| Cheap Thrills | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Big Brother and the Holding Company | |||||
| Released | August 12, 1968 | ||||
| Recorded | March 2 – May 20, 1968 | ||||
| Genre | Psychedelic rock, acid rock, blues rock | ||||
| Length | 37:11 (Original) 54:59 (CD Reissue) |
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| Label | Columbia | ||||
| Producer | John Simon | ||||
| Big Brother and the Holding Company chronology | |||||
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| Janis Joplin chronology | |||||
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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 |
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. The album was a great success, hitting number one on the charts for 8 nonconsecutive weeks in 1968. Columbia Records offered the band a new recording contract, but it took months to get through since they were still signed to Mainstream Records.[1] The album features three cover songs ("Summertime", "Piece of My Heart" and "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 "Ball and Chain" are the only live recordings. The album's overall raw sound effectively captures the band's energetic and lively concerts.
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 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.
Initially, the album was to be called Sex, Dope and Cheap Thrills, but the title was not received well by Columbia Records.[2]
A variation of the title on the cover is used as the logo for the Cheap Thrills record label, owned by British DJ Hervé.
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [1] |
| Rolling Stone | (unfavorable)[2] |
The album was released in the summer of 1968, one year after their debut album, and reached #1 on the Billboard charts in its eighth week in October. It kept the #1 spot for eight (nonconsecutive) weeks while the single, "Piece of My Heart", also became a huge hit. By the end of the year it was the most successful album of 1968, having sold nearly a million copies. The success was short-lived however, as 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.[3] They previously ranked it #50 on their Top 100 Albums of the Past 20 Years list in 1987.[4] It is often regarded as one of the key recordings of the late 1960's. It is also listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[5]
Outtakes originally to have appeared on the album have since been released on Janis Joplin compilations such as Farewell Song (In which Big Brother's original instruments were replaced with studio musicians from 1983, angering the band) 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" and "Roadblock" as well as live performances of "Magic of Love" and "Catch Me Daddy" as bonus material.
| Side one | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | ||||||
| 1. | "Combination of the Two" | Sam Andrew | 5:47 | ||||||
| 2. | "I Need a Man to Love" | Andrew, Janis Joplin | 4:54 | ||||||
| 3. | "Summertime" | George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, DuBose Heyward | 4:00 | ||||||
| 4. | "Piece of My Heart" | Bert Berns, Jerry Ragovoy | 4:15 | ||||||
| Side two | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | ||||||
| 1. | "Turtle Blues" | Joplin | 4:22 | ||||||
| 2. | "Oh, Sweet Mary" | Peter Albin, Andrew, David Getz, James Gurley, Joplin | 4:16 | ||||||
| 3. | "Ball and Chain" | Big Mama Thornton | 9:02 | ||||||
| Re-release bonus tracks | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 8. | "Roadblock" (studio outtake) | ||||||||
| 9. | "Flower in the Sun" (studio outtake) | ||||||||
| 10. | "Catch Me Daddy" (live) | ||||||||
| 11. | "Magic of Love" (live) | ||||||||
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Billboard Pop Albums (Billboard 200) | 1 |
| 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 |
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