Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great ensamble ,with and without Janis., April 18, 2002
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!!!!!!!!!!!!
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Big Brother's best, October 31, 1999
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.
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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
you ain't heard nothin' yet..., September 3, 2002
I can't honestly say that I'd give 5 stars for this effort, in and of itself, but rather for what it ushered in. This first effort to package the then unknown Big Brother into a kind of "Spanky And Our Gang" mold, to make them more commercially appealing, was not successful. B.B. was just too WEIRD for mainstream top 40, and never flourished there. They were at their best not in a studio atmosphere, but live, where all their un-restrained stream of conscienceness playing could be best captured, like the wild animal that they were (are.) Though Janis was just one of the group when this album was recorded, her legendary explosion soon followed, and it is interesting to hear her on this recording. Though her searing voice is featured as the lead in several songs, she was close to being a back up singer on many here, and, considering what followed, it is thrilling to hear her in her then almost anonymous glory. I still have an original copy of this album, with the wonderful psychedelic cover art by Stanley Mouse, it is one of my cherished possessions. I would recommend this more as a curio piece rather than a great listen, a precursor not only of the mythical Janis, but to one of the best, under-appreciated groups ever.
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by Janis Joplin 
