Big Brother & The Holding Company

Sex, Dope & Cheap Thrills Columbia/legacy Out-takes collection from classic Janis Joplin album.

The album Cheap Thrills encapsulates a time and place (San Francisco, 1968). It’s a sprawling, messy, bloated but oh-so satisfying blues jam of a monster psychedelic record in all its considerable glory, topped off with Janis Joplin’s unmistakable wail and throaty croon (nowhere showcased better than on her impassioned reading of Summertime). As former Jefferson Airplane singer Grace Slick writes in the sleeve notes to this 50th-anniversary celebration issue: “Then I heard that voice. Good Lord. Spontaneous explosions of every emotion – no holds barred.”

This two-CD/two-LP box set Sex Dope & Cheap Thrills returns the album to its original title and brings together 30 rare performances including 25 previously unreleased studio out-takes (including three takes of Piece Of My Heart) from the album sessions. As some bonus, there’s a previously unheard live performance of Ball And Chain recorded at Winterland Ballroom on April 12, 1968. Breathtaking.

Notwithstanding the fact that this is a collection of out-takes, this is acid/blues rock at its pinnacle, Joplin at the very height of her primordial, unfettered powers, with Big Brother (Sam Andrew and James Gurley on guitar, Peter Albin on bass and Dave Getz on drums) contributing a psychedelic backdrop that still stands firm five decades on.