"JANIS JOPLIN"

"BIG BROTHER & THE HOLDING COMPANY"

 CHEAP THRILLS LP ORIGINAL 1968 USA PRESS

COLUMBIA RECORDS # KCS-9700

Cheap Thrills Studio album by Big Brother and the Holding Company Released August 12, 1968 Recorded March 2 – May 20, 1968
Live recordings: March 8 at the Fillmore East Genre Psychedelic rock, acid rock, blues rock Length 37:11 (Original)
54:59Label Columbia Producer John Simon

VINYL is VG+ with light marks to show its been enjoyed and still enjoyable!

Cover is VG+ with shelf wear and  lightly dented corners and name written in pen inside gatefold. No Splits!!

ALL ORIGINAL 1968 COLUMBIA RECORDS #KCS 9700 360 SOUND STEREO

Big Brother obtained a considerable amount of attention after their 1967 performance at the Monterey Pop Festival and had released their debut album soon after. The album was a great success, hitting #1 on the charts for eight nonconsecutive weeks in 1968. Columbia Records offered the band a new recording contract, but it took months to get through since they were still signed to Mainstream Records. The album features three cover songs ("Summertime", "Piece of My Heart" and "Ball and Chain"). The album also features Bill Graham, who introduces the band at the beginning of "Combination of the Two". "Ball and Chain" is the only song on the album recorded entirely live, and even though the cover credits assert that the live material was recorded at Bill Graham's Fillmore Auditorium, it was actually taken from a concert at the Winterland Ballroom in 1968. The album's overall raw sound effectively captures the band's energetic and lively concerts. The LP was released in both stereo and mono formats with the monophonic pressing now a rare collector's item. The album had been considered for quadraphonic format in the early 70's and eventually in 2002, was released as a Multichannel Sony SACD. The original quadraphonic mix remains unreleased.

The cover was drawn by underground cartoonist Robert Crumb after the band's original cover idea, a picture of the group naked in bed together, was dropped by the record company. Crumb had originally intended his art for the LP back cover, with a portrait of Janis Joplin to grace the front. But Joplin—an avid fan of underground comics, especially the work of Crumb—so loved the Cheap Thrills illustration that she demanded Columbia Records place it on the front cover.

It is number nine(9) on Rolling Stone's list of one hundred greatest album covers.Initially, the album was to be called Sex, Dope and Cheap Thrills, but the title was not received well by Columbia Records.A variation of the title on the cover is used as the logo for the Cheap Thrills record label, owned by British DJ Hervé

Track listing Side one No. Title Writer(s) Length 1. "Combination of the Two"   Sam Andrew 5:47 2. "I Need a Man to Love"   Andrew, Janis Joplin 4:54 3. "Summertime"   George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, DuBose Heyward 4:01 4. "Piece of My Heart"   Bert Berns, Jerry Ragovoy 4:15 Side two No. Title Writer(s) Length 1. "Turtle Blues"   Joplin 4:22 2. "Oh, Sweet Mary"   Peter Albin, Andrew, David Getz, James Gurley, Joplin 4:16 3. "Ball and Chain"   Big Mama Thornton 9:02

 

Personnel Janis Joplin – vocals, engineer, performer Peter Albin – bass guitar, guitar Sam Andrew – bass guitar, guitar, arranger, vocals James Gurley – bass guitar, guitar, engineer David Getz – piano, drums Additional personnel John Simon – piano, producer Vic Anesini – mastering, mixing Nicholas Bennett – packaging manager Steven Berkowitz – A&R Fred Catero – engineer John Byrne Cooke – liner notes Robert Crumb – cover artwork David Diller – engineer Mark Feldman – project director David Gahr – photography Diana Reid Haig – digital editing, mixing Jerry Hochman – engineer Bob Irwin – producer, reissue producer Elliott Landy – photography, tray photo (gatefold photograph) Jim Marshall – photography Patti Matheny – A&R Elliot Mazer – producer, mixing, assistant producer Nathan Rosenberg – digital editing Roy Segal – engineer Smay Vision – art direction Thomas Weir – photography, back cover Jen Wyler – editing, mastering, assembly[disambiguation needed], authoring Robert Honablue – engineer Charts positions

Year Chart Position 1968 Billboard Pop Albums (Billboard 200) 1