along with their instruments to present some of the best and most potent blues Clark has seen all year. With the skill of a master surgeon, Geils proceeded to dissect the flimsy skin of our everyday lives. His guitar playing was intense and clean. With the precision of a master he cut smoothly into the audience’s “cool.” Every note was packed with the emotional power required to shatter the tight control we keep on our feelings. His incredibly well structured runs gave a sharp impression of the energies and emotions which possessed Geils to play the blues. More than playing the blues, Geils seemed to be living them as his face testified while he was playing. His fingers flowed over the neck of his guitar and the music poured from his amp. There was no pretension or pomposity. What he had to communicate was conveyed succinctly by his expert guitar work.
Complementing Geils was some brilliant harp playing. The gutsy quality of the harp playing added to the emotional impact of the band’s music. The energy generated by the harp was evident in the face of its player. Its impact exploded in your guts leaving you breathless.
The rhythm provided by the drums and electric bass was hard. It provided the backing which quite adequately carried the fine guitar and harp playing. Although the bass and drums were primarily backup, at times the drumming and bass playing was great. At all times it provided a clear, distinct beat which was easy to follow and fitted quite well with the lead instruments.
And then they brought on “the woman.” It is very difficult to view Janis Joplin with any great amount of objectivity. The mythology which has grown up around her in the past year makes it difficult to judge her performance prima facie. Operating in her favor is the tendency to consider her a goddess, and, as such, infallible. It is also possible to unduly criticize her for not living up to the myth of perfection. What can be said about her performance on Saturday is that she presented herself in a new light with new music.
Joplin’s new group is reminiscent of a “soul” review which accompanies many rhythm and blues vocalists. She drew her material heavily from the R & B “bag.” Her backing was not quite together and their playing at times was weak. Their function was not to play great music. Rather it was to provide a backing which did compliment Joplin’s voice very well.
While the music was not technically perfect and the musicians were not virtuosos, Janis Jooplin’s show was still successful in communicating a very soulful feeling. The sloppiness of the arrangements lent a great deal to the drunken style of Joplin. Nothing was distinct, as is so often true when you are operating on the intensely emotional level which Janis Joplin was so successful in conveying. When dealing with the powerful emotions of the blues, things very often become distorted and fuzzy. Order breaks down and perfection seems an absurdity. It was the confusion and imperfection of the band which provided the backing which was funky enough to complement the strong emotionality of Janis Joplin’s performance. And it is that emotionality which moves the audience at a Joplin concert.
I am not justifying poor music, what I am saying is that the indistinctness of the musical backing fit the emotions which Joplin conveyed. Its effect was not to expose the inner feelings which Geils revealed, rather its effect was to draw the audience deeper into the violent and confusing world in which Joplin sings. The music was the kind that makes you want to dance — to release some of the tensions in our lives. Joplin’s is not a world of middle-class placidity and values; it is a world of bleary-eyed perceptions and violent emotions which need expression. The scars and the pain of that world are obvious in Joplin’s disheveled appearance, her contoured face, her lithe and expressive body and particularly in her powerful voice.
Her performance was powerful. Although I have seen her put out more, her performance on Saturday was still exceptional. Along with the standards of the “Cheap Thrills” album, such as “Combination of the Two,” “Summertime,” and “Piece of My Heart,” she did a number of new songs in the wailing style for which she has become famous. Perhaps her greatest vocal of the performance was the Nick Gravinites song, “Stay with Me, Lord. “Her voice reflected the pain being kicked around a great deal. It was filled with violent passion as well as tender pathos. Incorporated with its violent kicks in the groin were the gentle caresses of a sensitive human being. This paradoxical quality is typical of the confusion with which our emotions often confront us. That is the beauty of Janis Joplin: her ability to perform and convey those low-down dirty feelings along with the soft gentle ones.
The trumpet and two saxophones added a great deal to the performance. Although they were not played in the most effective manner, they did provide gutsy, brassy backing which works well with Joplin’s voice. The trumpet player did play a few good breaks, although they were lost in the sloppy mixing of sound. It was just the sound of brass and sax, however, which helped carry the voice.
Sam Andrews’ guitar playing was the only carry over from the “psychedelic San Francisco rock” sound of Big Brother and the Holding Company. Although his guitar playing leaves much to be desired, it serves to heighten the distortion and heaviness of Joplin’s style. Even the noise of feedback and fuzztone seemed to fit into the gestalt of the group’s music. I am not saying that it was essential to the show or even good. It did, however, conform to Janis Joplin’s concept of her music as she stated in an interview last spring. She said, in effect, that she wanted her backup to provide rushes which are heavy and loud, which bring you “way up and drop you real fast — like a roller coaster.”
Janis Joplin has often stated that her music should be appreciated emotionally as it is her emotion which she hopes to convey in her voice and with her body. Her music was diffuse, confusing at points, loosely structured and in many ways paradoxical. If the ability to convey emotion is the criterion for judging her music, then we must conclude that she was great.