Columbia 9700
Producer John Simon
Track listing: Combination of the Two / I Need a Man to Love / Summertime / Piece of My Heart / Turtle Blues / Oh, Sweet Mary / Ball and Chain
October 12, 1968
8 weeks (nonconsecutive)
Big Brother and the Holding Company formed in January 1966 and served as the house band at San Francisco’s Avalon Ballroom as an instrumental ensemble. The band didn’t gain significant notice, however, until it found a voice in a charismatic singer from Port Arthur, Texas, named Janis Joplin, who signed on to front the band in June. By August, the band had secured a contract Mainstream Records.
With Joplin, Big Brother became the surprise hit of the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967. Bob Dylan’s manager Albert Grossman was impressed enough to sign the band. Its self-titled debut on Mainstream reached number 60. That album, along with the band’s growing following, was enough to secure Big Brother a contract with Columbia.
On March 8, 1968, Big Brother played opening night at the Fillmore East in New York, but none of the material featured on Cheap Thrills was recorded at the Fillmore, despite what album cover states, says Big Brother founder Peter Albin. “We wanted to do a live record and Cheap Thrills was basically a culmination of that desire, but it’s not a live record,” says Albin. “It was live in the way we recorded in the studio. We didn’t do a lot of overdubs, we did vocals at the same time. We played to a small group of friends, but most of it wasn’t concert recordings.”
Big Brother’s rendition of blues singer Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thorton’s “Ball and Chain,” recorded at Winterland in San Francisco, is the only concert recording on the album. The rest of the album was recorded between live dates at various studios.
The loose sessions didn’t go very well. In fact, Grossman suggested replacing bassist Albin and drummer David Getz. Producer John Simon, unhappy with the sound of the record, left project before the album was completed and requested that his name be left off of it altogether.
For material, Big Brother turned to a mix of covers and originals, half of which was culled from its live set. “‘I Need a Man to Love’ was something that [guitarist] Sam [Andrew] threw together in the studio.” Albin’s “Oh Sweet Mary” was basically a remake of “Coo Coo” from the first album. “We wanted to do it again, but eliminate Mainstream Records from the publishing. So we renamed it and added other parts to it,” Albin says.
The album’s highlights, most notably “Piece of My Heart,” showcased Joplin’s bluesy vocals. The song, written by Bert Berns and Jerry Ragavoy, was brought to the band’s attention by fellow San Franciscan Jack Casady of the Jefferson Airplane, Albin says. It would go on to become Big Brother’s biggest hit single, reaching number 12.
The album’s title, originally Dope, Sex and Cheap Thrills, was pared down to the safer moniker for its August 1968 release. A month later, Grossman announced that Joplin, along with Andrews, would be leaving the group by the end of the year. The announcement couldn’t have come at a worse time for the remaining members of Big Brother, as Cheap Thrills climbed to Number One in its eighth week on the chart. Joplin went on to a successful but brief solo career prior to her death, while Big Brother, which reunited with Joplin for a live performance in April 1970, carried on until 1972,
THE TOP FIVE
Week of October 12, 1968
1. Cheap Thrills, Big Brother and the Holding Company
2. Waiting for the Sun, The Doors
3. Feliciano!, Jose Feliciano
4. Team Peace/The Rascals’ Greatest Hits, The Rascals
5. Gentle on My Mind, Glen Campbell