SITTIN' DOWN
BY MY WINDOW
HONEY,
LOOKIN' OUT AT THE RAIN..
Sex, Dope & Cheap Thrills
Columbia/Legacy Recordings,
a division of
Sony Music Entertainment,
is celebrating the
50th Anniversary
of
Big Brother & The Holding Company’s
major label debut
With The Release of
Sex, Dope & Cheap Thrills
Released at last
under its original title
(nixed by the label as too controversial a half century ago),
Sex, Dope & Cheap Thrills
restores the band’s vision
and intent in an
essential new collection
of 30 rare
performances including
29 studio outtakes
(25 previously unreleased)
from the mythic
1968 sessions
that generated
Big Brother & The Holding Company’s
Cheap Thrills,
the breakout album
that introduced
Janis Joplin
to the world.
Sex, Dope & Cheap Thrills
debuts a
previously
unreleased
live performance of
“Ball and Chain,”
recorded live at
Winterland Ballroom
on
April 12, 1968.
Sex, Dope & Cheap Thrills
News of the
upcoming release of
Sex, Dope & Cheap Thrills
follows the
8x Platinum
RIAA certification
of
Janis Joplin’s
Greatest Hits
on July 31, 2018.
Big Brother & The Holding Company’s
original
Cheap Thrills
has been certified
2x Platinum by
the RIAA.
Originally released on
August 12, 1968,
Cheap Thrills
was an
out-of-the-box smash,
a #1 album
that–building on
the heat she’d
generated at the 1967
Monterey Pop Festival
established
Janis Joplin
as rock’s foremost
primordial psychedelic
soul singer,
a musical archetype
whose influence has
never waned.
Sex, Dope & Cheap Thrills
revisits those
1968 sessions
and shines a new light
on the genius of
Janis Joplin
and the
incredible chemistry
she shared with
her bandmates in
Big Brother & The Holding Company.
The original
Cheap Thrills
featured
dubbed-in crowd noise
to create the
sonic illusion
of a
live album,
though only
“Ball and Chain”
was actually
recorded in concert.
An alternate
live version
of the
song–recorded
at
The Winterland Ballroom
in San Francisco
on April 12, 1968
is included on
Sex, Dope & Cheap Thrills.
The album was the
culmination of
several years
of hard work
for the
psychedelic quintet,
consisting of
Joplin on
lead vocals,
Sam Andrew
and
James Gurley
on guitar,
Peter Albin
on bass
and
Dave Getz
on drums.
In 1967,
a year after
recruiting Joplin,
they released their
self-titled
debut album
while continuing to
build a devoted
fan base
in their native
San Francisco
and
the Bay Area.
A performance at the
Monterey Pop Festival
in June 1967
earned
Big Brother
national recognition,
with Joplin’s
unrestrained
full-tilt delivery
bringing audiences
to their feet.
Clive Davis,
president of
CBS Records,
attended the
group’s performance
and signed
Big Brother & The Holding Company
to Columbia Records.
Produced by
John Simon,
Cheap Thrills
was the pure distillation
of the band’s
raw talent
and
bleeding-edge
instrumental prowess,
with compelling originals
“I Need a Man to Love,”
“Combination of the Two”
as well as covers of
jazz and
blues favorites
“Summertime,
“Ball and Chain,”
and,
notably,
“Piece of My Heart,”
a now-classic
soul ballad,
Cheap Thrills
spent a combined
total of eight weeks
atop the
Billboard 200
in two runs
during
October, November
and
December of 1968.
“Cheap Thrills
seems to have stood
the test of time,”
writes
Dave Getz
in his notes for
Sex, Dope & Cheap Thrills.
“It might be because it is
arguably the greatest work
by a great artist,
Janis Joplin.
It is certainly the greatest
and closest representation
of what
Big Brother & The Holding Company
was as a band
and I would add
to that argument that
Big Brother/Janis
as a band,
and as
a SOUND,
was the embodiment
of the
San Francisco,
psychedelic,
counter-culture
of the 1960s….
On another,
more metaphorical level
and in the perspective
created by the distance
of fifty years,
I see
Cheap Thrills
as a time capsule
for the year 1968.
That year might
have been
the moment
when it all came
to a boil for
Big Brother,
Janis and
the entire 1960s,
acid-infused,
revved-to-the-max,
counter-culture generation.”
TRACK LIST
CD 1
Combination Of The Two
(Take 3)
I Need A Man To Love
(Take 4)
Summertime
(Take 2)
Piece Of My Heart
(Take 6)
Harry
(Take 10)
Turtle Blues
(Take 4)
Oh, Sweet Mary
Ball And Chain [Live]
Roadblock
(Take 1)
Catch Me Daddy
(Take 1)
It's A Deal
(Take 1)
Easy Once You Know How
(Take 1)
How Many Times Blues Jam
Farewell Song
(Take 7)
Call On Me
(Alternate Take)
Bye, Bye Baby
(Alternate Take)
CD 2
Flower In The Sun
(Take 3)
Oh Sweet Mary
(Take 1)
Summertime
(Take 1)
Piece Of My Heart
(Take 4)
Catch Me Daddy
(Take 9)
Catch Me Daddy
(Take 10)
I Need A Man To Love
(Take 3)
Harry
(Take 9)
Farewell Song
(Take 4)
Misery'n
(Takes 2, 3)
Misery'n
(Take 4)
Magic Of Love
(Take 1)
Turtle Blues
(Take 9)
Turtle Blues
(Last Verse Takes 1, 3)
Piece Of My Heart
(Take 3)
Farewell Song
(Take 5)
Ball And Chain
(Live)
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