Big Brother And The Holding Company [Extra tracks, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered]

Janis Joplin, Big Brother | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 31, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00000K29E
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #36,972 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great ensamble ,with and without Janis., April 18, 2002

By 

mixer "na1mixer" (Spring City, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Big Brother And The Holding Company (Audio CD)

This CD exhibits the raw talents of a San Francisco based band-Big Brother and the Holding Company, including Janis Joplin of course. Though in studio, you can sense the many talents of the musicians being exhibited here.
Though much more "toned down" than in proceeding recordings, you can still sense that a blues powerhouse and an acid-rock motif is about to happen. Consider "Bye,Bye Baby" and "Down on Me." Here, Janis sang in a very harsh voice and yet kept her bluesy-saloonstyle persona:notice the strong Texas accent.
A very common misconception is: Big Brother and the Holding Company was just a "backup band"for Janis. Well, any competant music fan would dissagree-strongly.Consider guitarist/bassist Peter Albin.Albin was one of the main songwtiters of many of the songs here:Light is Faster than Sound,","Coo Coo","Catipillar"and"Blindman." In fact, Albin based Catipillar on an idea he came up with when he wrote children songs."Coo Coo"(misreferenced as Jack of Diamonds)" is actually the song that would be re-versed as "Oh Sweet Mary" on the next album. You just have to admire Albin's intuition here.

Guitarist Sam Andrew was responsible for the beautifully meticulus guitar leads played throughout this album. Note that he was actually singing a duet with Janis during the track:Call on Me(not the outake).

Now guitarist James Gurley, on the other hand, is a totally different character here. Originally a folkie-fingerstyle picker, Gurley ushered his talents into the "acid rock" genre that BB&HC became famous for. Notice in "Blindman," the twangystyle of electric fingerstyle guitar playing was no other than the works of James Gurley.Unfortunately, this CD does not have the classic instrumental "Hall Of the Mountain King".Nonetheless the guitarwork and moaning of "All is Loneliness"was begun by Gurley himself.
The drumer Dave Getz, who used the bass and snare trum almost simultaneously while playing the majority of the songs-contributed quite well.

Notice:during the outakes and the endings of the songs performed on this CD, you could hear laughter and some dialogue.Most of the worldwide emerging musicians of the mid 1960s, (disregarding the Dead,the Airplane,etc,)tended to worry more about financial gains or musical survival(career ego).However, Big Brother just-played!Plain and simple;not only as one singer/backup band, but an ENSEMBLE.After listening to this CD, you will definitely know what I mean!!!!!!!!!!!!

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Setting the record straighter, March 7, 2006

By 

T. Horsefat (Napa CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Big Brother And The Holding Company (Audio CD)

There seems to be some confusion about this album. First, when initially released on Mainstream records in late '67, the title was, simply, Big Brother and the Holding Company. No special mention of Janis. That came with the several reissues on Columbia. Also with those reissues came the inclusion of the tracks Last time and Coo Coo. These songs were the A and B sides of a Mainstream single that was released along with the album. In other words, they were bonus tracks. Curiously, Coo Coo briefly made the top 100 in the pop charts. I have several versions BBHC, including a mono copy on Mainstream, and this is the first time the material has sounded right. The phase distortion that previously marred Janis's double-tracked vocals on Bye, Bye Baby is gone. Also, the instrumentals seem to have been re-synched (could be my imagination or just the drugs), so the band sounds more competant. The sound is as good as it's going to get and the price is right for this short, sweet slice of pre-history. For me Intruder makes it all worth the while.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Big Brother's best, October 31, 1999

By 

"wednightprayermeeting" (Bellview, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Big Brother And The Holding Company (Audio CD)

These 1966 recordings sound much more folky, and soft than Big Brother's later albums. More subdued and punctual than the loose, heavily amplified BBHC I am used to hearing. Even gently psychedelic in a Lewis Carroll sort of way. "All Is Loneliness" is Janis at her most haunting. My mother got this album on record when it came out, and I listened to it often throughout my younger years. But now that I am older, I kind of stole it from her. I flipped when I saw the new reissue Cd in the store. A must buy for any Janis fan.