Janis Joplin - 1963 San Francisco, CA - Coffee Gallery M1 [SBD]

This is Janis - 1965

01. Apple Of My Eye
02. 219 Train
03. Codine
04. Down & Out
05. Turtle Blues
06. I Ain't Got A Worry
07. Brownsville 

Unknown - 1965 

The final seven-tracks come from an audition before Janis joined Big Brother & The Holding Company. The location is unknown but we know that the tapes originated from Big Brother guitarist - James Gurley.

The original recording was just Janis and her acoustic guitar, but Gurley has embellished it with a full band to make it sound like a Big Brother session.

"It's unheard Janis Joplin material, probably the best album she's done since 'Cheap Thrills. It was a work of love, I wanted it to be something, if she was looking over my shoulder, she would be proud of. I tried to keep her first and I didn't change what she did. This is what she was doing before Big Brother. I wanted to bring out that innocence before she got crazy from rock 'n' roll."

In 1996, Gurley made 100 copies and gave them away or sold some through eBay. These seven tracks later appeared on the nine-CD fan compilation Blow All My Blues Away (the source used here) that collected everything else Columbia saw fit not to release. He owns the master reel-to-reel tape but feels Joplinís family would have something to say about any release.

Janisís pre-fame vocal is pure blues phrasings unblemished by alcohol and drug abuse. Her original composition ëTurtle Blues,í is here alongside an ad-libbed own lyric version of Buffy St Marieís ëCodineí