13/08/2022
ON THIS DATE (54 YEARS AGO)
August 12, 1968 – Big Brother and the Holding Company: Cheap Thrills is released.
# ALL THINGS MUSIC PLUS+ 5/5 (MUST-HAVE!)
# Allmusic 5/5
# Rolling Stone (see original review below)
Cheap Thrills is the second album from Big Brother and the Holding Company, released on August 12, 1968. It topped the Billboard 200 Top LP's chart for eight (nonconsecutive) weeks and reached #7 on the Billboard Top R&B LP's chart. The single "Piece of My Heart" reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2003, the album was ranked number 338 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Initially, the album was to be called S*x, Dope and Cheap Thrills, but the title was not received well by Columbia Records.
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. Despite their newfound success, the album was a modest hit reaching only number 60, though the single Down On Me nearly broke the Top 40. 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," "Ball and Chain"). The album also features Bill Graham, who introduces the band at the beginning of "Combination of the Two". "Combination of the Two," "I Need a Man to Love," and the nearly ten-minute "Ball and Chain" are the only live recordings. The album's overall raw sound effectively captures the band's energetic and lively concerts.
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COVER
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 on Rolling Stone's list of one hundred greatest album covers.
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RECORD MIRROR, August 17, 1968 – ALBUM PICKS OF THE WEEK
Big Brother & the Holding Company, featuring the charismatic, incarnadine Janis Joplin, sing her and their best on "Cheap Thrills" (Columbia KCS 9700).
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CASHBOX, August 17, 1968 - POP PICKS
CHEAP THRILLS—Big Brother & Holding Company—Columbia KCS 9700 The first album by Big Brother and the Holding Company, on Mainstream, produced solid sales, despite heavy critical panning. Group’s live appearances, however, have created a storm of almost unprecedented publicity, centering around lead singer Janis Joplin, and the public has been awaiting this Columbia LP with bated breath. The public will not be disappointed, as Janis souls the group through 7 heavy numbers, including "Take A Piece Of My Heart" and "Ball And Chain.” Should be a giant.
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ORIGINAL ROLLING STONE REVIEW
Well, it's a real disappointment. After all the hoopla of signing with Columbia, using one of the best producers in the business and the well-spread reviews of dozens of limp-limbed and sweaty-brow reviewers who have seen Big Brother and Holding Company in performance, one would expect slightly more than what we have gotten.
The title, Cheap Thrills, (shortened from Dope, S*x and Cheap Thrills) is an appropriate one, for that is to a great extent what this record has to offer. What this record is not is 1) a well-produced, good rock and roll recording; 2) Janis Joplin at her highest and most intense moments; and 3) better than the Mainstream record issued last year.
The record is a good representation of Big Brother and the Holding Company, as good a one as could have been expected and as good a one as there ever will be. It is also a fair approximation of the San Francisco scene in all its loud, exciting, sloppy glory, and for those who groove to it, the record should be adequate.
John Simon, who was signed to produce the album, but who did not have his name listed as producer, feels that this album is as good as the band and that's about it. In fact, he likes the Mainstream LP better.
The fault here, dear listeners, lies in the stars, not in ourselves. (RS 17)
~ John Hardin (September 14, 1968)
TRACKS:
Side one
Combination of the Two (Sam Andrew) – 5:47
I Need a Man to Love (Andrew, Joplin) – 4:54
Summertime (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, Heyward) – 4:00
Piece of My Heart (Bert Berns, Jerry Ragovoy) – 4:15
Side two
Turtle Blues (Joplin) – 4:22
Oh, Sweet Mary (Albin, Andrew, Getz, Gurley, Joplin) – 4:16
Ball and Chain (Big Mama Thornton) – 9:02
