Customer Reviews

Cheap Thrills

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Dying young may be a good career move for a rock star, but it precludes any possibility of cashing in on that one last comeback tour. Janis Joplin became an icon and celebrated public figure in August of 1968, immediately after this album, "Cheap Thrills" was released and was dead three short years later. She didn't even live long enough to pay off advances from Columbia Records against future royalties. In the long run, Columbia Records was the primary beneficiary of Janis Joplin's premature death. Her record label has made a fortune from repackaging her catalog as deluxe boxed sets and anthologies over the years. It's ironic because no deluxe Columbia product has distilled the pure undiluted essence of Janis as much as this humble debut album.

For all its ragged glory, "Cheap Thrills" endures as the best showcase of Janis Joplin's extraordinary singing talent. Among the songs are the chart topping R&B classic "Piece of my Heart", the funky rhythm driven "Combination of the Two", a raw and soulful recasting Gershwin jazz classic "Summertime" and Janis' signature tune the show stopping "Ball and Chain."

A number of music critics took aim at Big Brother's musicianship and criticized the band as unprofessional and not up to par with Janis' talents. Janis, being young and riddled with insecurities, was wounded by the barbs. She left the band four short months after "Cheap Thrills." It's a shame, because Big Brother's ramshackle and reckless playing was uniquely attuned to the explosive dynamics of Joplin's "take-no-prisoners" approach to blues singing. She never found another group of musicians she bonded with like Big Brother. Her last album "Pearl" is technically better than "Cheap Thrills", but musical virtuosity is over-rated. Ask any hardcore fan of Janis and they will tell you that "Cheap Thrills" is the first CD they'll grab when their house is burning down.

Janis Joplin has been gone for more than 32 years. That's a timespan five years longer than she actually lived! (She died, as did Hendrix and Morrison, at age 27.) In the intervening years, there has been some debate among critics,as well as the listening public, regarding her actual contribution to popular music. Did she single-handedly reinvent the role of the female popular singer, and if even she did, does that make her recordings still listenable 30 years hence. Or was her music in fact a "you-had-to-be-there" phenomenon?

You'll find plenty of people in both camps, to say nothing of all the adjacent camps in between. But Janis Joplin was just as controversial in her own day. For every listener who hailed her as "the greatest white blues singer of her generation," there were plenty who found her "screaming" unmusical and, basically, intolerable, just as they do today! The more things change, the more they stay the same.

As for the notion that "you really had to be there...," well, I kinda was and kinda wasn't. I grew up in the sticks and never saw Janis perform live, much to my regret. But I listened intently to all her records and watched her on TV and film. And I did GET IT, but not right away. Having read about Janis before I ever heard her, I imagined her having some dark, rich soulful voice. The raw, cracked "whiskey voice" evidenced on CHEAP THRILLS came as something of a surprise and, admittedly, took some getting used to, but eventually I acquired the taste, and then some. Janis's voice was indeed huge, but it was also raw, scorching and often painful.( I did eventually hear that dark, soulful voice too, by the way, but it belonged to another singer entirely--Mother Earth's equally great, but decidedly diferent Tracy Nelson.)

So CHEAP THRILLS, the first fully realized album featuring Janis Joplin, remains controversial to this day. Is it the best expression of Janis' (and Big Brother's) inspired amateurism? Or is it a sloppy, slapdash affair that only suggests what Joplin and the band were capable of in concert? I think it's the former and would maintain that no subsequent Joplin effort captured the exuberence and kinetic energy that she embodied. In fact, few other albums define the late 60s as well as this one. I love the fact that it was still a BAND at this juncture, and that Janis did not necessarily sing lead on every track (including the album's classic opener "Combination of the Two"). OK, she still overpowers when singing back-up, but the point was that this band was NOT ust Big SISTER and the Holding Co.

In fact, as others have noted, the unique, stuttering, almost manic guitar work of James Gurley and Sam Andrew is like nothing you've ever heard before. The opening for "Ball and Chain" alone sounds like Demiurges awakening from the bowels of the earth. No wonder, Janis is inspired to almost unheard of vocal pyrotechnics in response: she had all that beautiful noise to compete with.

The only caveat for neophytes with the "expanded tracks" version is to keep in mind that those extra tracks are a mixed blessing. Longtime fans may welcome the addition of the newly available stuff, but in some ways they do detract from the album's power. "Ball In Chain" ended the original LP on a stunning note: the four extra tracks here have their moments, but they were "outtakes" for a reason. As "put-ins" they actually lessen CHEAP THRILLS' considerable impact.

CHEAP THRILLS has always been a favorite album of mine and the digitally remastering of the classic record comes off well. "Combination of the Two" starts the album off with a bang, then segues into "I Need a Man to Love", what I think is the best song on the original album! "Summertime" and "Piece of My Heart" are classic Janis standards, "Turtle Blues" goes back to Janis' Texas roots, "Oh Sweet Mary" gets as acid-rock as you can get, and "Ball and Chain" finishes off what has been quite an experience! Now, everyone knows there was a wealth of material left over from the CHEAP THRILLS recording sessions and only two are here (for the others, look for FAREWELL SONG and JANIS 3-CD). "Road Block" is the best version of the song I've heard, but the band members' voices are toned down to make Janis sound like lead singer. It gives it a phony sound. The same with "Catch Me Daddy" the live track, which is horrible! "Flower in the Sun" is a good studio track, not the best version around (see LIVE AT WINTERLAND '68), but it is very good! "Magic of Love" is the best version I've heard of the song. I do think the bonus tracks throw off the atmosphere of the complete original album: hard, deep, dark, FANTASTIC rockin'! But they're nice to have. Any Janis released is good Janis, in my eye. But sometimes they need only be heard once.

Until recently, Janis Joplin was among the relatively few Woodstock-era artists I hadn't given much consideration to. The only times I'd heard her sing previously were on videos of the 60's mega-festivals, and my impression from these clips was that Joplin was extremely overrated. Her growling voice just didn't do it for me.

However, I was recently listening to demos at Borders, of some mannequin-looking girls who are apparently quite popular today (Hillary Church Duff Spears--I don't know, I can't tell them apart), when I suddenly had a craving to hear *good* music. So I started going through the Woodstock-era selections again. Mainly because I had seen a parody of the cover art elsewhere, I scanned Cheap Thrills, and was immediately blown away by the fact that Big Brother and the Holding Company really rocked! They reminded me in some small way of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, complete with guitar noises that shouldn't be possible.

Still, I was somewhat dreading to hear Janis' voice. But when she finally started singing I realized that Big Brother was a perfect vehicle for her. That wasn't growling I'd heard before at all--it was emotion in its most raw form. I just hadn't been putting her style into the proper context. It was beautiful. SHE was beautiful. What a startling contrast to the fashionable mannequins who only appeared uglier to me the more I heard their "music"!

Of course I bought Cheap Thrills on the spot, and I can only say that listening to it makes me feel good inside, in a nostalgic way. It reminds me of when musicians were human beings, and didn't attempt to hide their flaws. Yes, it's a terrible shame that Janis was a junkie, but what exactly do you call all the beer and pot that middle-class Americans consume today? I have yet to see a drunk or stoned sorority sister even come close to the raw power and emotion that Janis exhibits on Cheap Thrills. Unlike the modern music chicks, Janis sounds real and warm, and her voice releases the human experience in the same way that a master author's pen does. The mannequins convey about as much emotion as an economics textbook, which is appropriate considering that their music industry handlers are only in it for the money. Janis was in it for the love of music, and it really shows on Cheap Thrills.

My only problem with the CD is the extra tracks. They are great songs, but I would rather have just the original album as the artist created it, and leave the extra tracks for other CDs. There is a reason why Joplin and Big Brother ended their debut album with "Ball and Chain". Now that song is right in the middle of the album. There is no good reason for this.

Bottom line: I can't comment on Joplin's work after she left Big Brother, but the combination of Janis Joplin's voice and Big Brother's musicmanship makes Cheap Thrills an essential part of any MUSIC collection (as opposed to a CD collection). It's just a shame that new listeners like myself are not hearing exactly what Joplin intended us to hear, because of the irrelevant bonus tracks.

I first heard CHEAP THRILLS, by Janis Joplin's Big Brother & The Holding Company, on vinyl. It was a life altering experience. At that time, it was the age of cheesy boy bands, screaming divas and mindless techno. This 1968 release was a breath [no, make that a gust!] of fresh air. This album starts off with a bang ("Combination of the Two") and relentlessly grows with intensity and bold musicianship. For starters, Janis' accompanists and back-up singers are seamless. I don't care how stoned out they were. They sound amazing, and a lot better than many sober artists of today. You can tell, since this was a live recording, just how stoked the audience was to see them. Janis encouraged...no, try DEMANDED audience participation. Joplin thrived on drawing energy from the crowds that came to see her, and this is really made evident here.

What sets this music apart from other bands of its time (or of any time, really) was the combination of terrific, brilliantly orchestrated and arranged instrumentals, Joplin's amazing, spectacularly expressive vocals, channeling the agony ("I Need a Man To Love") and the ecstasy ("Summertime") of love and life. Plus, there are four bonus cuts, on this CD release of the album. I love you, Janis. It is really extraordinary how many artists have been inspired by her. There are truly no substitutes of imitations for someone so incomparable. Buy CHEAP THRILLS and consider it your introduction to real music.

This is a one of a kind of rock-and-roll album, that bands like the Doors, Jimi Hendrix, the Who, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and Jefferson Airplane, made, but Janis Joplin made one of the best Psychedelic Blues-Rock Heavy Metal albums ever. Cheap Thrills shows how Big Brother and the Holding Company can be with Joplin around. songs like "Combination Of The Two" a rock adventure to the highway,
"Ball And Chain" (every time I hear this it would give me chills of the dark and haunting guitar solos) Gershwin's "Summertime" which Janis version is one of a kind brilliant and refuses to die, and never forget "Piece Of My Heart" a brilliant track of how a Texas Girl can kick some butt on this to show how Janis can howl and scream and one the brilliant female singers is rock and roll, although it was a sad loss for Janis in 1970 of her death, her legacy moves on, so Janis keep it rockin!
Have another little piece of my heart now baby.

I used to be under the impression that this whole album was live. I recently found out that only a few of the songs are live, the rest were done in the studio.
This album is one of the greatest blues/rock albums ever made. I still don't consider Janis to be the greatest female vocalist ever (I give that honor to Grace Slick), but she really blew me away with this one. What's more, Sam Andrew and James Gurley really blew me away with their devastating guitar licks. After all, Gurley isn't called 'The Father Of Psychedelic Guitar' for nothing.
"Combination Of The Two" is a prime slice of breathless, fiery rock 'n roll that puts me in a state of euphoria whenever I hear it. This song is Sam Andrew's tribute to the rock arenas of San Francisco, namely the Fillmores and The Avalon Ballroom. Sam sings it, and Janis does all those cool "whoa-whoa-whoa" chants that should get your blood pumping in no time. And if it doesn't, then the solo from James Gurley will definitely get it pumping. It starts out as a wall of fuzztone, and then he builds it to a grand climax where he keeps laying into those high notes like a madman. THIS is rock 'n roll, I'm tellin' you. "I Need A Man To Love" is also breath-taking, mainly because of the "Can't be now, can't be now..." vocal refrain, where Janis keeps chanting it over and over as the rest of the band fervently builds up the tension behind her. Wow! And then there's the emotional masterpiece "Summertime", resplendent with Sam Andrew's soaring, passionate leads and Janis giving a superb vocal performance. The famous "Piece Of My Heart" has become a legendary Joplin song. And it's not hard to see why, with Sam Andrew's blistering, almost orgasmic solo (the way he nails those high notes always leaves me totally amazed). And what can I say about "Turtle Blues", a song that easily rivals ANY of those old blues masters? Suffice it to say that it's probably my favorite song on the album, and sometimes I literally cry because IT'S SO FRIGGIN' GOOD.
"Oh Sweet Mary" is a haunting, eerie piece of work that practically send chills down the listener's spine, while the legendary "Ball And Chain" is presented here in stunning form. The distortion that Gurley uses in his solo is so powerful that it almost sounds like an Earthquake crushing everything in it's path. This is the song that made Janis a star when she performed it at the Monterey Pop Festival.

It's a shame that Janis left us at such a young age. Had she lived, there's no telling how illustrious her career would've turned out to be. Thankfully, we still have the music to remember her. And this album captures her spirit better than any other.

I say it a lot, but this time I really mean it when I tell friends, "Dude, you have to buy this cd, it's pretty much the best thing I own."
How do you begin to describe Janis Joplin? Raspy? Drug Addict? Check and check, but there is sooooo much more beyond that facade that some people can't get over.
Her music gives me chills. Upon listening to "Turtle Blues" "Summertime" and "Ball and Chain" my natural reaction was to close my eyes and feel every note being sung.
The amazing thing about this album is that every note is powerful, yet has a surreal sort of vulnerability to it.
In short, it totally is worth the money spent and more.

I recently revisited this album (my edition pre-dates the bonus tracks, but even so), and I was pleased to find that it still hasn't really aged all that much, considering the material is nearly 40 years old (and in the case of "Summertime", considerably older!).

The case could be made that Janis never really made what you would call a 'perfect' album. And although the critics at the time of its initial release hated Big Brother as the backing band, I have to say that they suited Janis' style perfectly. Not that they could work with any other performer, as Janis wasn't a strict "blues" singer, nor was she what you'd call "polished".

"Combination Of The Two", "Summertime", and "Ball And Chain" still sound great, even after all this time. Eschew the overpriced box sets and buy this album instead.

While the other reviews have said it all, I wanted to add my opinion. This was one of the first almums that I purchased. In 1969 I found it in a cut out bin for .99 and the music changed my life. I have listened to it hundreds of times over the past 36 years and I still play it often. It has a vitality coupled with an innocence that is seldom found in mainstream rock today. The guitar work is exceptional. Listening to the guitar solos on Summertime still sends a shiver up my spine. And Janis Joplin never sounded better with any line up than she sounded with Big Brother. My kids (now 14 and 20) have had a lot of fun introducing their friends to the music they they grew up with in their home. No other CD gets the kind of response from their friends that this one does. It was great music then and holds up well today.