Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
EXUBERANT ACID ROCK, 19 Jun 2002
Cheap Thrills is a great, raucous, exuberant celebration of life with Joplin's at times desperate, always intensely emotional vocals and the enthusiastic playing of Big Brother in their powerful acid rock/psychedelic onslaught. Piece Of My Heart sweeps the listener along in its maelstrom of sound, while Combination Of The Two has a certain addictive, hypnotic quality that is the trademark of great rock music. Summertime and Ball & Chain are innovative interpretations of the Gershwin and Big Mama Thornton tunes respectively, while of the added tracks, Magic of Love is the only one that matches the intensity of the original album's songs. Because of the Big Brother onslaught, it does sometimes seem that there's a cosmic battle taking place between Joplin's vocals and the band's wall of sound, but this creates a further element of tension that adds to the overall force of these performances. This is a great show of Joplin's magic.
|
|
|
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Four gentlemen and one great, great broad..., 11 Jun 2005
That's what the announcer says at the beginning of this live/studio masterpiece... and for good reason because what follows is an outstanding example of blues-rock singing at its very best. But there's a lot more on offer here than just the touchstone that catapulted Janis Joplin to international stardom. First off, the band, in particular James Gurley's guitarwork, lay down some seriously impressive playing that's not only fully up to the task of keeping pace with her but which provides the perfect backdrop for her raw, stunningly powerful vocals. Then there's the quality and range of the songs themselves (other than the unnecessary, second rate "bonus tracks") including the "hippy" enthusiasm of "Combination of the Two", the driving acid-rock of "Sweet Mary" & "I Need a Man to Love", and the quite outstanding electric blues of "Summertime", "Piece of my Heart" & "Ball & Chain". And finally, the whole "style" of the album itself with it's quintessential Robert Crumb artwork, its atmospheric, often heavily reverbed sound, the enthusiastic audience reaction and the announcer's wonderfully laid-back contributions, all of which combine to capture what San Francisco's hugely influential ballroom scene was all about. A perfect time capsule that stands the test of time because it's more than good enough to and which, on the way, showcases a truly great singer on absolutely top form.
|
|
|
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Big Brother and Janis was the real deal , 10 Aug 2001
This is West Coast psychedelia at its best - and recorded live. Janis belts them out but don't underestimate the power of those twin guitars from Sam Andrew and Jim Gurley. They're transendental at time, climactic at others - hammering away as the perfect foil for those screaming rasping vocals. It's improvised at times but everyone knows where each other is and where they're going. Then it all comes back together behind Dave's drums right on cue and into the next section. The bonus tracks are a bonus too - certainly not just fillers. Okay, so 'Piece of my Heart' and 'Ball and Chain' are the stand out tracks but I love 'Sweet Mary'- partly because Janis doesn't have the feature vocal but mainly for the soaring meandering guitar work and the oh so archetypal sixties hippy sound.
Rest your soul Janis. When I listen to this and the early stuff I gotta believe your happiest years were when you were in a gigging band. The later stuff's good but it's orchestrated and produced and somehow lacking. This is raw, earthy, full of passion, a sense of being and togetherness. Big Brother are still gigging and play an excellent set if you see them on tour. Certainly worth checking out as they're usually at affordable and intimate venues. Seminal stuff.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
~ Janis Joplin
~ Big Brother & the Holding Company
~ Jefferson Airplane
~ John Mayall
~ Joni Mitchell
With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is). 
Amazon Home