Customer Reviews
Raw, explosive -- best of the San Francisco sound - By: Charles - Music Lover, 04 Jun 2007 
Simply titled Big Brother & The Holding Company (1967), the album is Janis's one attempt to be part of a group ensemble instead of the "star." The performances are proof-positive that Janis never succeeded at blendingin - she had too much power. In the opening number, "Bye, Bye Baby," Janis's voice is double-tracked. Thanks to the elegant re-mastering job, the raw beauty of that performance can now be fully appreciated. The group itself produced a fine debut album, but it's doubtful that the album would have been treated to such a lavish re-mastering job without the historical connection that Joplin provided. This is the best of the San Francisco sound: raw, driven rock where the musicians were genuinely talented. Sounds great!!
Primitive, but interesting... - By: Richard Ely, 26 Mar 2007 
This is a low budget recording...and it sounds like it! What you don't get here, which some JJ/BB heads might be used to, is extended jamming & wild vocals. What you do get is very tight, disciplined playing, concise rock songs & a fuller picture of the band AS A BAND, rather than a backing outfit for JJ.
I have to say, the remastering is about as good as could be expected, but the recording definitely shows its age. As Sam Andrew notesin the booklet, the guitar sound 'came out of the fifties' - a consequence of BB being signed to a jazz label, which didn't know how to record rock artists. For all that, though, it's a fascinating artefact of an era....rather like listening to the juvenilia of the Stones or the Velvet Underground. If you are a JJ/BB fan, this will be a mandatory purchase.
Be warned, though: the playing time is just shy of 34 minutes (and that's WITH the bonus tracks!).
The Original Janis album - complete with the indispensible Big Bro & the Holding Co. - By: Moz, 26 Feb 2007 
Janis was complete when she was playing with Big Brother, whatever the tensions & insecurities. It is a marriage of mutual dependance & both contribute enormously to the relationship. The later albums, Kozmic Blues & Pearl, without Big Bro, lack this passion, naivety, excitement & raw energy. This first tentative album does not have the power of Cheap Thrills but it is beautiful none-the-less. It's embryonic, not just for Janis but of the whole San Fransisco mid-sixties music scene. This is an album at the birth of psychedelic rock. 'Light is (indeed) Faster than Sound'. Then you have 'Coo Coo' & 'All is Loneliness' - onlyin the summer of love could these tracks blossom.
Did I say naive? This is naivein spades & gains much from being rushed, fresh & under produced. 'Down on Me', 'Call on Me' & 'Women is Losers' are archetypal Janis tracks. For the techies & pefectionists this album isn't. It's flawed, innocent, tinny some say & recordedin a hurry, straight off the street, to satisfy the band's live audiences craving for a record of their show. For me this is a landmark, coming of age album & one that fits perfectly into its unique nichein rock history. Rest your Soul Janis - this was your sanctuary if only you could have realised it.
Check it Out! - By: Elizabeth H., 07 Sep 2004 This is Janis at her earliest & she rocks! Although the material on this album is not so fraught as her later works (Ball & Chain being the classicin my view), it makes great & relaxing listening, bluesy yet mellow. In my view this album is a appetiser of what was to later come from Janis, you hear this & you know she was going to go somewhere from there. Sad that her later masterpieces were so obviously tiedin with her fraught personal life & her impending death, but the same can be said of most great rock & roll heroes.
Janis lives!
SEEDS OF GENIUS - By: Pieter, 30 Jul 2002 Don't expect Big Brother's acid-rock roar. This is completely unlike their classic Cheap Thrills, with a much thinner sound but still an interesting mixture of blues, folk-rock, & psychedelic rock. I like Janis' vocals on Call On Me although she doesn't sound quite as desperate as usual; my other favorites include the bluesy, droning "All Is Loneliness" where Joplin sounds like nowhere else (but it's too short!), & "Women Is Losers" where she demonstrates the seeds of her genius that would fully flower on albums like Kozmic Blues & Pearl. It's a solid rock album, but not as memorable as "Cheap Thrills". I think the band were still finding their feet here. Only for Joplin/Big Brother completists.
