Cheap Thrills

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Cheap Thrills
Cheap Thrills cover
Studio album by Big Brother and the Holding Company
Released August 1968
Recorded March 2, 1968–May 20, 1968
Genre Psychedelic rock, acid rock, blues-rock, hard rock
Length 37:11 (original)
54:59 (CD re-issue)
Label Columbia Records
Producer John Simon
Professional reviews
Big Brother and the Holding Company chronology
Big Brother & the Holding Company
(1967)		 Cheap Thrills
(1968)		 Be a Brother
(1970)

Cheap Thrills is the second album from Big Brother and the Holding Company and their last album with Janis Joplin as primary lead vocalist.

Contents

[edit] Record History

Big Brother obtained a considerable amount of attention after their 1967 performance at the Monterey Pop Festival and had re-released their debut album soon after. Colombia Records offered the band a new recording contract but it took months to get through since they were still signed to Mainstream Records [1]. Nearly a year after their debut album was released, they began work on what was the most eagerly anticipated record of the year [2]. The album features 3 cover songs (Summertime, Piece of My Heart, Ball and the Chain) with the nearly 10 minute Ball and Chain being the only live recording.[3] The albums overall raw sound was done so to capture the band's energetic and lively concerts.

[edit] Cover and Name

The cover was drawn by underground cartoonist Robert Crumb after the bands original cover idea, a picture of the group naked in bed together, was dropped by the record company. The cover was originally ment to to be the records back picture but the band did not like Crumb's original front drawing. It is number 9 on Rolling Stone's list of 100 greatest album covers.

Initially, the album was to be called Sex, Dope and Cheap Thrills, but the title was not received well by Columbia Records.

[edit] Sucess and Legacy

The album was released in the summer of 1968 and reached number one on the Billboard charts in its eighth week in October. It kept the number one spot for eight (nonconsecutive) weeks while the single, "Piece of My Heart," also became a huge hit. By the end of year it was the most sucessfull album of 1968, having sold nearly a million copies. The success was short lived however, as Janis Joplin left the group for a solo career in December, 1968. In 2003, the album was ranked number 338 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It is often regarded as one of the key recording of the late 1960's.

Outtakes originally to have appeared on the album have since been released on Janis Joplin compliations such as Farewell Song (In which Big Brother's original instruments were replaced with studio musicians from 1983, angering Big Brother and the Holding Company) and The Janis compilation box set featuring all original studio songs and live recordings. The 1999 re-release of Cheap Thrills features the outtakes Flower in the Sun, Roadbloack, Magic of Love and Catch Me Daddy as bonus material.

[edit] Track Listing

[edit] Original Release

  1. "Combination of the Two" (Sam Andrew) – 5:47
  2. "I Need a Man to Love" (Andrew, Joplin) – 4:54
  3. "Summertime" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, DuBose Heyward) – 4:00
  4. "Piece of My Heart" (Bert Berns, Jerry Ragovoy) – 4:15
  5. "Turtle Blues" (Joplin) – 4:22
  6. "Oh, Sweet Mary" (Peter Albin, Andrew, David Getz, James Gurley, Joplin) – 4:16
  7. "Ball and Chain" (Big Mama Thornton) – 9:37

[edit] Re-Release Bonus Tracks

  1. "Roadblock" (studio outtake)
  2. "Flower in the Sun" (studio outtake)
  3. "Catch Me Daddy" (live)
  4. "Magic of Love" (live)

[edit] Chart positions

Year Chart Position
1968 Billboard Pop Albums (Billboard 200) 1

[edit] References

  1. ^ allmusic ((( Cheap Thrills [Bonus Tracks] > Overview )))
  2. ^ allmusic ((( Cheap Thrills [Bonus Tracks] > Overview )))
  3. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named scars
Preceded by
Time Peace: The Rascals' Greatest Hits by The Rascals		 Billboard 200 number-one album
October 12 - November 15, 1968
November 30 - December 20, 1968		 Succeeded by
Electric Ladyland by Jimi Hendrix Experience


v • d • e
Janis Joplin
Big Brother and the Holding Company
Studio albums
Live albums
Bootleg albums
Compilations
Songs
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