Big Brother and The Holding Company- Cheap Thrills (1968)
Label – Columbia
Producer – John Simon
Art Direction – Robert Crumb
Nationality – USA
Running Time – 36:54
Track Listing (standout tracks listed in bold)
1. Combination Of The Two
2. I Need A Man To Love
3. Summertime
4. Piece Of My Heart
5. Turtle Blues
6. Oh Sweet Mary
7. Ball And Chain
Cheap Thrills is the second album from Big Brother and the Holding Company and their last album with Janis Joplin as primary lead vocalist. Big Brother had obtained a good amount of attention directly after their 1967 performance at the Monterey Pop Festival, put out a reasonably successful debut and based on that success had been signed to Columbia Records. There was a delay in releasing the record as the band was still under contract to Mainstream Records.
The record itself featured three cover songs "Summertime," "Piece of My Heart," and the nearly ten-minute "Ball and Chain". Easily the greatest white female rock singer of the 1960s, Janis Joplin was also a great blues singer, making these covers her own with her wailing, raspy, supercharged emotional delivery.
Initially, the album was to be called Sex, Dope and Cheap Thrills, but the title was not received well by Columbia Records. Also not well received was the band's original cover idea, a picture of the group naked in bed together, which was vetoed by the record company. Instead the cover was drawn by underground cartoonist Robert Crumb. The cover was originally meant to be the record's back picture but the band did not like Crumb's original front drawing. It has however become iconic and is number nine on Rolling Stone's list of one hundred greatest album covers of all time!
The album was released in the summer of 1968 and reached number one on the Billboard charts in its eighth week in October. It kept the number one spot for eight (nonconsecutive) weeks while the single, "Piece of My Heart," also became a huge hit. By the end of the year it was the most successful album of 1968, having sold nearly a million copies. The success was short-lived however, as Janis Joplin left the group for a solo career in December, 1968. In 2003, the album was ranked number 338 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. They previously ranked it #50 on their Top 100 Albums of the Past 20 Years list in 1987. It is often regarded as one of the key recordings of the late 1960s.
It is highly recommended.
You can purchase the CD here
NEW ROCK RELEASESFebruary 9
New
SHANNON CURFMAN...What You're Getting Into
DAVE MATTHEWS BAND...Live In Las Vegas
THE PRETENDERS...Live In London
BLACKMORE'S NIGHT...Shadow Of The Moon
Reissues
DEEP PURPLE...Fireball (180 Gram Vinyl) (Ltd. Edition Gatefold Cover)
February 16
Reissues
SANTANA...Supernatural (Deluxe Edition, Extra Tracks)
THE BLACK CROWES...Warpaint Live (vinyl release)
February 23
New
LIFEHOUSE...Smoke And Mirrors
ROCK BIRTHDAYS FOR FEBRUARY 8
Vince Neil from Motley Crue is 49; Keith Nelson of Buckcherry is 41; Phoenix from Linkin Park is 33;
ON THIS DATE
1988 The Who receive the Outstanding Contribution to British Music honor at the BPI Awards in London
1990 Del Shannon commited suicide. He was 55
2004 At the 46th Grammy's: Best New Artist and Best Hard Rock Performance-Evanescence. Best Rock Album-Foo Fighters. Best Metal performance-Metallica
2005 Keith Knudsen, drummer for the Doobie Brothers, dies due to complications with penmonia. He was 56
2005 Seventeen Days by 3 Doors Down is released
2006 At The 48th Grammy's: Album of the Year and Song of the Year-U2. Record of the Year - "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" by Green Day, Best Hard Rock Performance-System Of A Down, Best Metal Performance-Slipknot. Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Dire Straits also get trophies
2009 At the 51st Grammy's: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss won five Grammys, including Album of the Year, for "Raising Sand". Best Rock Song-"Girls In Their Summer Clothes" Bruce Springsteen
IN THE NEWS
The Who Perform Hits Medley For Superbowl Halftime
Chickenfoot Begin Writing Next Album
Kiss: The Vinyl Boom
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment